A eunuch ( ) is a castrated man. Castration has had a social function in history. In China, castration included the removal of the penis and the testicles ( emasculation). A knife removed both organs at the same time.

Eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

s have existed in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

since about 146 AD, during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han and were common as civil servants by the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ; zh, c=秦朝, p=Qín cháo, w=), or Ch'in dynasty in Wade–Giles romanization ( zh, c=, p=, w=Ch'in ch'ao), was the first Dynasties in Chinese history, dynasty of Imperial China. Named for its heartland in Qin (state), ...

. From ancient times to the

Sui dynasty The Sui dynasty (, ) was a short-lived imperial dynasty of China that lasted from 581 to 618. The Sui unified the Northern and Southern dynasties, thus ending the long period of division following the fall of the Western Jin dynasty, and layi ...

, castration was a traditional punishment (one of the

Five Punishments The Five Punishments () was the collective name for a series of physical penalties meted out by the legal system of pre-modern dynastic China. Over time, the nature of the Five Punishments varied. Before the time of Western Han dynasty Emperor Ha ...

) and a means of gaining employment in the imperial service. Some eunuchs, such as the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

official

Zheng He Zheng He (; 1371–1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was originally born as Ma He in a Muslim family and later adopted the surname Zheng conferred ...

, gained power that superseded that of the

Grand Secretaries The Grand Secretariat (; Manchu: ''dorgi yamun'') was nominally a coordinating agency but ''de facto'' the highest institution in the imperial government of the Chinese Ming dynasty. It first took shape after the Hongwu Emperor abolished the off ...

. Self-castration was not uncommon, although it was not always performed thoroughly and was later banned. Eunuchs were employed as high-ranking civil servants because they could not have children, so they were not tempted to seize power and begin a dynasty. In addition, many in the palace considered eunuchs more reliable than scholar-officials. Finally, as a symbolic assignment of divine authority in the palace system, a constellation of stars was designated as the emperor's; west of the constellation, four stars were known as his "eunuchs." The tension between eunuchs in the service of the emperor and virtuous Confucian officials is a familiar theme in Chinese history. In his ''History of Government'',

Samuel Finer Samuel Edward Finer FBA (22 September 1915 – 9 June 1993) was a British political scientist and historian specializing in comparative politics, who was instrumental in advancing political studies as an academic subject in the United Kingdom ...

writes that reality often needs to be clearly defined. The emperor valued capable eunuchs as advisers, and resistance from "virtuous" officials often stemmed from jealousy.

Ray Huang Ray Huang (; 25 June 19188 January 2000) was a Chinese-American historian and philosopher who was an officer in the National Revolutionary Army and fought in the Burma Campaign. In 1964, Huang earned a Ph.D. in history from the University of M ...

says that eunuchs represented the personal will of the Emperor, and the officials represented the political will of the

bureaucracy The term bureaucracy () refers to a body of non-elected governing officials as well as to an administrative policy-making group. Historically, a bureaucracy was a government administration managed by departments staffed with non-elected offi ...

; a clash between them would have been a clash of ideologies or political agendas. The number of eunuchs in imperial employment fell to 470 by 1912. The Chinese government abolished the eunuch system on November 5, 1924. The last imperial eunuch,

Sun Yaoting Sun Yaoting (Traditional Chinese: 孫耀庭, Simplified Chinese: 孙耀庭, Hanyu Pinyin: Sūn Yàotíng, Wade-Giles: Sun Yao-t'ing; 29 September 1902 – 17 December 1996) was the last surviving imperial eunuch of Chinese history. He was cas ...

, died in December 1996.

History

Qin (221–206 BC) and Han dynasties (202 BC–9 AD, 25–220 AD)

Men sentenced to

castration Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. Surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceut ...

became eunuch slaves of the

, performing forced labor for projects such as the

Terracotta Army The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting the emperor in ...

. The Qin government confiscated the property and enslaved and castrated the families of rapists as punishment. In

Han dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

China, references to castration were ''gōngxíng'' (宮刑 "palace punishment") or ''fǔxíng'' (腐刑 "rotting punishment"), and euphemistically as being "sent to the silkworm house," referring to the new castrate's confinement in a room (like a silkworm) to prevent infection and death. In addition, punished castrated men during the Han dynasty were used for slave labor. Notable men castrated under Han law included: * Historian

Sima Qian Sima Qian (; ; ) was a Chinese historian of the early Han dynasty (206AD220). He is considered the father of Chinese historiography for his ''Records of the Grand Historian'', a general history of China covering more than two thousand years b ...

was charged with dissent and castrated. * Emperor Wu ordered the castration of a prince of

Loulan Kingdom Loulan, also called Krorän or Kroraina ( zh, s=, t=, p=Lóulán <

Eastern Han Chinese

''lo-lɑn'' <

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

as punishment for breaking a law. * Zhang He, the older brother of

Zhang Anshi Zhang Anshi (; died 62 BCE), courtesy name Ziru (子孺), was a Chinese politician of the Han Dynasty. He was a son of Zhang Tang. He was a precocious student who attracted attention in a famous incident. During an Imperial progress, to which he wa ...

, had been sentenced to death but was castrated when his brother pleaded for a commuted castration sentence. * Li Yannian suffered punishment by castration for a crime. * Envoy Ge Du (Ke Too) was castrated for not killing the "Mad King" of the

Wusun The Wusun (; Eastern Han Chinese *''ʔɑ-suən'' <

Old Chinese

(140 BCE < 436 BCE): *''Ɂâ-sûn'') were an ancient semi-

, instead helping the king by supplying doctors to cure his illness. * Su Wen suffered castration for supporting prince

Liu Fuling Emperor Zhao of Han (Liu Fuling 劉弗陵; 94 BC – 5 June 74 BC) was the emperor of the Western Han dynasty from 87 to 74 BC. Emperor Zhao was the youngest son of Emperor Wu of Han. By the time he was born, Emperor Wu was already 62. Prince Fu ...

and his mother, Lady Zhao, against Liu Ju (crown prince of Wei) and his mother, Wei Zifu. Near the

end of the Han dynasty The end of the Han dynasty was the period of Chinese history from 189 to 220 CE, roughly coinciding with the tumultuous reign of the Han dynasty's last ruler, Emperor Xian. During this period, the country was thrown into turmoil by the Yellow ...

in 189, a group of eunuchs known as the

Ten Attendants The Ten Attendants, also known as the Ten Eunuchs, were a group of influential eunuch-officials in the imperial court of Emperor Ling ( 168–189) in Eastern Han China. Although they are often referred to as a group of 10, there were actually 12 ...

gained considerable power in the imperial court; several warlords planned their murder to restore the emperor's government. The loyalist warlord

He Jin He Jin () (died 22 September 189), courtesy name Suigao, was a Chinese military general and politician. He was the military Grand Marshal and regent of the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He was an elder half-brother of Empress He, the emp ...

was lured into a trap in the palace and killed by the eunuchs. The other warlords, led by

Yuan Shao Yuan Shao (, ; died 28 June 202), courtesy name Benchu (), was a Chinese military general, politician, and warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil wars that occurred to ...

