Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0011
M. Dale
A topic of discussion in the media, eunuchs became part of the popular discourse as society thought of ways for them to move forward. For the majority of late Qing eunuchs, reintegration into society proved difficult.
{"title":"Conclusion","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0011","url":null,"abstract":"A topic of discussion in the media, eunuchs became part of the popular discourse as society thought of ways for them to move forward. For the majority of late Qing eunuchs, reintegration into society proved difficult.","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126034806","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0006
M. Dale
Palace eunuchs, seeking agency in their restricted lives, tested the boundaries of subservience to the emperor and the imperial eunuch system. Behind the palace walls, eunuchs operated within two parallel realms, one revolving around the emperor and his imperial court and another in which they challenged the restrictions placed on them by the imperial eunuch system. This chapter focuses on the world of the eunuch, where eunuchs recreated the social bonds that emasculation was intended to deny them. An examination of legal cases and directives on eunuch conduct provides insight into this second, more hidden, realm, one in which opium dens and gambling flourished, eunuchs became drunk and got into fights with one another, and forbidden bonds of intimacy defeated one of the main purposes of emasculation.
{"title":"The Parallel World of the Eunuch","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"Palace eunuchs, seeking agency in their restricted lives, tested the boundaries of subservience to the emperor and the imperial eunuch system. Behind the palace walls, eunuchs operated within two parallel realms, one revolving around the emperor and his imperial court and another in which they challenged the restrictions placed on them by the imperial eunuch system. This chapter focuses on the world of the eunuch, where eunuchs recreated the social bonds that emasculation was intended to deny them. An examination of legal cases and directives on eunuch conduct provides insight into this second, more hidden, realm, one in which opium dens and gambling flourished, eunuchs became drunk and got into fights with one another, and forbidden bonds of intimacy defeated one of the main purposes of emasculation.","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"68 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116321743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0003
M. Dale
All eunuchs, regardless of their route to the palace, began their journey with the singular act of emasculation. During the Qing, government-licensed professionals and family members performed the procedure on eunuch candidates. While eunuchs had volunteered for service, many young boys were coerced by family members into undergoing emasculation. Their families, like many destitute Chinese adult men who volunteered for service, viewed emasculation and employment as a palace eunuch as the potential remedy to their families’ financial problems. The irreversible act of emasculation, a prerequisite for even being presented as a candidate for service within the palace, did not ensure employment as an imperial court eunuch though. A myriad of palace eunuch prerequisites concerning ethnicity, age, and form of emasculation allowed the Qing to control the selection process.
{"title":"Routes to the Palace","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"All eunuchs, regardless of their route to the palace, began their journey with the singular act of emasculation. During the Qing, government-licensed professionals and family members performed the procedure on eunuch candidates. While eunuchs had volunteered for service, many young boys were coerced by family members into undergoing emasculation. Their families, like many destitute Chinese adult men who volunteered for service, viewed emasculation and employment as a palace eunuch as the potential remedy to their families’ financial problems. The irreversible act of emasculation, a prerequisite for even being presented as a candidate for service within the palace, did not ensure employment as an imperial court eunuch though. A myriad of palace eunuch prerequisites concerning ethnicity, age, and form of emasculation allowed the Qing to control the selection process.","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115200004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0002
M. Dale
This chapter traces the beginnings of eunuchs serving in the palace and the rise of eunuch power during the Han, Tang, and Ming dynasties. The remainder of the chapter focuses on the evolution of the eunuch system from its “embryonic” state before the Qing established its rule over China proper to its initial growth during the reign of Shunzhi (r. 1644–1661) to its maturation during the mid-Qing, and finally its gradual decline after the 1850s.
