In a world where, in traditional Confucian society, women were rigorously segregated, many courtesans became published writers and poets. But there was a dark side to the life they lived. Many of the girls and women in the entertainment quarters were the daughters of concubines. Many were purchased when children and brought up in that world, first simply serving tea to clients, then, aged twelve or thirteen, given the clothes and adornments of a concubine and initiated with older men.