, stormed the court and massacred the Ten Attendants and many other eunuchs. In the wake of the fighting, Dong Zhuo seized power. Castration was abolished twice as a punishment under the Han dynasty: before 167 BC, then during the 110s AD.

Northern Wei (386–535 AD) and Northern Qi (550–577 AD) dynasties

In 446 AD, the

Northern Wei Wei (), known in historiography as the Northern Wei (), Tuoba Wei (), Yuan Wei () and Later Wei (), was founded by the Tuoba (Tabgach) clan of the Xianbei. The first of the Northern and Southern dynasties#Northern dynasties, Northern dynasties ...

crushed an ethnic Qiang rebellion. Wang Yu was a castrated Qiang eunuch who may have undergone castration during the uprising as the Northern Wei frequently castrated elite young Qiang. He was born in the town of Lirun, in Fengyi prefecture (present-day Chengcheng County). Wang Yu, a

Buddhist Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...

, had a temple built at his birthplace in 488. The Northern Wei had the young sons of rebels and traitors castrated, forcing them to serve in the palace as eunuchs. Notable survivors of this practice include Liu Siyi (Liu Ssu-i), Yuwen Zhou (Yü-wen Chou 宇文冑), Duan Ba, Wang Zhi, Liu Teng, and Sun Shao. The Northern Qi

Gao Huan Gao Huan () (496 – 13 February 547), Xianbei name Heliuhun (賀六渾), formally Prince Xianwu of Qi (齊獻武王), later further formally honored by Northern Qi initially as Emperor Xianwu (獻武皇帝), then as Emperor Shenwu (神武皇帝 ...

had Shu Lüè castrated and made a messenger eunuch because his father, Fan Guan (Fan Kuan 樊觀), remained loyal to the Northern Wei. The Northern Wei presented northern wives to Liu Song generals Cui Mo and Shen Mo. Shen Mo had a son, Lingdu, and fled back south to Liu Song; in retaliation, the Northern Wei castrated Lingdu. Cui Mo never returned south, and his northern son escaped punishment. The eunuch

Zong Ai Zong Ai (; ? - 31 October 452''wushen'' day of the 10th month of the 29th year of the ''Yuanjia'' era, per volume 126 of ''Zizhi Tongjian'') was a eunuch who briefly came to great power in the Xianbei-led Chinese Northern Wei dynasty in 452 after as ...

killed two Northern Wei emperors and a prince. The

Empress Dowager Hu (Northern Qi) Empress Hu (胡皇后, personal name unknown; died after 581) was an empress consort and empress dowager of the Chinese Northern Qi dynasty. Her husband was Emperor Wucheng (Gao Zhan). She was the empress dowager during the reign of her son Gao We ...

mourned for the eunuch Meng Luan. She reportedly engaged in sexual relations with her eunuchs; traditional historians used the term ''xiexia'' (褻狎, "immoral games"), rather than "adultery", to describe her acts with them.

Sui (581–618 AD) and Tang dynasties (618–907 AD)

Indigenous people from southern China endured castration for use as eunuchs during the Sui and Tang dynasties. For example, the rebel An Lushan had a Khitan (Liao) eunuch named Li Zhu'er ( 李豬兒) (Li Chu'er) when he was a teenager. Lushan used a sword to cut off Zhu'er's genitals, nearly killing him from blood loss and reviving him after putting ashes on his injury. Zhu'er then served Lushan for life and was highly trusted by him, frequently aiding the obese Lushan at home and in the Huaqing (Hua-ch'ing) steam baths. Lushan developed a skin disease and became blind and paranoid later in life, which prompted him to flog and murder his subordinates. Lushan's enemies convinced Zhu'er and Yan Zhuang (Yen Chuang) (嚴莊) to assassinate him, and Zhu'er disemboweled Lushan.

Liao (916–1125 AD), Jin (1115–1234 AD), and Yuan (1271–1368 AD) dynasties

The Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties regularly castrated enemy prisoners of war under age 10, forcing them to serve royalty or esteemed citizens. As a result, the war created many opportunities for men and women to kidnap the young sons of enemy combatants and elite civilians. Khitan (Liao) women would fight beside men in combat, and these women took advantage of the number of captured young prisoners of war to fill their palaces with prepubescent eunuchs. These young eunuchs were domestic enslaved people, frequently serving harems of royal women, titled ladies of the court, and concubines, and had no political or social power. The Khitans captured Chinese eunuchs at the Jin court after their

Later Jin Later Jin may refer to two states in imperial China: * Later Jin (Five Dynasties) (後晉; 936–947), one of the Five Dynasties * Later Jin (1616–1636) (後金; 1616–1636), precursor to the Qing dynasty See also * Jin (disambiguation) Jin ...

invasion. Their war with the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

helped the Khitans to create more eunuchs. The Khitan Empress Dowager Chengtian led a raid on China and captured 100 young (under age 10), attractive

Han Chinese The Han Chinese () or Han people (), are an East Asian ethnic group native to China. They constitute the world's largest ethnic group, making up about 18% of the global population and consisting of various subgroups speaking distinctive va ...

boys to make into eunuchs. One of these eunuchs was Wang Ji'en ( 王继恩 (辽朝)); another was Zhao Anren ( 赵安仁). Notable Jin dynasty eunuchs were Liang Chong ( 梁珫) and Song Gui ( 宋珪). Like the dynasties which rose and fell before theirs, the Khitans enacted an ordinance permitting castration in 962 after the rape of a footsoldier's young daughter during the reign of

Emperor Muzong of Liao Emperor Muzong of Liao (19 September 931 – 12 March 969), personal name Yelü Jing, infant name Shulü, was the fourth emperor of the Khitan-led Liao dynasty of China. He was the eldest son of the second Liao emperor, Emperor Taizong. He succ ...

