"Palace maids are not allowed to be hit on the face. It is probably because the face is a woman's greatest capital. A woman's lifetime of prosperity and wealth is often tied to her face. Mouth hitting commonly happens to eunuchs, but not to palace maids, unless she has done something degrading.
When the Empress Dowager let Master Longyu hit Little Master Zhen*, the aim was to bring the greatest humiliation to Little Master Zhen. She was even worse off than the lowest slave. (In the palace, the Empress is called "master", consorts are called "little master".)**
Palace maids are not allowed to hit each other on the face. If the person-in-charge knows and speaks to the Chief Eunuch about it, there will be a reprimanding. Every palace has an old eunuch in charge of discipline. Palace maids are allowed to register complaints. But nobody wants to stir up trouble. There is a saying 'Hit the person, but do not hit the face'. This is a rule that is strictly abided by in the palace."
Translator's Notes:
* Reference to an incident where the Empress Dowager ordered Empress Longyu to slap Consort Zhen.
** A closer translation of the terms would be "owner" and "little owner". Palace maids are slaves and refer to all royalty respectfully as their masters and their owners in their speech. There is no gender difference in this specific Chinese address. There is no appropriate matching term in English, so I used the word closest in meaning and connotation "master" for the lack of a better word.
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Memoirs Of A Palace Maid
Non-FictionThis is my attempt at an English translation of the Chinese book "Memoirs Of A Palace Maid". "Memoirs Of A Palace Maid" 《宫女谈往录》is a book published by the Forbidden City Press in July 1992. The authors are Jin Yi and Shen Yiling. The book contains t...
