Why did the Chinese emperors have thousands of concubines, while the Western emperors had only one wife?

为什么中国皇帝有成千上万的妃子，而西方皇帝只有一个妃子？

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以下是Quora网友的评论：

李念淨

This is a very good question, which fully demonstrates the differences between Chinese and white people.

First of all, don’t look at Chinese history, but look at Roman history (before Christianity has played a role). You will find that the vast majority of emperors have no direct blood descendants. From the Julius-Claudian dynasty to the mid-fifth century, there were only a few cases of father-to-son transmission. (Flavian dynasty, Commodus, Constantine)

这是一个非常好的问题，充分说明了中国人和白人之间的差异。

首先，先不看中国历史，我们看看罗马历史(在基督教之前)。你会发现绝大多数皇帝都没有自己的直系后代。从朱利叶斯-克劳狄王朝到5世纪中叶，只有少数父传子受的案例(弗拉维王朝，科莫多斯，君士坦丁)。

The succession of Roman emperors is more like a campaign, a comprehensive competition from financial resources to military capabilities. The advantage of this is that the emperor's personal ability is outstanding, but the disadvantages are as great as the advantages - Civil War.

The benefits of maintaining a large harem system in China and Japan are reflected in the stable inheritance of the throne. From the perspective of white people, China does not actually have that many dynasties. In fact, there are only 3 empire and 1 republic in China:

罗马皇帝的更替更像是一场战役，是一场从财力到军事实力的全面竞争。这样做的好处是皇帝的个人能力十分突出，但坏处和好处一样大—内战不断。

在中国和日本，庞大的后宫能提供一个好处，那就是王位可以得到稳定的继承。从白人的角度来看，中国实际上并没有那么多朝代。事实上，中国只有3个帝国和1个共和国：

1. From Qin to Chen (221 BC-589 AD)

2. From the Northern Wei Dynasty to the Song Dynasty (386 AD-1279 AD)

3. From Yuan Dynasty to Qing Dynasty (1271 AD-1911AD)

4. The Warring States Period and the First Republic (1911 AD-1949 AD, 1949 AD-)

1. 从秦到陈(公元前221年-公元589年)

2. 北魏至宋朝(公元386 -1279年)

3. 元朝至清朝(公元1271年-1911年)

4. 民国与共和国(1911 -1949,1949 -)

Note: Even if China's dynasty changes, the previous emperor and the current emperor will still have some relationship by marriage to a greater or lesser degree. Even if there is no marriage relationship, two dynasties still use the same political system, such as the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty.

The most outstanding minister in Chinese history is Feng Dao. He served five dynasties: Tang Dynasty, Later Tang Dynasty, Later in Dynasty, Liao Dynasty, Later Han Dynasty and Later Zhou Dynasty. It can be seen that these five Chinese dynasties are actually equivalent to one Roman dynasty

注：中国的朝代即便发生更替，前任皇帝和现任皇帝也还是存在或多或少的姻亲关系。即使不存在姻亲关系，两个朝代也仍沿用相同的政治制度，比如明朝和清朝。

中国历史上最杰出的大臣是冯道。他是五朝元老：唐、后唐、后金、辽、后汉、后周。因此可见，中国这五个朝代其实也就相当于罗马的一个朝代。

Jan Li

The Catholic religion in Europe promoted monogamy, while the Confucian teachings in China taught that not having a male descendant was the worst thing you could do to your family. In China, being monogamous at the expense of having more kids would have been considered unethical and selfish, especially when your country’s wellbeing depends on your lineage.

欧洲的天主教提倡一夫一妻制，而中国的儒家认为不孝有三，无后为大。在中国，会导致子嗣单薄的一夫一妻制会被视为不道德和自私的行为，尤其还因为国家安宁依赖于你的血统传承。

Chinese emperors only had one actual wife. The rest of his harem are concubines and not wives. They don’t have the rights that wives do. European kings and emperors also had one wife, and sometimes had many mistresses. It’s really no different, except for the fact that concubines were more or less a more permanent state, and the girls who went through palace selection (either as concubines or as palace maids) were expected to be virgins.

