Ming Eunuchs, pt. 2
Posted: Wed Aug 14, 2002 6:48 pm
THE DEMAND AND SUPPLY OF MING EUNUCHS: Historic Origins
The presence of eunuchs is in no way limited to Chinese society. In the 1700s as many as 4,000 boys were castrated each year in Italy and 70 percent of all opera singers were castrati. In China, at the end of the fifteenth century, there were approximately 10,000 eunuchs in the Forbidden City and in various Ming princely establishments. At the time of the establishment in 1644 of the Qing dynasty it was estimated that the total number of eunuchs in China had reached 100,000 in a total population of about 130 million people.
Castration and eunuchism appeared not only in ancient Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman literature, but was condemned in the Bible. For several centuries, the Arabs, the Indians, and the Turks widely used castrated men for a variety of assignments in palaces. Nobody knows when and how eunuchs were first institutionalized in China except that castration was frequently used as a substitute for the death penalty. In China, palace eunuchs were called 'huanguan' which was a recognized official title during the Shang dynasty (1765 - 1222 B.C.) as it appeared on the Shang oracle bones. 'Zhouli" (Rites of the Zhou) also used a variety of terms when it referred to this group of castrated men. Other literature confirmed that the Zhou kings had in fact employed eunuchs as chamberlains in the palaces, assigning them to supervise royal chambers and guard the king's harem. Confucius (551 - 479 B.C.) was said to have been so irked by the evil example of a prominent eunuch named Yun Chu of the state of Wei that, after staying only for a month, he decided not to serve the duke of Wei. The first notorious eunuch who drew the attention of ancient chroniclers was Pei, who, according to the historian Zuo Qiuming, served under three mutually hostile dukes during the sixth century B.C. Pei was to become a stereotype eunuch - a person of sycophancy, ruthlessness, treachery, greed, and luxury. Such prejudice was also reflected in the 'Book of Odes,' which said,
. "Not heaven but women and eunuchs
. Bring misfortunes to mankind.
. Wives and those without balls
. Bleat with similar voices."
During the Qin dynasty (221 - 207 B.C.), more eunuchs were employed to serve the ambitious empire builder Qin Shihuangdi, who established a new agency called Zhongchangshi for the sole purpose of managing the ever-increasing number of court eunuchs. In the succeeding dynasties, court eunuchs continued to grow in number and influence and ultimately became an important part of China's imperial apparatus. Although Chinese society generally viewed these people as anathema, their status had by the beginning of the Christian era been firmly established. During the Easter Han dynasty (25 - 220 A.D.), six dowager empresses subsequently promoted court eunuchs to powerful positions and inevitably sowed the seeds for the dynasty's downfall. Before the rebels entered the Easter Han capital in Luoyang, an ambitious eunuch murdered the chief minister, He Jin, whose deputies in turn put to death more than 2,000 eunuchs as means of retribution, and brought down the dynasty. The next major dynasty that was to be constantly plagued with eunuch problems was the prosperous and culturally brilliant Tang dynasty (618 - 906). During the Tang rule, eunuchs were appointed commanders of palace guards and supervisors of the army and allowed to participate in the decision-making process. It is no exaggeration to say that high officials of the central government in Xian and the provinces were reduced to ingratiating themselves with the favorites of chief eunuchs to maintain their power and positions. Near the end of the dynasty, Tang eunuchs became virtual king makers, because they were instrumental in selecting seven of the last eight Tang emperors. But once again, the eunuchs had to pay a heavy price for wielding such enormous power. In 903, the warlord Zhu Quanzhong arrived in Xian and executed 162 court eunuchs and their collaborators. He later arrested and killed 300 more and ordered every eunuch who had been involved in military affairs to commit suicide. With most of the eunuchs gone, so went the Tang dynasty.
During the next fifty-four years of the so-called Five Dynasties, China witnessed political division and chaos, but very few eunuchs rose to prominent positions. Upon ascending the throne, the founder of the Song dynasty (North Song 960 - 1126, South Song 1127 - 1270), fully aware of the eunuch problems in previous dynasties, took measures to keep his castrated servants under control. During the first hundred years of the Song dynasty, which governed then the largest nation on earth, China enjoyed the reign of a succession of emperors who were conscientious and able administrators, as well as the general absence of any notorious perfidy on the part of the eunuchs. However, several eunuchs were given military command and, in fact, a very influential eunuch by the name of Tong Guan, who at one time commanded an army of 800,000 men, was later blamed for causing the downfall of the North Song. When China was under Mongol rule, 1279 - 1368, eunuchs were rarely active in the political arena. Nevertheless, Kublai Khan (1216? - 1294) commissioned a eunuch named Guo Shoujing to construct a section of the Grand Canal near Beijing. And in 1348, Jia Lu was appointed a Taijian, or grand eunuch, to manage flood control and maintain China's hydraulic infrastructure. Taijian, a unique eunuch title in China's officaldom, was thus created and henceforth became an important element in Chinese history.