{"title":"The Palace Eunuch System","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter traces the beginnings of eunuchs serving in the palace and the rise of eunuch power during the Han, Tang, and Ming dynasties. The remainder of the chapter focuses on the evolution of the eunuch system from its “embryonic” state before the Qing established its rule over China proper to its initial growth during the reign of Shunzhi (r. 1644–1661) to its maturation during the mid-Qing, and finally its gradual decline after the 1850s.","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"47 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117026640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0005
M. Dale
Even though emasculation was a job prerequisite, it did not ensure that a eunuch would be hired as a palace eunuch. Emasculates would need to undergo training prior to applying for service in the palace. Designed to be the ideal servants for the emperor and his court, eunuch subservience and proper conduct were expected. While eunuchs were not slaves, they were imperial servants living in an environment defined by strict rules of deportment and protocol. Within the palace, the majority of eunuchs occupied positions at the bottom of the social hierarchy within the palace. Physical disfigurement now dictated every aspect of the eunuch’s life from entry into the eunuch system, to placement in the eunuch hierarchy, to apprenticeship, to employment opportunities.
{"title":"Entering the Emperor’s Realm","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"Even though emasculation was a job prerequisite, it did not ensure that a eunuch would be hired as a palace eunuch. Emasculates would need to undergo training prior to applying for service in the palace. Designed to be the ideal servants for the emperor and his court, eunuch subservience and proper conduct were expected. While eunuchs were not slaves, they were imperial servants living in an environment defined by strict rules of deportment and protocol. Within the palace, the majority of eunuchs occupied positions at the bottom of the social hierarchy within the palace. Physical disfigurement now dictated every aspect of the eunuch’s life from entry into the eunuch system, to placement in the eunuch hierarchy, to apprenticeship, to employment opportunities.","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"14 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130361082","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0008
M. Dale
Suicide provided eunuchs with one of the few ways in which they could determine when they would permanently exit the system. Far from a solitary act, a eunuch’s suicide posed a risk to the imperial court, his family members, and his fellow eunuchs. This examination of how the Qing dealt with eunuch suicides provides insight into palace–eunuch labor relations, the complexities of unfree status, and further evidence of eunuchs pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior as they attempted to express a degree of agency and self-determination in their lives. Qing suicide regulations reveal that eunuchs did not have the right to leave their positions whenever they chose, especially when it involved the possibility of leaving the palace for good through suicide.
{"title":"Eunuch Suicide","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0008","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0008","url":null,"abstract":"Suicide provided eunuchs with one of the few ways in which they could determine when they would permanently exit the system. Far from a solitary act, a eunuch’s suicide posed a risk to the imperial court, his family members, and his fellow eunuchs. This examination of how the Qing dealt with eunuch suicides provides insight into palace–eunuch labor relations, the complexities of unfree status, and further evidence of eunuchs pushing the boundaries of acceptable behavior as they attempted to express a degree of agency and self-determination in their lives. Qing suicide regulations reveal that eunuchs did not have the right to leave their positions whenever they chose, especially when it involved the possibility of leaving the palace for good through suicide.","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"42 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122445418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0004
M. Dale
This chapter examines how emasculation affected eunuchs both physically and psychologically. As will be seen, despite common knowledge regarding what made one a eunuch, very little appears in the historical record about what this looked like. Emasculation physically marked the eunuch body and caused society to read it as different. How the body was read, though, depended upon who was reading it (Han Chinese, the Manchu imperial court, Westerners, or eunuchs themselves). While genital mutilation was intended to subjugate and neuter Chinese men, in reality emasculation rendered eunuchs “sexually and politically charged.” Representing a nexus of gender and political power, eunuchs provide unique insight into late imperial views towards masculinity and political power during the Qing.
{"title":"Unrobing the Emasculated Body","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines how emasculation affected eunuchs both physically and psychologically. As will be seen, despite common knowledge regarding what made one a eunuch, very little appears in the historical record about what this looked like. Emasculation physically marked the eunuch body and caused society to read it as different. How the body was read, though, depended upon who was reading it (Han Chinese, the Manchu imperial court, Westerners, or eunuchs themselves). While genital mutilation was intended to subjugate and neuter Chinese men, in reality emasculation rendered eunuchs “sexually and politically charged.” Representing a nexus of gender and political power, eunuchs provide unique insight into late imperial views towards masculinity and political power during the Qing.","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"26 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"114154433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0007
M. Dale
The abundance of cases in the historical record of palace eunuchs running away, often repeatedly, reflects poorly on the imperial court’s treatment of its eunuchs and effectiveness at times in controlling its eunuch population. The repeated flight of eunuchs suggests that, for some, the possibility of punishment was preferable to continued service and waiting for an authorized exit from the system due to old age or sickness. Cases of runaway eunuchs reveal: (1) the tensions that characterized labor relations between the imperial household and its eunuch workforce and (2) that eunuch status does not fit neatly into the binary of free or unfree, it is something more complicated that lies on the continuum in between.