中国皇帝只会有一位正妻，后宫所有嫔妃都只是妾，不是妻子，不能享受妻子的权利。欧洲的国王和皇帝也只有一个妻子，但他们有时也会有很多情妇。其实他们并没有什么不同，只是嫔妃的身份比较稳定持久，而且通过宫廷遴选出来的女孩(无论是作为嫔妃还是宫女)都必须还是处子之身。

No emperor had thousands of concubines. The actual number is typically 5–20. Even Kangx and Qianlong, who lived a long life, reigned a long time, and were known for having a lot of women, only really had 40–50 concubines. There’s a misconception that Chinese emperors have thousands of concubines, and that’s because we often say that they have “3000 beauties” in the back palace. However, the 3000 are an estimate, not an actual number, and this estimate includes the palace maids, who are not concubines. The palace maids are included because they are young beautiful virgins by requirement, and they are concubines on standby.

中国皇帝也并非真的拥有数千嫔妃，实际数字通常只有5-20人。就算是康熙、乾隆这些长寿、在位时间长、女人多的皇帝，其实也只有四五十个嫔妃而已。大家有一种误解，认为中国皇帝有数千妃子，是因为我们经常说皇帝的后宫有“佳丽三千”。但这个“三千”只是个概数，并不是实际数字，而且还包含了所有的宫女，她们并不是嫔妃。宫女被统计在内是因为她们也都是年轻美丽的处子，她们是嫔妃后备团。

By that, I mean that they are required to be faithful to the emperor as a concubine would need to be for as long as they are employed, and it’s understood that the emperor can have sex with them and promote them to concubine status at any point. However, unlike actual concubines, they are not on the emperor’s bedding roster. They can also be released from duty and be free to get married, or be assigned a marriage. In practice, most maids don’t cross the emperor’s path or catch his eye all that much, and emperors don’t always touch all of his actual concubines either.

我的意思是，只要她们还是宫女，她们就必须对皇帝忠诚，就像妃子一样。皇帝可以随时宠幸宫女，将她们升到妃位。但她们和嫔妃的不同之处在于她们并不在皇帝的临幸名单中。她们也会被放出宫，自由婚配，或者被指婚。在现实生活中，大多数宫女并不会出现在皇帝面前，也不会引起他的注意，皇帝也不会经常临幸所有的妃子。

Thai Nguyen Gia

In term of politic and power, there’s big difference in how Chinese views and Westerners view lobby. Yes, LOBBY. You know, the unofficial way to change policies by having private talks with the chiefs?

Chinese realize the power of lobby, so they provide an official to organize lobbying. The concubines in harem, they have parents and relatives, thus they can send message to them? In return, the parents send back replys. Thus anyone who want to lobby can use this communication route to form a way to lobby.

在政治和权力方面，中国人和西方人对游说团的看法有很大的不同。是的，游说团。你知道的，就是通过和首领私下谈话，改变最终政策的非正式方式？

中国人很清楚游说的力量，所以他们安排了官员来管理游说集团。后宫的妃子们有父母和亲戚，所以她们可以往宫外送信，父母也会往宫里送信。因此，想要游说的人可以通过这条路子来进行游说。

+++Due to the numerous concubines, this mean many route of lobby, thus noone hold a majority of this, thus limit their power. This is the Chinese view.

Western king and emperors have different views, and religion play an important role. Instead of the many many pillow talks that a king and emperor can have with their concubines, now they can only have Sub Rosa talks with their confessors. So the religious officials (confessors) hold a semi-monopoly on lobby route. NATURALLY, they, and the queens, would limit their competitors, which in this case being the concubines. Thus concubines are very limited in number, with no chance to expand.

因为嫔妃众多，所以游说的路径也很多，因此分散了权力。这是中国人的观点。

西方的国王和皇帝有不同的看法，西方的宗教起着重要的作用。中国的国王和皇帝会和他们的妃嫔讲点私房话，西方的皇帝只能和他们的忏悔者进行私密谈话。因此，宗教官员(告解神父)在游说的路径上拥有一点垄断地位。所以他们自然会和皇后联手压制竞争者，在这种情况下，嫔妃就是竞争者。因此，嫔妃的数量很少，也不可能壮大。

+++ Due to only two routes to lobby, both sides hold much power. In any case that change the number of lobby routes, aka more concubines, the new ones will have much power. Examples: French kings has a habit of concubines, thus their bastard sons reap the benefits, which become dukes.

The confessions are something that hold greatest importance in Christian religion for a reason.

因为只有两条游说的路径，双方都握有很大的权力。如果改变游说路径的数量，也即增加嫔妃的数量，那么新的路径就拥有更大的权力。例如：法国国王就会纳妾，他们的私生子也获得了好处，成为公爵。

在基督教中，忏悔是最重要的，这是有原因的。

Yuan Li

Because of politics, the wives of Western emperors are also nobles. When a Western emperor wants to increase his wife, he is increasing his enemy.