When Zhu Yuanzhang (known as Emperor Hongwu) founded the Ming dynasty in 1368, he was keenly aware of the potentially pernicious eunuch problems and decided to limit the number of court eunuchs to fewer than 100. Even though he was later to increase the number of palace servants to more than 400, he reportedly also decreed that no eunuch be permitted to learn books or to give advice on political matters. Even the few eunuchs with whom Hongwu might chat were kept dutifully awed and never allowed to discuss politics. In 1384 he had the following inscription engraved on an iron tablet in front of the palace: "Eunuchs are forbidden to interfere with government affairs. Those who attempt to do so will be subjected to capital punishment." Shortly before his death he ordered that eunuchs should not longer be allowed to wear the uniform of government officials and that their rank should not exceed the fourth grade. Officials of all departments were forbidden to communicate with eunuchs by written documents.
The commands of the founder of the dynasty were disobeyed soon after his death. When Yongle (1402 - 1424) usurped the throne of his nephew, Emperor Jianwen (1398 - 1402), he had to rely on the help of the eunuchs because the court ministers had remained loyal to his nephew. After his successful coup d'etat, Emperor Yongle rewarded the eunuchs by giving them high ranks and showing them special favor, even putting some of them in charge of military affairs. In the ensuing years, Emperor Xuande, Yongle's grandson, established a classroom known as Neishutang, or Inner Court Study, and appointed four scholars from the Hanlin Academy to teach some 200 to 300 young eunuchs whose average age was about ten. Some of these educated eunuchs were to become secretaries of the emperor and often had communication with court officials. As the eunuchs were becoming literate, they became a dominant group to be reckoned with. Not only did they secure power bases in the court, their number also grew steadily.
The presence of eunuchs is in no way limited to Chinese society. In the 1700s as many as 4,000 boys were castrated each year in Italy and 70 percent of all opera singers were castrati. In China, at the end of the fifteenth century, there were approximately 10,000 eunuchs in the Forbidden City and in various Ming princely establishments. At the time of the establishment in 1644 of the Qing dynasty it was estimated that the total number of eunuchs in China had reached 100,000 in a total population of about 130 million people.
Castration and eunuchism appeared not only in ancient Egyptian, Persian, Greek, and Roman literature, but was condemned in the Bible. For several centuries, the Arabs, the Indians, and the Turks widely used castrated men for a variety of assignments in palaces. Nobody knows when and how eunuchs were first institutionalized in China except that castration was frequently used as a substitute for the death penalty. In China, palace eunuchs were called 'huanguan' which was a recognized official title during the Shang dynasty (1765 - 1222 B.C.) as it appeared on the Shang oracle bones. 'Zhouli" (Rites of the Zhou) also used a variety of terms when it referred to this group of castrated men. Other literature confirmed that the Zhou kings had in fact employed eunuchs as chamberlains in the palaces, assigning them to supervise royal chambers and guard the king's harem. Confucius (551 - 479 B.C.) was said to have been so irked by the evil example of a prominent eunuch named Yun Chu of the state of Wei that, after staying only for a month, he decided not to serve the duke of Wei. The first notorious eunuch who drew the attention of ancient chroniclers was Pei, who, according to the historian Zuo Qiuming, served under three mutually hostile dukes during the sixth century B.C. Pei was to become a stereotype eunuch - a person of sycophancy, ruthlessness, treachery, greed, and luxury. Such prejudice was also reflected in the 'Book of Odes,' which said,
. "Not heaven but women and eunuchs
. Bring misfortunes to mankind.
. Wives and those without balls
. Bleat with similar voices."