. The rapist (an uncle of an imperial consort) was castrated and enslaved to his victim for life. Like the

Mongol Empire The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...

Goryeo Goryeo (; ) was a Korean kingdom founded in 918, during a time of national division called the Later Three Kingdoms period, that unified and ruled the Korean Peninsula until 1392. Goryeo achieved what has been called a "true national unificati ...

(Korea) provided eunuchs to the Mongols; they included

Bak Bulhwa Park Bul-hwa or Piao Buhua (; ; Mongolian Script: ᠪᠤᠬ᠎ᠠ; ?－1364) was a Korean eunuch serving Empress Gi of the Yuan dynasty. He was the first ethnic Korean eunuch in Chinese history. Bak assisted Empress Gi's campaign to force Toghon Te ...

, Go Yongbo, and Bang Sinu. Some eunuchs adopted Mongol names.

Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

Castration became a banned legal punishment at the end of

Ming Taizu The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts in ...

's reign, the first

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

emperor, who reigned over eunuchs from Mongolian, Korea, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Central Asian, Thai, and Okinawan tribes. There were also Korean, Jurchen, Mongolian, Central Asian, and Vietnamese eunuchs under the

Yongle Emperor The Yongle Emperor (; pronounced ; 2 May 1360 – 12 August 1424), personal name Zhu Di (), was the third Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigning from 1402 to 1424. Zhu Di was the fourth son of the Hongwu Emperor, the founder of the Ming dyn ...

, including Mongol eunuchs who served him when he was the Prince of Yan. Muslim and Mongol eunuchs were in the Ming court, such as those captured from Mongol-controlled

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in Southwest China, the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is ...

in 1381; among them was the Ming maritime explorer

, who served Yongle. The Ming court sent Muslim eunuchs as ambassadors to the Timurids. Vietnamese eunuchs, including Ruan Lang, Ruan An ( Nguyễn An), Fan Hong, Chen Wu, and Wang Jin, were sent by Zhang Fu. Korea sent 198 eunuchs, many from Southeast Asia and Korea, to Ming Taizu before ending human tribute in 1435. By the late Ming dynasty, nearly 80 percent of eunuchs came from North China (primarily the Beijing region).

Violence in surrounding countries

Ming Taizu had a contentious relationship with the Korean

Joseon Joseon (; ; Middle Korean: 됴ᇢ〯션〮 Dyǒw syéon or 됴ᇢ〯션〯 Dyǒw syěon), officially the Great Joseon (; ), was the last dynastic kingdom of Korea, lasting just over 500 years. It was founded by Yi Seong-gye in July 1392 and re ...

dynasty, often competing for influence over the Jurchens in Manchuria. Korean-born Ming eunuch ambassadors flogged Korean officials due to their unmet demands. Ambassadors were sometimes arrogant; in 1398, a drunk Sin Kwi-Saeng brandished a knife in the king's presence at dinner. Sino-Korean relations later became amiable, and the Korean envoy's seat at the Ming court was the highest of the tributaries. The Jurchen eunuch explorer

Yishiha Yishiha (; also Išiqa or Isiha; Jurchen: ) ( fl. 1409–1451) was a Jurchen eunuch of the Ming dynasty of China. He served the Ming emperors who commissioned several expeditions down the Songhua and Amur Rivers during the period of Ming rule o ...

lived during the Yongle emperor's reign. During the Miao rebellions, the Ming governor castrated thousands of

Miao Miao may refer to: * Miao people, linguistically and culturally related group of people, recognized as such by the government of the People's Republic of China * Miao script or Pollard script, writing system used for Miao languages * Miao (Unicode ...

boys and gave them to officials as enslaved people; however, Emperor Yingzong of Ming reprimanded him. Prince Zhu Shuang had several

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

an boys castrated, and Tibetan women seized after a war against the Tibetans. He was a denounced prince after his death. During the

Lê dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known as Later Lê dynasty ( vi, Hậu Lê triều, chữ Hán: 後黎朝 or vi, nhà Hậu Lê, link=no, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), was the longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, ruling Đại Việt from 1428 to 1789. The Lê ...

, Vietnamese emperor

Lê Thánh Tông Lê Thánh Tông (黎聖宗; 25 August 1442 – 3 March 1497), personal name Lê Hạo, temple name Thánh Tông, courtesy name Tư Thành, was an emperor of Đại Việt, reigning from 1460 to 1497, the fifth and the longest-reigning empe ...

cracked down on foreign contacts and enforced

isolationism Isolationism is a political philosophy advocating a national foreign policy that opposes involvement in the political affairs, and especially the wars, of other countries. Thus, isolationism fundamentally advocates neutrality and opposes entang ...

. His policies affected trade between Guangdong (

Leizhou Peninsula The Leizhou Peninsula, alternately romanized as the Luichow Peninsula, is a peninsula in the southernmost part of Guangdong province in South China. History Qing naval forces were stationed at the Leizhou Peninsula. During the 19th century ...

and

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

) and Vietnam, with accounts of captured Chinese sailors blown off course being captured and castrated to become slaves of the Vietnamese. Malay envoys from the Malacca Sultanate were attacked and captured in 1469 by the Vietnamese navy as they returned to Malacca from China. The Vietnamese enslaved and castrated the young captives. A 1499 entry in the ''

Ming Shilu The ''Ming Shilu'' () contains the imperial annals of the emperors of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644). It is the single largest historical source for the dynasty. According to modern historians, it "plays an extremely important role in the histo ...

'' reported that during the 1460s, under the

Chenghua Emperor The Chenghua Emperor (; 9 December 1447 – 9 September 1487), personal name Zhu Jianshen, was the ninth Emperor of the Ming dynasty, who reigned from 1464 to 1487. His era name " Chenghua" means "accomplished change". Childhood Zhu Jianshen wa ...

(1464–1487 AD), 13 Chinese men from Wenchang (including

Wu Rui Wu Rui (died ), King Wen of Changsha, was an ancient Chinese general who helped Liu Bang establish the Han dynasty. A Baiyue magistrate of Po County under the Qin dynasty, he rose to become King of Hengshan during the collapse of Qin and was enf ...

