Seven Castles

Eunuch

                                      

July 1, 2008

 

A eunuch is a man castrated in order to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past. Over the millennia, they have performed a wide variety of functions in many different cultures such as courtiers or equivalent domestics, treble singers, religious specialists, government officials, military commanders, and guardians of women or harem servants.

 

The English word "eunuch" is from the Greek "eune" ("bed") and "ekhein" ("to keep"), effectively "bed keeper". Servants or slaves were usually castrated in order to make them safer servants of a royal court where physical access to the ruler could wield great influence. Seemingly lowly domestic functions such as making the ruler's bed, bathing him, cutting his hair, carrying him in his litter or even relaying messages could in theory give a eunuch "the ruler's ear" and impart de facto power on the formally humble but trusted servant. Similar instances are reflected in the humble origins and etymology of many high offices (e.g. chancellor started out as a servant guarding the entrance to an official's study). Because their condition usually lowered their social status, they could also be easily replaced or killed without repercussion.

 

In ancient China castration was both a traditional punishment (until the Sui Dynasty) and a means of gaining employment in the Imperial service. At the end of the Ming Dynasty there were about 70,000 eunuchs in the Imperial palace. The value of such employment - certain eunuchs gained immense power that may have superseded that of the prime ministers - was such that self-castration had to be made illegal. The number of eunuchs in Imperial employ had fallen to 470 in 1912, when their employment ceased.

 

The large proportion of eunuchs came from poor families, whose desperate parents arranged the operation to offer the chance of a comfortable life in the palace. Some people made this decision themselves as adults. If they were accepted into the palace they would be given food, clothes and a guaranteed home for the rest of their lives, and the lucky few had the chance to become rich and influential beyond their wildest imagination. However, many more eunuchs applied to the palace than were taken in.

 

Eunuchs could be scheming rogues plagued in corruption, sharp-witted military experts and political advisors, or just good kind friends. Playing different roles at different times in Chinese history, their representation in historical sources is contradictory.

 

Eunuchs are a regular part of modern Chinese culture, featuring in plays, TV series, films and books. Some eunuchs were praised for their unique achievements. China's most famous eunuch, for example, was admiral Zheng He, the famed 15th-century Chinese explorer. He was Commander in Chief of China's huge fleet and made seven voyages from Asia to Africa at the height of Chinese maritime dominance.

 

In fact, some of the most powerful men in China's history were not exactly men, but eunuchs (castrated men). The tension between depraved eunuchs in the service of the emperor and virtuous Confucian officials resisting their tyranny is a familiar theme in Chinese history. There were instances of very capable eunuchs, who were valuable advisors to their emperor, and the resistance of the "virtuous" officials often was procrastination on the part of a privileged class that blindly resisted any change, whether it is for the good or the bad of the empire. In reality, eunuchs represented the personal will of the Emperor, while the officials represented the alternate political will of the bureaucracy. The clash between them was a clash of ideologies or political agenda.

【作者: zhangliping】【访问统计:】【2008年07月1日 星期二 05:36】【注册】【打印】