{"title":"Running away from the Palace","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"The abundance of cases in the historical record of palace eunuchs running away, often repeatedly, reflects poorly on the imperial court’s treatment of its eunuchs and effectiveness at times in controlling its eunuch population. The repeated flight of eunuchs suggests that, for some, the possibility of punishment was preferable to continued service and waiting for an authorized exit from the system due to old age or sickness. Cases of runaway eunuchs reveal: (1) the tensions that characterized labor relations between the imperial household and its eunuch workforce and (2) that eunuch status does not fit neatly into the binary of free or unfree, it is something more complicated that lies on the continuum in between.","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134319680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0001
M. Dale
Throughout history, eunuchs have been defined by their lack of body parts. Genitally mutilating one group to keep another pure,1 rulers have relied on eunuchs as “keepers of the harem,” servants who ensured the sexual purity of the palace women, and the legitimacy of the imperial lineage. Societies throughout the world have also castrated or emasculated young boys and men for religious, political, or cultural purposes. While oftentimes labeled erroneously as an exoticism unique to imperial China, eunuchs played roles in the histories of the Roman and Ottoman Empires, served in the Korean imperial court, and continue to exist in contemporary Indian society. In China, the practice of utilizing eunuchs as imperial servants dates back thousands of years to ancient dynasties such as the Shang (1766–1122 BCE)...
{"title":"Introduction: The Other Side of Eunuch History","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0001","url":null,"abstract":"Throughout history, eunuchs have been defined by their lack of body parts. Genitally mutilating one group to keep another pure,1 rulers have relied on eunuchs as “keepers of the harem,” servants who ensured the sexual purity of the palace women, and the legitimacy of the imperial lineage. Societies throughout the world have also castrated or emasculated young boys and men for religious, political, or cultural purposes. While oftentimes labeled erroneously as an exoticism unique to imperial China, eunuchs played roles in the histories of the Roman and Ottoman Empires, served in the Korean imperial court, and continue to exist in contemporary Indian society. In China, the practice of utilizing eunuchs as imperial servants dates back thousands of years to ancient dynasties such as the Shang (1766–1122 BCE)...","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"50 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133439556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2019-03-15DOI: 10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0010
M. Dale
This chapter chronicles the last days of the palace eunuch system after the fall of the Qing and the rise of the republic in 1911 and examine eunuch survival strategies in the years that followed. Some palace eunuchs would continue to serve the “little court.” By 1924, though, the realities of the republic and the calls for modernity would become readily apparent. Pu Yi, the former Xuantong emperor (r. 1909–1912), would abruptly expel the remaining eunuchs from the palace and force them onto the street with their belongings. Now outside the palace walls, eunuchs faced the challenge of surviving in a society that no longer needed their services. While some would capitalize on their former knowledge of the imperial court in order to earn money, others found that they would need to reinvent themselves and find alternate career paths in order to survive.
{"title":"Surviving the Fall of the Qing","authors":"M. Dale","doi":"10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.5790/hongkong/9789888455751.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter chronicles the last days of the palace eunuch system after the fall of the Qing and the rise of the republic in 1911 and examine eunuch survival strategies in the years that followed. Some palace eunuchs would continue to serve the “little court.” By 1924, though, the realities of the republic and the calls for modernity would become readily apparent. Pu Yi, the former Xuantong emperor (r. 1909–1912), would abruptly expel the remaining eunuchs from the palace and force them onto the street with their belongings. Now outside the palace walls, eunuchs faced the challenge of surviving in a society that no longer needed their services. While some would capitalize on their former knowledge of the imperial court in order to earn money, others found that they would need to reinvent themselves and find alternate career paths in order to survive.","PeriodicalId":344106,"journal":{"name":"Inside the World of the Eunuch","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-03-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131134869","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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