And Chinese emperors have appeared from the Han Dynasty when the emperor's wife's family was too powerful and controlled the country. Therefore, in order to prevent this from happening, there are many measures:

由于政治原因，西方皇帝的妻子都是贵族。如果西方皇帝想要纳妾，那就是给自己树敌。

中国的皇帝是从汉朝开始出现的，当时皇帝妻子的娘家太强大了，控制了国家。因此，为了防止这种情况再度发生，皇帝采取了很多措施：

1. No queen is established.

2. After the emperor died, the mother of the little emperor was buried.

3. In the Ming Dynasty, outstanding women were selected from commoner families as queens.

1. 不设皇后。

2. 皇帝死后，小皇帝的母亲就要殉葬。

3. 明朝时，会从平民家庭中选出皇后人选。

Adam North

There are a few different reasons why the Chinese emperors had thousands of concubines while the Western emperors had only one wife.

One reason is that in China, it was considered more important for a man to have many children so that his lineage could be continued.

It was also seen as a way to show off wealth and power, since having multiple women meant that you could afford to support them all.

中国皇帝有无数妃嫔，而西方皇帝只有一个妻子，原因有几点。

其中一个原因是，中国人认为男人要多生几个孩子，这一点很重要，这样他的血统才能得以延续。

这个观念也是一种炫耀财富和权力的方式，因为拥有多个女人意味着你有能力养活她们。

In contrast, in the West, monogamy was more common and it was seen as being more beneficial for society as a whole.

Additionally, women in China were not given the same rights as men and were often treated like property, which is another reason why they may have been less likely to resist polygamy.

相比之下，在西方，一夫一妻制更为普遍，人们认为一夫一妻制对整个社会更有好处。

此外还有另一个原因，中国女性没有与男性相同的权利，往往被视为男方的财产，她们不太可能抵制一夫多妻制。

Joe

You are incorrect about Western emperors and kings.

Charlemagne had many wives and concubines.

Most kings and nobles had concubines, even to this day. Prince Charles is famous for his. We don’t have titles in the US, but many of us wealthy and merely upper class men have concubines. The modern term for them is sugar baby.

你对西方皇帝的看法是错误的。

查理曼大帝就有许多妻妾。

时至今日，大多数国王和贵族也一样有妻妾。查尔斯王子的风流轶事世人皆知。我们美国的贵族倒是头衔，但很多富裕的上流社会男人都有妻妾。用现代的说法就是甜心芭比。

Polygamy was banned by a pope at some point to reduce bloodshed. Sons of nobles of different mothers were starting wars with each other on who inherited the property. The pope declared that from then on, only one wife was allowed and any child born out of wedlock could not inherit his father’s property.

在某种程度上，教皇禁止一夫多妻制是为了减少流血事件。同父异母的贵族青年会为了继承财产而互相争斗。于是教皇宣布一夫一妻制，任何非婚生的孩子都不能继承他父亲的财产。

Peter Ole Kvint

The Chinese emperors often had a woman for every day of the year. And this was not of sex desire, but an expression of wealth. Because the number of women was an expression of a man's wealth.

中国皇帝通常每天都要宠幸一个女人。这不是因为性欲，而是炫耀财富。因为女人的数量正是一个男人财富的体现。

Jonathan Chong

It is because China did not have any religion that only allowed for one wife as compared to Western royals who were Catholics/Christians. Likewise, were the Hindu emperors having many concubines.

这是因为中国宗教没有要求一夫一妻，但西方皇室都是天主教徒/基督教徒。印度皇帝也有很多妃嫔。

Niall Clugston

The real question is: why was the West monogamous? People say because of Christianity, but Judaism wasn’t monogamous. And ancient Greece and Rome weren’t polygamous. The West had long traditions of monogamy, but why I don’t know.

真正的问题应该是：为什么西方采用一夫一妻制？人们说这是因为基督教的规定，但犹太教就不是一夫一妻制。另外，古希腊和罗马也没有一夫多妻制。西方有悠久的一夫一妻制的传统，但我也不知道为什么。

Tony Danis

I'm quite sure the majority of Western emperors had large numbers of mistresses.

Their sexual appetite probably wasn't different from their Asian counterparts.

The harem as a social construct probabky served as a powerfully visible indicator of wealth and power.

我很确定，大多数西方皇帝都有很多情妇。

他们的性欲跟亚洲人没有什么不同。

后宫这种社会结构可能是财富和权力的强大直观的体现。