Eunuchs in China – A Brief Introduction

[JesusA]

NaturalEunuch asked after my post on Origins of Eunuchs and Human Castration, whether China had eunuchs before the Sumerians. In that post, I wrote, “The first documented instance of castration where the person was expected to live and be productive (as a slave) is from the Sumerian city of Lagash in about 2100 BCE.”

The earliest reference that has been found to date of human castration in China is on an oracle bone dating to the reign of King Wu Ding (文武丁 reigned 1116-1106 BCE). This would be about a thousand years after records of eunuchs in Sumer. The oracle bone was a divination asking the deities whether or not some captured enemy should be castrated. We do not know whether or not they were castrated and we do not know if castrated individuals were used as eunuchs that early in Chinese culture.

The earliest clear use of eunuchs intentionally castrated for service is sometime in the Zhou dynasty (周 1046-256 BCE). The Zhou Li (周礼 Rites of the Zhou), probably written in about the 3rd century BCE, describes the roles and functions of eunuchs in the royal court. When the use of eunuchs began in China and the early history of their use is lost. In the late Zhou court, however, they held many high and important offices.

The first eunuch known to have had a clear and important impact on Chinese history, however, was in the succeeding Qin dynasty (221-207 BCE). Zhao Gao (趙高)was apparently a son of the last king of Zhao. He was castrated when the kingdom fell to the Qin and his father was killed. He rose within the Qin court to become chief eunuch, handling all the Qin king’s communications with the outside world. When the Qin king died in 210 BCE, Zhao Gao arranged to have his eldest son commit suicide. He then placed an infant son on the throne, who he later killed, placing an outsider on the throne who ordered Zhao executed. The Qin kingdom fell soon afterwards and was replaced by the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE).

Numbers and influence of eunuchs gradually increased in later dynasties.

Eunuchs reached their peak in influence and in numbers during the Tang (唐朝 618-907) and Ming (大明 1368-1644) dynasties. They were much fewer in number and had far less influence in the final Qing dynasty (大清 1644-1912). Much of what westerners know about Chinese eunuchs is based on the Qing example of weak and powerless servants in the palace.

I will write later about the Tang and Ming eunuchs, their influence, power, and numbers.

[NaturalEunuch]

Thank you JesusA. Fascinating post. I know a fair amount about the Chinese Dynasties thanks to all the Palace dramas on Netflix and Amazon Prime. A lot of eunuchs in them, which I enjoy seeing.

Never knew Sumerian eunuchdom predated their Chinese counterparts by a thousand years!

[Lineppe'lik]

So intentionally castrating eunuchs for palatial functions only dates back to the 3rd century BCE? Fascinating, I'd have expected it to have occured much sooner. Still their apogee was from 618 to 1644, a thousand years where eunuchs played a key role in political functions. Their inability to father children of their own, and personality changes that might have occurred from testosterone reduction must have been very useful to rulers in China.
If I might ask were there eunuchs in the employment of other powerful men - kings, nobles, wealthy merchants - during the Tang and Ming dynasties?

[rufusdomition]

So intentionally castrating eunuchs for palatial functions only dates back to the 3rd century BCE? Fascinating, I'd have expected it to have occured much sooner. Still their apogee was from 618 to 1644, a thousand years where eunuchs played a key role in political functions. Their inability to father children of their own, and personality changes that might have occurred from testosterone reduction must have been very useful to rulers in China.
If I might ask were there eunuchs in the employment of other powerful men - kings, nobles, wealthy merchants - during the Tang and Ming dynasties?

In some novels at the time of Ming Dynasty shown/implied that some powerful bureaucrats and local magnates may castrate/emasculate boys for servants but kind of rare and isolated. The more popular way to acquire eunuchs at that time was to simply hire them as many emasculated guys failed to enter the palatial services and ended up being beggers in Peking. Secretly hiring one or two of these emasculated beggers to be servants can't be too difficult for some powerful non-royal families.

As to Tang dynasty, castrating or emasculating boys was more popular than in Ming Dynasty. Some bureaucrats of southern prefects established a supply chain to supply eunuchs to the court. Though not many literatures of the Tang Dynasty survives today, we can assume that some "products" of that eunuch suuply chain may end up to the household of powerful bureaucrats. Also, Tang Empire was a slavery empire like Abbasid. There were many slaves serving in wealthy and powerful households of merchants, officers, bureaucrats, nobles and safe to say that some of these slaves could be castrated or emasculated.

[rufusdomition]

NaturalEunuch asked after my post on Origins of Eunuchs and Human Castration, whether China had eunuchs before the Sumerians. In that post, I wrote, “The first documented instance of castration where the person was expected to live and be productive (as a slave) is from the Sumerian city of Lagash in about 2100 BCE.”

The earliest reference that has been found to date of human castration in China is on an oracle bone dating to the reign of King Wu Ding (文武丁 reigned 1116-1106 BCE). This would be about a thousand years after records of eunuchs in Sumer. The oracle bone was a divination asking the deities whether or not some captured enemy should be castrated. We do not know whether or not they were castrated and we do not know if castrated individuals were used as eunuchs that early in Chinese culture.

The earliest clear use of eunuchs intentionally castrated for service is sometime in the Zhou dynasty (周 1046-256 BCE). The Zhou Li (周礼 Rites of the Zhou), probably written in about the 3rd century BCE, describes the roles and functions of eunuchs in the royal court. When the use of eunuchs began in China and the early history of their use is lost. In the late Zhou court, however, they held many high and important offices.

The first eunuch known to have had a clear and important impact on Chinese history, however, was in the succeeding Qin dynasty (221-207 BCE). Zhao Gao (趙高)was apparently a son of the last king of Zhao. He was castrated when the kingdom fell to the Qin and his father was killed. He rose within the Qin court to become chief eunuch, handling all the Qin king’s communications with the outside world. When the Qin king died in 210 BCE, Zhao Gao arranged to have his eldest son commit suicide. He then placed an infant son on the throne, who he later killed, placing an outsider on the throne who ordered Zhao executed. The Qin kingdom fell soon afterwards and was replaced by the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE).

Numbers and influence of eunuchs gradually increased in later dynasties.

Eunuchs reached their peak in influence and in numbers during the Tang (唐朝 618-907) and Ming (大明 1368-1644) dynasties. They were much fewer in number and had far less influence in the final Qing dynasty (大清 1644-1912). Much of what westerners know about Chinese eunuchs is based on the Qing example of weak and powerless servants in the palace.

I will write later about the Tang and Ming eunuchs, their influence, power, and numbers.

The eunuchs in Tang Empire looks powerful because they accessed the governorship and commanding power of the imperial bodyguards, kind of like some eunuchs in Islamic empires such as Abbasid. They yielded theirs power through meddling the imperial succession, monitoring the military governors by serving as Local Inspector. Also, eunuchs in Tang Empire established the adoption system. They married women and had sons through adoption. Some of these sons were emasculated and served as eunuch in the court while some adopted sons were simply military officiers who served as theirs foster father's cronies outside the court.