) were captured by the Vietnamese after their ship was blown off course from

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

's Qin subprefecture ( Qinzhou) and landed near the coast of Vietnam. The Emperor enslaved 12 of the 13 sailors as agricultural laborers; the youngest Chinese man, Wu Rui (吳瑞), was selected by the Vietnamese court for castration and became a eunuch at the

Imperial Citadel of Thang Long Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

for nearly 25 years. After the death of Lê Thánh Tông in 1497, Wu Rui became a military superintendent in northern Vietnam. An

Lạng Sơn Lạng Sơn () is a city in far northern Vietnam, which is the capital of Lạng Sơn Province. It is accessible by road and rail from Hanoi, the Vietnamese capital, and it is the northernmost point on National Route 1. History Due to its ge ...

guard told him about a route back to China, and Rui escaped to

Longzhou Longzhou County Zhuang: ''Lungzcouh Yen'') is a county of southwestern Guangxi, China, bordering Cao Bằng province, Vietnam. It is under the jurisdiction of the prefecture-level city of Chongzuo. Longzhou lies in a circular valley at ...

after walking for nine days through the mountains. Local ethnic minority

Tusi ''Tusi'', often translated as "headmen" or "chieftains", were hereditary tribal leaders recognized as imperial officials by the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties of China, and the Later Lê and Nguyễn dynasties of Vietnam. They ruled certain et ...

chief Wei Chen took him into custody, overruling objections from his family (who wanted to return him to Vietnam). Learning about his escape and fearing that he would reveal Vietnamese state secrets, officials sent an agent to repurchase Rui from Wei Chen. An argument about price began; Pingxiang magistrate Li Guangning rescued Rui and sent him to

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

to serve in the Ming palace. In 1467, a similar entry in the '' Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư'' reports that a Chinese ship blew onshore in the An Bang province of Dai Viet (present-day Quảng Ninh Province). Lê Thánh Tông ordered the Chinese to be detained and not allowed to return to China. Historians Leo K. Shin, John K. Whitmore, and Tana Li suggest that these accounts of sailors blown off course and being captured and castrated may point to Chinese involvement in illegal trade, which the Vietnamese government suppressed.Li (2015), p. 202 Rumors about the Ming

Zhengde Emperor The Zhengde Emperor (; 26 October 149120 April 1521) was the 11th Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1505 to 1521. Born Zhu Houzhao, he was the Hongzhi Emperor's eldest son. Zhu Houzhao took the throne at only 14 with the era name Zhen ...

's possible conversion to Islam abounded after he encouraged his Muslim eunuchs to commission the production of porcelain with blue-and-white inscriptions in Persian and Arabic. Suspicion grew when the emperor was associated with an anti-pig-slaughter mandate, although the author of the proclamation is unknown. Muslim eunuchs contributed money in 1496 to repair the Niujie Mosque, the largest mosque and Muslim cultural center in Beijing, and the emperor's association with his Muslim eunuchs triggered gossip. The emperor employed nearly 70,000 eunuchs by the end of the Ming dynasty, with some serving in the imperial palace. The dynasty's eunuch population peaked at 100,000. In popular cultural texts, such as Zhang Yingyu's ''The Book of Swindles'' (), eunuchs were described negatively and accused of enriching themselves with excessive taxation and indulging in cannibalism and sexual debauchery. The Southern Ming Yongli emperor's wife, Empress Wang, had a young eunuch enslaved person who later wrote an account detailing his childhood in

Huguang Huguang was a province of China during the Yuan and Ming dynasties. It was founded by the Yuan dynasty in 1274. During the Yuan dynasty it included the areas of modern Hubei south of the Yangtze river, Hunan, Guizhou, and Guangxi. During the Ming ...

province's Jingzhou prefecture. First, the eunuch writes that rebels killed his parents; one of the rebels adopted him, who later became a Southern Ming soldier. Then, in 1656, the Southern Ming court ordered high-ranking military officers to give up their sons over the age of seven years for castration in Kunming (Yunnan Fu) and enslavement in the Yongli court. Over 20 boys were castrated one month after the order, including Empress Wang's slave (despite his adoptive father's attempts to save him). Wang Ruoshue and Pang Tianshou were eunuchs in Zhu Youlang's court.

Imperial eunuchs

In Ming China, eunuchs were a cornerstone of daily operations in the imperial palace. First and foremost was maintaining a comfortable life for the emperor. Their other responsibilities varied in significance, encompassing almost every aspect of the palace routine. They included procuring copper, tin, wood, and iron and repairing and constructing ponds, castle gates, and palaces in major cities like

and

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

and the mansions and mausoleums of imperial relatives. Eunuchs prepared meals for many people and cared for pets and wild animals in and around the palace. They worked closely with other professionals in the palace, frequently associating with those in lower-ranking occupations. In addition, some eunuchs had supportive partnerships with serving women in the palace; the name for such a pair was a "vegetarian couple" (''duishi''). The relationships offered security and protection to both parties, enabling them to interact with higher-ranking Mandarin bureaucrats. The duties of eunuchs evolved. The

Hongwu Emperor The Hongwu Emperor (21 October 1328 – 24 June 1398), personal name Zhu Yuanzhang (), courtesy name Guorui (), was the founding emperor of the Ming dynasty of China, reigning from 1368 to 1398. As famine, plagues and peasant revolts in ...

decreed that a few uneducated eunuchs should be kept (to prevent them from seizing power). Still, later emperors began to train and educate eunuchs and often made them their secretaries. The elimination of previous restrictions allowed some eunuchs (particularly Wang Zhen, Liu Jin, and

Wei Zhongxian Wei Zhongxian (1568 – December 12, 1627), born Wei Si (魏四), was a Chinese court eunuch who lived in the late Ming dynasty. As a eunuch he used the name Li Jinzhong (李进忠). He is considered by most historians as the most notorious eunuc ...

) to attain great power. The

established the

Eastern Depot Eastern Depot or Eastern Bureau () was a Ming dynasty spy and secret police agency run by eunuchs. It was created by the Yongle Emperor. History After the Yongle Emperor usurped the throne in 1402 from his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor, he attempte ...

, a spy and

secret police Secret police (or political police) are intelligence, security or police agencies that engage in covert operations against a government's political, religious, or social opponents and dissidents. Secret police organizations are characteristic of a ...

agency run by eunuchs from 1420 to 1644.

was a seafaring pioneer who spread Chinese influence extensively.

