The Political Mechanism of Imperial Concubine Sacrifice in the Early Ming Dynasty and the Perception of ‘Female Calamity (Nühua)’ : Focusing on the Records of Tribute Women in the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty

This study aims to reinterpret the revival of concubine sacrifice (burial of the living) in the early Ming Dynasty, challenging the conventional view that it was merely a remnant of Mongol customs from the Yuan Dynasty. Instead, this paper argues that the practice was a highly calculated "political mechanism" designed to strengthen imperial power and ensure the stability of the dynasty.Ming Taizu (Zhu Yuanzhang) identified female intervention in politics as "Female Calamity (Nühua)" and a primary cause of dynastic collapse. Consequently, he established strict family laws forbidding the harem from interfering in state affairs. This study demonstrates that this perception extended to the posthumous practice of sacrifice, serving as a preventive purge to eliminate potential political threats posed by consort kin.Furthermore, this paper highlights the "Xiunu (Select-Women) System" as the institutional foundation that enabled such mass sacrifices. By prohibiting intermarriage with powerful merit officials and selecting concubines from commoner families, the system politically isolated these women, making them vulnerable targets who could be eliminated without resistance after the emperor’s death.While official Ming records glorify these deaths as "voluntary acts of righteousness," the Veritable Records of the Joseon Dynasty (Joseon Wangjo Sillok) reveal the brutal reality of forced hangings and the victims’ despair, exposing the practice as institutionalized state violence. Although the succeeding emperors bestowed titles such as "Chaotian Nuhu (Households of the Heaven-Ascending Matrons)" upon the victims’ families as compensation, this was merely a measure to justify the killings and appease the bereaved. In conclusion, early Ming concubine sacrifice was a tool for imperial consolidation disguised as Confucian ritual.