When I first heard of the word “The imperial harem”, it reflects 2 dimension of its meaning:
Harlem. It is at the exact right word, when I look it up in dictionary to make sure. Here is the definition from longman dictionary.
1.the group of wives or women who lived with a rich or powerful man in some Muslim societies in the past
2. part of a Muslim house that is separate from the rest of the house, where only women live
Furthermore, I got another definition from the Wikipedia, I think it’s accurate for the translation of the word “后宫“
Here is a definition: the sphere of women in what is usually a polygynous household and their enclosed quarters which are forbidden to men.
Actually, I started searching for the definition of the translation when it is doubtful that is it an accurate word of the word Hougong in Chinese or not. That’s because I heard the word “Harem” I think of a place where is a sphere of women who serve the man, maybe just one or more. And do nothing but serve the man, and being seductive.
Thus, I came to the second dimension that is not relevant to what Chinese imperial’s Hougong has done in its history. the Hougong is not just a place of women for the purpose of sexual satisfaction or something like that, but there is something more than that. In the past, woman’s world and man’s world were strictly separated. The function of those strict separation is to devide the work into to parts: outside for man, and inside for women. So when the word “outside” and “inside” is used, it shows the implication of Chinese concept of “center”: house is the center of life.
If so, the Hougong is not a place with purpose of sexual serving, but is for everything for the man—the emperor. It means the Hougong is a place of “house” for the emperor, apart from another part of imperial palace which is an work place. So the Hougong includes or takes responsibility of cooking, cleaning, serving and so on to support a well-being of the emperor. And when there are much of responsibilities, it got a system – a very big system—to control and administer this important part of the life. Well, I think the Hougong is not a harem. it is a home!
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