Reputation

Eunuchs were controversial in Ming China as they had a reputation for spying. They served the harem and the emperors who believed they could carry valuable information. Fearful bureaucrat scholars thought of eunuchs as greedy, evil, cunning, and duplicitous because they worked in the palace or other official houses with many concubines. In Chinese society, castration broke conventional moral rules; a son without a male heir to carry on the family name contradicted Confucian ideology. Eunuchs in the palace were stereotyped as exceeding their authority in areas where they did not belong. The

allowed them to supervise the implementation of political tasks, and eunuchs sometimes interfered in the succession to the throne. As their presence and power increased, they gradually took over the duties of female palace musicians and became the dominant Ming palace musicians.

Qing dynasty (1634-1912)

The Qing Dynasty Cixi Imperial Dowager Empress of China On Throne Sedan With Palace Enuches

Although eunuchs were employed by all Chinese dynasties, their opportunities declined during the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

; their work was largely replaced by the

Imperial Household Department The Imperial Household Department (; mnc, , v=dorgi baita be uheri kadalara yamun) was an institution of the Qing dynasty of China. Its primary purpose was to manage the internal affairs of the Qing imperial family and the activities of the inn ...

, which had managed their employment since the reign of the

Kangxi Emperor The Kangxi Emperor (4 May 1654– 20 December 1722), also known by his temple name Emperor Shengzu of Qing, born Xuanye, was the third emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1661 to 1 ...

. The Qing palace tended to recruit eunuchs from

Zhili Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern administrative region of China since the 14th-century that lasted through the Ming dynasty and Qing dynasty until 1911, when the region was dissolved, converted to a province, and renamed ...

who were primarily unmarried adolescent-to-mid-20s Han Chinese from northern Shandong and the counties of Wanping,

Jinghai Jinghai District () is a district of the municipality of Tianjin, People's Republic of China, located in the southwest portion of the municipality, bordering Hebei province to the south and west, Xiqing District to the north and northeast, and Bi ...

, Daxing, and

Hejian Hejian (; alternative romanizations: Ho Dsie Ho-kien

fou Fou may refer to: People * Fou Fonoti (born 1991), American football player * Fou Ts'ong (born 1934), Chinese pianist * Pama Fou (born 1990), Australian rugby union player Other uses * Fou (instrument) (缻), an ancient Chinese percussion ins ...

is a county-level city under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Cangzhou, in the east-central part of Hebei province, China. , the population was ca. 895,000 inhabitants a ...

in southern Hebei near Beijing. A small number of southern Chinese from Yunnan, Zhejiang, and Guangdong became eunuchs, but the increase was minor compared to the number of eunuchs from the counties around Beijing. In 1621, the Qing

beile The Qing dynasty (1636–1912) of China developed a complicated peerage system for royal and noble ranks. Rule of inheritance In principle, titles were downgraded one grade for each generation of inheritance. * Direct imperial princes with ...

(princes) were erroneously told that their palace women would have sex with their young male slaves and were instructed to have the slaves castrated by Nurhaci. At the beginning of the 20th century, about 2,000 eunuchs worked in the Forbidden City; they were notorious for corruption and theft during the later dynasty after being routinely beaten and abused as slaves governed by a frequently hostile and violent emperor. Many men willingly became eunuchs because of poverty in China, also experiencing physical violence to live a better life.Behr, Edward ''The Last Emperor'' London: Futura, 1987 page 73. Puyi, the last emperor, wrote about growing up in the Forbidden City: "By the age of 11, flogging eunuchs was part of my daily routine. My cruelty and love of power were already too firmly set for persuasion to have any effect on me... Whenever I was in a bad temper the eunuchs would be in for trouble." A yellow bag with bamboo sticks were kept in the Forbidden City, and Empress Dowager Cixi once ordered the palace servant girls and court women to beat the eunuchs with them. Eunuchs would be punished more unless they begged their mistress (or master) for mercy.

Lin Shuangwen rebellion and aftermath

A new policy of castrating rebels and the sons of killers of three or more related people helped bolster the dwindling supply of young eunuchs for the Qing summer palace. The Qing lowered their age limit for castrating the sons of rebels from nine to four years of age. The Qing Imperial Household Department sometimes waited until the boys were 11 years old before castrating them; two young, imprisoned sons of executed murderer Sui Bilong from Shandong were not castrated until they were older. However, the department immediately castrated 11-year-old, Hunanese Fang Mingzai after his father was executed for murder. One hundred thirty sons of participants in the

Lin Shuangwen rebellion The Lin Shuangwen rebellion () occurred in 17871788 in Taiwan under the rule of the Qing dynasty. The rebellion was started by the rebel Lin Shuangwen and was pacified by the Qianlong Emperor. Lin Shuangwen was then executed. It started when the ...

, aged four to fifteen, were castrated on the orders of the

Qianlong Emperor The Qianlong Emperor (25 September 17117 February 1799), also known by his temple name Emperor Gaozong of Qing, born Hongli, was the fifth Emperor of the Qing dynasty and the fourth Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1735 t ...

and

Heshen Heshen (; ; 1 July 1750 – 22 February 1799) of the Manchu Niohuru clan, was an official of the Qing dynasty favored by the Qianlong Emperor and called the most corrupt official in Chinese history. After the death of Qianlong, the Jiaqing Empe ...

(including rebel leader Zhuang Datian's four-year-old grandson, Zhuang Amo). The rebel leader Datian's family and the family of Lin Da were punished for their participation in the rebellion. Lin Shuangwen ordered Lin Da to lead a group of 100 rebels, and titled him "General Xuanlue". After the rebellion, Lin Da was executed by Lingchi at age 42. He had six sons; the two eldest died before the rebellion, his third son (Lin Dou) died of disease in Beijing before he could be castrated, and his fourth and fifth sons (11-year-old Lin Biao and 8-year-old Lin Xian) were castrated. His sixth and youngest son (seven-year-old Lin Mading) was adopted by his uncle, Lin Qin; since Lin Qin did not join the rebellion, Lin Mading was not castrated and had two children after marrying in 1800.

