Concubines in the imperial harem in Qing Dynasty were divided into eight grades, namely: Empress, Imperial concubine, Concubine, Noble Person, Constant Attendant, Promise (and the youngest official female: maid-in-waiting who can spend the night with the emperor).
Extended data
Outside the Longzong Gate of the Forbidden City, there is a group of buildings with Cining Palace as the main body. Some people call it the home of widows in the Forbidden City. Because the original owners here were the empress, concubines and concubines of the first emperor. Among them, women entered the palace mainly through the draft. Although the Ming and Qing emperors were not like the "three thousand harem beauties" in the Tang Dynasty, the number was not small.
Empress, imperial concubine, concubines, nobles, Chang Chang, Yan Xu, etc. They all live in the East-West Sixth Palace on both sides of Gan Qing Palace. Once the emperor died, they all moved to Cining Palace, Shoukang Palace, Ningshou Palace and Shouan Palace according to the ancestral system. Life here can be said that there is no chance to laugh, only in the lonely and monotonous life of "beauty is old and white." Occasionally, there will be joy in Cining Palace, such as giving the Empress Dowager Cixi the emblem and conferring the empresses. Grand celebrations are held here on New Year's Day, winter solstice and Empress Dowager Cixi's Wanshou Festival. So that the widows of the Qing dynasty could get together to drink and have fun. But such activities are only a few days a year after all. There are many Buddhist temples in the complex of Cining Palace. During their bored widowhood, the Empress Dowager, Tai Ai and Tai Fei burned incense and worshipped Buddha, trying to seek spiritual comfort and sustenance from the illusory Buddhist world.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Empress System in Qing Dynasty