During the Qin dynasty (221 - 207 B.C.), more eunuchs were employed to serve the ambitious empire builder Qin Shihuangdi, who established a new agency called Zhongchangshi for the sole purpose of managing the ever-increasing number of court eunuchs. In the succeeding dynasties, court eunuchs continued to grow in number and influence and ultimately became an important part of China's imperial apparatus. Although Chinese society generally viewed these people as anathema, their status had by the beginning of the Christian era been firmly established. During the Easter Han dynasty (25 - 220 A.D.), six dowager empresses subsequently promoted court eunuchs to powerful positions and inevitably sowed the seeds for the dynasty's downfall. Before the rebels entered the Easter Han capital in Luoyang, an ambitious eunuch murdered the chief minister, He Jin, whose deputies in turn put to death more than 2,000 eunuchs as means of retribution, and brought down the dynasty. The next major dynasty that was to be constantly plagued with eunuch problems was the prosperous and culturally brilliant Tang dynasty (618 - 906). During the Tang rule, eunuchs were appointed commanders of palace guards and supervisors of the army and allowed to participate in the decision-making process. It is no exaggeration to say that high officials of the central government in Xian and the provinces were reduced to ingratiating themselves with the favorites of chief eunuchs to maintain their power and positions. Near the end of the dynasty, Tang eunuchs became virtual king makers, because they were instrumental in selecting seven of the last eight Tang emperors. But once again, the eunuchs had to pay a heavy price for wielding such enormous power. In 903, the warlord Zhu Quanzhong arrived in Xian and executed 162 court eunuchs and their collaborators. He later arrested and killed 300 more and ordered every eunuch who had been involved in military affairs to commit suicide. With most of the eunuchs gone, so went the Tang dynasty.
During the next fifty-four years of the so-called Five Dynasties, China witnessed political division and chaos, but very few eunuchs rose to prominent positions. Upon ascending the throne, the founder of the Song dynasty (North Song 960 - 1126, South Song 1127 - 1270), fully aware of the eunuch problems in previous dynasties, took measures to keep his castrated servants under control. During the first hundred years of the Song dynasty, which governed then the largest nation on earth, China enjoyed the reign of a succession of emperors who were conscientious and able administrators, as well as the general absence of any notorious perfidy on the part of the eunuchs. However, several eunuchs were given military command and, in fact, a very influential eunuch by the name of Tong Guan, who at one time commanded an army of 800,000 men, was later blamed for causing the downfall of the North Song. When China was under Mongol rule, 1279 - 1368, eunuchs were rarely active in the political arena. Nevertheless, Kublai Khan (1216? - 1294) commissioned a eunuch named Guo Shoujing to construct a section of the Grand Canal near Beijing. And in 1348, Jia Lu was appointed a Taijian, or grand eunuch, to manage flood control and maintain China's hydraulic infrastructure. Taijian, a unique eunuch title in China's officaldom, was thus created and henceforth became an important element in Chinese history.
When Zhu Yuanzhang (known as Emperor Hongwu) founded the Ming dynasty in 1368, he was keenly aware of the potentially pernicious eunuch problems and decided to limit the number of court eunuchs to fewer than 100. Even though he was later to increase the number of palace servants to more than 400, he reportedly also decreed that no eunuch be permitted to learn books or to give advice on political matters. Even the few eunuchs with whom Hongwu might chat were kept dutifully awed and never allowed to discuss politics. In 1384 he had the following inscription engraved on an iron tablet in front of the palace: "Eunuchs are forbidden to interfere with government affairs. Those who attempt to do so will be subjected to capital punishment." Shortly before his death he ordered that eunuchs should not longer be allowed to wear the uniform of government officials and that their rank should not exceed the fourth grade. Officials of all departments were forbidden to communicate with eunuchs by written documents.
The commands of the founder of the dynasty were disobeyed soon after his death. When Yongle (1402 - 1424) usurped the throne of his nephew, Emperor Jianwen (1398 - 1402), he had to rely on the help of the eunuchs because the court ministers had remained loyal to his nephew. After his successful coup d'etat, Emperor Yongle rewarded the eunuchs by giving them high ranks and showing them special favor, even putting some of them in charge of military affairs. In the ensuing years, Emperor Xuande, Yongle's grandson, established a classroom known as Neishutang, or Inner Court Study, and appointed four scholars from the Hanlin Academy to teach some 200 to 300 young eunuchs whose average age was about ten. Some of these educated eunuchs were to become secretaries of the emperor and often had communication with court officials. As the eunuchs were becoming literate, they became a dominant group to be reckoned with. Not only did they secure power bases in the court, their number also grew steadily.