Castration policy changes

The Qing policy of castrating the sons of rebels and murderers with three or more victims was inspired by the 1781 case of an 18-year-old nephew of a rebel whose death sentence was commuted to castration. Castration for the sons of rebels and murderers was reintroduced by the Qing during the 18th century, after its abolition in the

Tang Tang or TANG most often refers to: * Tang dynasty * Tang (drink mix) Tang or TANG may also refer to: Chinese states and dynasties * Jin (Chinese state) (11th century – 376 BC), a state during the Spring and Autumn period, called Tang (唐) b ...

and Ming dynasties. In 1793, Qianlong and the Imperial Household Department (under

) decreed that the sons of murderers over age 16 would be exiled as slaves to the frontier after castration; sons under 16 would be kept as eunuchs in the imperial palace, in the belief that the younger sons could be controlled more easily.

= Sons of murderers

= The Qianlong Emperor reviewed the case of Zhao Cheng (赵成), who slept with his son's wife. His son, Zhao Youliang, did not want to report his father and took his wife to the safety of their relatives (the Niu family). Zhao Cheng's friend, Sun Si (孙四), helped him murder five members of the Niu family (which he blamed on his son). Under torture and interrogation, Zhao Youliang did not implicate his father. Officials surmised that the murders were probably committed by more than one person and, after torturing and interrogating the Niu family's neighbors, learned that Zhao Cheng and Sun Si committed the murders. The penalty for mass murder was the execution of the same number of individuals from the perpetrator's family as the murder victims. Officials were hesitant to execute Zhao Youliang for his father's crimes and asked the Qianlong Emperor for guidance. The emperor decided that the son should be castrated; although he was the son of a murderer, he was victimized by his father. In 1791, a mass murderer killed 11 and injured 12 unrelated people. The Qing punishment-by-castration policy made clear the two requirements to grant a murderer castration instead of execution: at least three people must be murdered, and all victims must be members of the same family. Disregarding the requirement for a victim-familial relationship, the Qing Emperor ordered the murderer's sons to be castrated instead of executed. In a related 1789 incident in Henan, three brothers were killed and a fourth brother was severely injured in an attack by a tenant farmer named Zhang. The emperor ordered the castration of Zhang's two sons, instead of execution; Zhang was sentenced to death by ''

lingchi ''Lingchi'' (; ), translated variously as the slow process, the lingering death, or slow slicing, and also known as death by a thousand cuts, was a form of torture and execution used in China from roughly 900 CE up until the practice ended aro ...

''. In 1872, Liu Ch'ang-Yu of

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

was taken by the Imperial Household Department for castration when he became of age to be enslaved as a eunuch in a princely establishment; his father had murdered several relatives.

= Sons of rebels

= The Qing changed its law about the punishment by castration of sons of rebels four times (in 1801, 1814, 1835, and 1845), saying that if the sons and grandsons of rebels claimed ignorance of their father (or grandfather's) rebellious intent they would be sent to the Imperial Household Department for castration as adults or children. Notable Qing enactments were: * 1849: Taiping rebel

Shi Dakai Shi Dakai (1 March 1831 – 25 June 1863; ), born in Guigang, Guangxi, also known as Wing King () or phonetically translated as Yi-Wang, was one of the most highly acclaimed leaders in the Taiping Rebellion and a poet. Early life Shi Dakai wa ...

's two sons, five-year-old Shi Dingzhong and his younger brother Shi Dingji were sentenced to imprisonment until they reached age 11 (when they would be castrated). It is unknown if the castrations were carried out. * 1856: Rebels were captured in the metropolitan province of Zhili with several boys under the age of 15. The rebel adults were beheaded, and the boys were castrated. * 1862: Qing forces under Zuo Zongtang suppressed the 1862–1877 Dungan Revolt. The sons of Muslim

Hui The Hui people ( zh, c=, p=Huízú, w=Hui2-tsu2, Xiao'erjing: , dng, Хуэйзў, ) are an East Asian ethnoreligious group predominantly composed of Chinese-speaking adherents of Islam. They are distributed throughout China, mainly in the n ...

and Salar rebel leaders in Ningxia,

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

, and

Qinghai Qinghai (; alternately romanized as Tsinghai, Ch'inghai), also known as Kokonor, is a landlocked province in the northwest of the People's Republic of China. It is the fourth largest province of China by area and has the third smallest po ...

, including Ma Benyuan (马本源), were castrated by the Imperial Household Department at age 11 and sent to work as slaves for garrisons in Xinjiang. The wives of the rebel leaders were also enslaved. Ma Jincheng, a son of the Hui Naqshbandi leader Ma Hualong, was also castrated. The department castrated and enslaved Ma Guiyuan's (马桂源) nine sons, since they had reached age 12, and sent them to Qing soldiers in Xinjiang. * 1870: Zhang Wenxiang (張汶祥) was accused of the assassination of

Ma Xinyi Ma Xinyi (Xiao'erjing: , ; Styled and variably 穀三; Posthumous title: 端敏公 (Duke Duanmin); November 3, 1821–August 23, 1870) was an eminent Hui Muslim official and a military general of the late Qing Dynasty in China. Along with o ...

and executed. Before his execution, he was forced to watch his 11-year-old son Zhang Changpao (張長幅) being tortured to get him to confess to the assassination (thought to be a conspiracy by the Qing government against Ma Xinyi). After his father's execution, the boy was castrated by the Imperial Household Department. * 1872: Li Mao-Tz'e (Li Maozi), who had rebelled at the border of Henan (Honan) and Anhui (Anhwei) provinces, was executed. His six-year-old son, Li Liu, was captured by Qing forces in Anhui and handed over to Yulu (Yu Luh), the governor of Anhui. Imprisoned in the office of the district magistrate of Huaining (Hwaining) until reaching age 11 in 1877; he was handed to the Imperial Household Department for castration. His case appeared on 28 November 1877 in the ''

Peking Gazette The ''Peking Gazette'' was an official bulletin published with changing frequency in Beijing until 1912, when the Qing dynasty fell and Republican China was born. The translated name, as it is known to Western sources, comes from Ming dynasty-era ...

''. * 1879: Central Asian Muslim conqueror Yaqub Beg was accused of rebellious sedition in 1879, which resulted in the capture of his three sons and one grandson under the age of ten. The court waited until the boys were 11 before trying them for their assumed knowledge of their father's sedition; they faced a slow, agonizing execution if found guilty, and castration and enslavement if acquitted. They were found not guilty and handed over to the Imperial Household Department for castration. Surviving members of Beg's family included four sons, four grandchildren (two boys and two girls), and four wives. All died in prison in

Lanzhou Lanzhou (, ; ) is the capital and largest city of Gansu Province in Northwest China. Located on the banks of the Yellow River, it is a key regional transportation hub, connecting areas further west by rail to the eastern half of the country. H ...

