The Concubinage Culture towards the Female Servants in A Dream of Red Mansions

Abstract

Abstract
The female servants were one of the significant objects in Honglou Meng ( 红楼梦), A Dream of Red Mansions). The tragic destiny of the female servants at all times associated with the polygamy system in the Qing Dynasty in which most of the female servants married to the male masters upon reaching the age of marriage during the Chinese ancient time. The objectives of this paper are served to analyze and study the concubinage culture in the Qing Dynasty towards the female servants who were married as concubines from the historical perspectives. This paper reveals that the marriage of the concubines from the class of the female servants was not only about the gender discrimination, but it also related to the social class discrimination. This paper also serves to demonstrate the gender and social class discriminations on the female servants through the hetaerism trend in the Qing society, the complex classes of the concubines from the class of the female servants and the relationship between the other parties and the concubines.