Emperor granted her a “harem” of thirty “handsome men”

Princess Liu Chuyu of the Liu Song dynasty boldly challenged the gender double standards of 5th-century China by demanding the same romantic freedoms as her brother, Emperor Ming. Arguing it was unjust for the monarch to maintain thousands of concubines while she was restricted to one spouse, she successfully persuaded him to expand her household. The Emperor, acknowledging her logic, granted her a “harem” of thirty “handsome men” (mian-shou) to serve as her personal companions. This historical episode highlights a rare, royal subversion of traditional patriarchal norms.