, Gansu, or were killed. * 1907: Anti-Qing revolutionary

Xu Xilin Xu Xilin (December 17 1873 – July 7 1907), was a Chinese revolutionary born in Dongpu, Shanyin, Shaoxing, Zhejiang during the Qing dynasty. Xu was sent to Japan in 1903 for study where he joined other Zhejiang students in rescuing Zhan ...

(Hsü Hsi-lin) and his son, Xu Xuewen (1906–1991), were arrested by the Qing. Under Qing law, Xu Xuewen (who was under the age of 16), was supposed to be castrated as punishment. The Qing was overthrown in 1912, however, and the castration was not carried out.

Young eunuchs used for intimate services

The Qing Dynasty Cixi Imperial Dowager Empress of China with Attendant

Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet noted on his visit to the Qing summer palace as part of the 1793

Macartney Mission The Macartney Embassy (), also called the Macartney Mission, was the first British diplomatic mission to China, which took place in 1793. It is named for its leader, George Macartney, Great Britain's first envoy to China. The goals of the missi ...

that there were two types of Chinese eunuchs: those without testicles (who inspected and maintained buildings, gardens, and other palace works) and those (called ''rasibus'' by local Catholic missionaries) who had also had their penises and testicles – amputated. Barrow notes that the term "black eunuch" referred not to skin color but referenced the Ottoman Empire term for eunuchs who had their penis removed. These eunuchs served inside the palace, attending to the imperial harem. The young, emasculated eunuchs, considered nearly as coquettish as the women they served, often painted their faces like the imperial women. Barrow noted that all the Chinese eunuchs (including the ''rasibus'') had female slaves, purchased from poor families who sold their daughters. The Qing court and the eunuchs, however, considered eunuchs male and not female or third sex. 孝定景皇后旧照

The 19th-century British researcher George Carter Stent and later historian Norman A. Kutcher observed that young eunuchs were prized by female members of the Qing imperial family as attendants. Both note that young eunuchs were physically attractive, considered "completely pure", and were used for "impossible to describe" duties by female members of the imperial family. Kutcher suggests that the boys were used for sexual pleasure by Qing imperial women, likening them to other young eunuchs called "earrings" who were also used for that purpose. Young eunuchs were used for intimate bathroom and bedroom duties by palace ladies. During the Qing dynasty, emasculated eunuchs had to resort to dildos, oral sex, or foreplay to satisfy women sexually. Liang Zhangju (1775–1849) wrote in his "Wandering Talk" sketches that palace eunuchs performed oral sex on the women and caressed them until the women were sexually satisfied. Eunuchs used dildos and hormones to have a "dry-run orgasm with diminished sensation to reduce the effects of castration", especially if they were past puberty when castrated. Eunuchs still had a sexual desire after castration but were sexually frustrated. The eunuch Zhang Delang engaged in sexual acts with a prostitute in Tianjin's Japanese concession (where he lived after the fall of the Qing) and married three women. Yu Chunhe, a eunuch who worked for Delang, said he was "burning with fever and desire" as he watched Delang and the prostitute. Cixi (Tsu-Hsi) suggested that eunuch Xiao Dezhang (Hsiao Teh-chang) (Zhang Lande) become a sexual partner of the Longyu empress (Lung-yu), since the Guangxi emperor (Kuang Hsu) was impotent. Zhang Lande also had a love affair with Han banner woman Yu Roung Ling, a sister of

Princess Der Ling Lizzie Yu Der Ling ( zh, t=裕德齡, w=Yü Tê-ling, p=Yù Délíng; 8 June 188122 November 1944), better known as "Princess" Der Ling, and also known as Elisabeth Antoinette White after her marriage to Thaddeus C. White, was a Hanjun bannerwom ...

. Sexual relations and marriage between eunuchs and palace maids was referred to as ''duishi''.

Eunuchs and Banner-women

The Manchu palace maid Ronger (榮兒) (b. 1880) of the Manchu Hešeri clan wrote ''The Memoirs of a Palace Maid'', an autobiography about her experiences as a Qing palace maid. She retired from service at age 18 and was married to Liu, a Han Chinese eunuch given to her by the Dowager Empress Cixi and an adopted son of eunuch Liu Lianying. Ronger writes that Qing court rules required that all court eunuchs must be Han Chinese and not from the Eight Banners (administrative and military divisions in the Later Jin and Qing dynasties into which all Manchu households were placed). All palace maids had to be Manchu Banner-women from the three Upper Banners and were required to "stay ten years at the palace to wait upon Her Majesty, and then they are free to marry". Han girls were not allowed to be palace maids unless their Han Banner-man father was a high official of the sixth rank or higher, and Han fathers were not required to send their daughters to serve.

End of the dynasty

The Qing dynasty ended after the

1911 Revolution The 1911 Revolution, also known as the Xinhai Revolution or Hsinhai Revolution, ended China's last imperial dynasty, the Manchu-led Qing dynasty, and led to the establishment of the Republic of China. The revolution was the culmination of a d ...

. Puyi (the last Qing emperor) continued to live in the Forbidden City with his eunuchs with financial support from the new Chinese republic until 1924 when he and his entourage were expelled by the warlord general Feng Yuxiang. In 1923, after a fire that Puyi believed was started to cover the theft of his imperial treasures, he expelled the eunuchs from the Forbidden City.

Notable eunuchs

First millennium BC

Zhao Gao Zhao Gao (died 207 BC) was a Chinese politician and calligrapher. He was an official of the Qin dynasty of China. Allegedly a eunuch, he served as a close aide to all three rulers of the Qin dynasty – Qin Shi Huang, Qin Er Shi and Ziying – ...

(d. 210 BC) – favorite of Qin Shihuangdi; plotted against Li Si. *

– first to practice modern

historiography Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline, and by extension is any body of historical work on a particular subject. The historiography of a specific topic covers how historians ha ...

