Who do the three aunts and six wives refer to in history?

Speaking of the three aunts and six wives, many people must be familiar with it. In modern times, they are mostly used to guide women in the market. But in fact, in ancient times, "three aunts and six women" were not a general term, but used to describe special groups at the bottom of society. So why is this group called "three aunts and six women"? Why did it become a derogatory term? Let’s hear the breakdown below.

The origin and development of the three aunts and six women

Speaking of the three aunts and six women, although it has been frequently used to refer to special groups at the bottom of society since the Ming Dynasty, in terms of origin, in fact It existed during the Yuan Dynasty. Tao Zongyi, a writer of the Yuan Dynasty, made a relatively clear definition of the three nuns and six wives in his book "The Record of Shuing Geng":

"The Record of Shuing Geng": The three nuns are nuns, Taoist nuns and Gua nuns; the six nuns are Those are Yapo, Matchmaker, Masterpo, Qianpo, Yaopo, and Wenpo.

In the Ming Dynasty, there was a group of women among the people at that time. They dealt with high officials and wealthy families and small families all day long, and relied on their sharp tongue to engage in news transmission and business.

As in modern times, three aunts and six wives were not welcomed by ordinary people. At that time, many people believed that only by shutting out these three aunts and six wives could they be called legitimate families. The reason why this happens is actually because these aunts and wives are really too powerful with their words, and sometimes bring a great burden of public opinion to these families. At that time, there were even martial arts novels that specifically pointed out the horror of the three aunts and six wives:

"Zhen Zhenyi Shi": The old woman is good at talking nonsense, causing disasters. If you listen to the third aunt's words in the boudoir, Zhenlie can teach you to become bad.

The lives of three aunts and six women

The most obvious feature of the lives of three aunts and six women is that although they are despised by others, they are indeed the best bridge between light and darkness. They are Being able to step forward and do things that are inconvenient for decent people to do. For example, take the stable woman, the selling woman, and the matchmaker among the six women mentioned above.

Let’s talk about Wenpo first. In the minds of many people, Po Wen is probably equivalent to the obstetrics and gynecology nurse in ancient times, but it is also a scarce job. If you just help deliver babies, you will definitely be welcomed by many families.

However, although Wenpo specializes in delivering babies, she is familiar with many wealthy families because of her work, so she has the opportunity to convey messages to concubines, ladies, and maids of wealthy families, and sometimes even Wenpo will also help in adultery and so on. Sometimes, these women will inevitably have unwanted pregnancies, and Wen Po will even help others secretly abort the pregnancy, hiding it from the truth. Because of this, serious people among the people naturally don't have a good look on Po Wen.

Let’s talk about selling women. The peddlers are not the ancient human traffickers who bought and sold children, but the women who peddled their goods along the streets. However, unlike ordinary self-employed people, the saleswomen sometimes go to the door to sell to some boudoir girls in person. Naturally, like Wenpo, they have the opportunity to help deliver the news. However, in addition to this, the saleswoman will also help some officials to give and accept bribes, so the life of the saleswoman is not bad.

Finally, let’s talk about matchmakers. Matchmaker, as the name suggests, is a woman whose job is to arrange marriages. As a matchmaker, a matchmaker was supposed to accomplish good things, and it stands to reason that she should be welcomed by ordinary families in ancient times. However, due to the high pressure of competition in the industry, matchmakers sometimes exaggerate the advantages or ignore the shortcomings of people in order to thank the matchmaker for their property, which inevitably leads to some marriage tragedies. What's more, sometimes matchmakers will be instructed by wealthy families to take desperate risks and slander women who are unwilling to get married, just to use public opinion to force them to get married.

It is remarkable that the third wife can enter the palace

The Ming Dynasty stipulated that private women were not allowed to be recruited or enter the palace. But the third wife among the six wives who are at the bottom of society actually has the opportunity to enter the palace. That is the nanny, the doctor and the steady woman. Wen Po is good at delivering babies, and Medical Po is proficient in medical skills. Sometimes when a noble person gives birth or is unwell, he will be summoned and receive some rewards.

However, after all, the third wife's entry into the palace is necessary for business. Once the matter is over, she often has to leave the palace. However, because they have served the palace, they are like modern academic qualifications, so they are often valued by the common people after leaving the palace, and there is an endless stream of customers.

Among them, it is worth mentioning the nannies, because they can sometimes stay in the palace for a long time and change their own life and destiny.

Nanny, also known as wet nurse. They were often revered as they were often responsible for breast-feeding the royal family when needed. Some members of the royal family later ascended to the rank of Ninth Five-Year Plan, and even rewarded their wet nurses with titles. For example, during the Yongle period, Zhu Di, the founder of Ming Dynasty, posthumously named his wet nurse Feng as "Mrs. Baosheng Zhenshun", which can be said to be the first of its kind to canonize wet nurses.