(the gathering and analysis of both primary and secondary sources) to write a monumental history of the Chinese empire

First millennium AD

Cai Lun Cai Lun (; courtesy name: Jingzhong (); – 121 CE), formerly romanized as Ts'ai Lun, was a Chinese eunuch court official of the Eastern Han dynasty. He is traditionally regarded as the inventor of paper and the modern papermaking process ...

– formerly credited with inventing paper before the discovery of earlier paper manuscripts

Second millennium AD

* Jia Xian () – Chinese mathematician who invented the Jia Xian triangle for the calculation of square and

cube root In mathematics, a cube root of a number is a number such that . All nonzero real numbers, have exactly one real cube root and a pair of complex conjugate cube roots, and all nonzero complex numbers have three distinct complex cube roots. Fo ...

s *

(1371–1433) – admiral who led large Chinese fleets for exploration in the Indian Ocean * Huang Hao – Shu eunuch who appears in the ''

Romance of the Three Kingdoms ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms'' () is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 184 AD and ...

'' *

Cen Hun Cen Hun (died 280) was an official of the state of Eastern Wu during the late Three Kingdoms period (220–280) of China. Life Cen Hun held positions among the Nine Ministers during the reign of Sun Hao, the fourth and last emperor of Wu. Hist ...

– Wu eunuch during the Three Kingdoms Period * Gao Lishi – a loyal and trusted friend of

emperor Xuanzong *

Li Fuguo Li Fuguo ( 李輔國; 704 – November 12, 762According to Tang Daizong's biography in the ''Old Book of Tang'', Li was killed at night on the ''dingmao'' day in the 10th month of the 1st year of the Baoying era of Tang Suzong's/Daizong's reign. ...

– Tang eunuch who began another era of eunuch rule * Yu Chao'en – Tang eunuch who began his career as an army supervisor *

Yang Liangyao Yang Liangyao ( zh, 楊良瑤) was a Tang dynasty eunuch official known only from his tomb stele, discovered in 1984. He had a long and distinguished career at the Tang court, and led a number of embassies, most notably to the Abbasid Caliphate in ...

– Tang court eunuch with a distinguished diplomatic career, most notably to the

Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...

in 785 * Wang Zhen – first powerful

eunuch; see Tumu Crisis *

Gang Bing Gang Bing (, sometimes written as 刚秉/剛秉 Gāng Bǐng, also known as 刚铁/剛鐵, Gāng Tiě) was a Chinese general and eunuch who served under the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty. Self-castration Gang Bing is most notable for his act o ...

– patron saint of Chinese eunuchs who castrated himself to demonstrate loyalty to the

– admiral in charge of expeditions of the

Amur River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's List of longest rivers, tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China, Northeastern China (Inne ...

under the Yongle and Xuande Emperors * Liu Jin – corrupt Ming eunuch official and ''de facto'' emperor, a member of the

Eight Tigers The Eight Tigers (), sometimes referred to as the Gang of Eight (八黨), were a powerful group of Eunuch (court official), eunuchs that controlled the Chinese imperial court during the reign of the Zhengde Emperor (r. 1505–1521) of the Ming Dyn ...

– Ming dynasty eunuch, considered the most powerful eunuch in Chinese history *

– Chinese eunuch in

Lê Dynasty The Lê dynasty, also known as Later Lê dynasty ( vi, Hậu Lê triều, chữ Hán: 後黎朝 or vi, nhà Hậu Lê, link=no, chữ Nôm: 茹後黎), was the longest-ruling Vietnamese dynasty, ruling Đại Việt from 1428 to 1789. The Lê ...

Annam (Vietnam) *

An Dehai An Dehai (, 1844 – 12 September 1869) was a palace eunuch at the imperial court of the Qing dynasty. In the 1860s, he became the confidant and favourite of Empress Dowager Cixi and was subsequently executed as part of a power struggle betwe ...

(184412 September 1869) – Qing palace

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millennium ...

, confidant, and favorite of Empress Dowager Cixi who was executed in a power struggle between the empress dowager and Prince Chun *

Li Lianying Li Lianying (; 12 November 1848 – 4 March 1911) was a Chinese imperial eunuch who lived in the late Qing dynasty. He was a eunuch during the regency of Empress Dowager Cixi, who was the ''de facto'' ruler of China from 1869 to 1908 throu ...

– despotic Qing eunuch * Xin Xiuming (1878–1959) – in Emperor Puyi's service from 1902 to 1911; abbot of the Taoist temple at

Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery The Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery () is Beijing's main resting place for the highest-ranking revolutionary heroes, high government officials and, in recent years, individuals deemed of major importance due to their contributions to society. In ...

in 1930; wrote ''Eunuch's Recollection'', a memoir *

(1902–1996) – last surviving imperial eunuch

References

Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * * Tuotuo. Liaoshi istory of Liao Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974 (or Tuotuo, ''Liaoshi'' (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1974)) * * * * * * * * * * "A Eunuch Cooks Boys to Make a Tonic of Male Essence," in Zhang Yingyu,
The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection
', translated by Christopher Rea and Bruce Rusk (New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2017), pp. 138–141. * Mary M. Anderson, Hidden Power: The Palace Eunuchs of Imperial China (Prometheus Books, 1990) * Taisuke Mitamura (trans. by Charles A. Pomeroy), Chinese Eunuchs: The Structure of Intimate Politics (Tuttle Publishing, 1970) * Shih-Shan Henry Tsai, The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty (State University of New York Press, 1995) * English language Abstracts of the thesis **

**

* ''

In Our Time In Our Time may refer to: * ''In Our Time'' (1944 film), a film starring Ida Lupino and Paul Henreid * ''In Our Time'' (1982 film), a Taiwanese anthology film featuring director Edward Yang; considered the beginning of the "New Taiwan Cinema" * ''In ...

: The Eunuch''. Presenter:

Melvyn Bragg Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, (born 6 October 1939), is an English broadcaster, author and parliamentarian. He is best known for his work with ITV as editor and presenter of ''The South Bank Show'' (1978–2010), and for the BBC Radio 4 documenta ...

. Interviewed Guests: Karen Radner, Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

; Shaun Tougher, Reader in Ancient History at

Cardiff University , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

; Michael Hoeckelmann, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. Producer: Thomas Morris. Broadcaster:

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

. Date: 26 February 2015

External links

* * * {{cite web, url=http://www.eunuch.org/ , website=eunuch.org, title=The Eunuch Archive Eunuchs History of China Society of China Demographics of China