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A eunuch is a castrated man to perform a specific social function, as was common in many societies of the past stretching from Rome, Greece, and North Africa, through the biblical lands, and on across the Man continent.
Nowhere, however, were eunuchs of such great and long-continuing historical significance as in the palaces of Imperial China.
The use of eunuchs in Chinese courts was based in very old tradition, and no society clung more tenaciously to long-established custom than the Chinese. Court chronicles reveal that Chinese kings as early as the eighth century BC., and no doubt long before that, kept castrated servitors.
Down through the centuries of China's dynastic rule, officials repeatedly memorialized the Dragon Throne, pleading that eunuch interference in state affairs be curbed. However, almost none recommended that the ancient eunuch system be abolished. This is but one indication of how deeply ingrained in Chinese thinking was the custom that allowed only sexless males to serve the Imperial Presence, the ladies of his royal family, and his thousands of' concubines, all amassed together behind forbidden palace doors.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty there were about 70,000 eunuchs employed by the emperor, of whom only a relative few served inside the Imperial palace. Certain eunuchs gained immense power that occasionally superseded that of prime ministers. Self-castration was commonplace and half-hearted attempts were sometimes made to make it illegal. The number of eunuchs in Imperial employ had fallen to 470 in 1912, when the practice of using them ceased.
Many a prince became emperor while still a child. By the time he had reached his majority, his eunuchs had introduced him to enervating extremes of promiscuity and other debilitating habits. Once corrupted morally and physically, the new sovereign was a weak-willed tool in the hands of his caretakers - easily convinced that enemies and traitors lurked everywhere in the Forbidden City. In this way, his faith in legitimate government advisors was destroyed. His only recourse was to depend on his eunuchs for information, counsel, and support.
Often a young ruler found himself completely beholden to eunuchs who had usurped such power that they were able to put him on the throne over a rival candidate. In such cases, the eunuchs were almost impossible to dislodge from power, for they kept control in their own hands from one short reign to the next.
Eunuchs in Qing Dynasty
Eunuch salaries in the late 1800s usually ranged from two to four taels a month. Twelve taels was the highest pay allowed to eunuchs of any rank. In addition, each eunuch received a quantity of rice each month. Groups of eunuchs banded together to organize messes, each donating food as needed. The cooking was done in the palace kitchens. The eunuchs lived in small huts, attached to the sides of main buildings where their employers resided and where the eunuchs could be readily summoned. Each of the myriad of courtyards in the Forbidden City had a colony of eunuchs.
Eunuchs were easily recognizable by their high falsetto voices (for which they were derisively called "crows"), as well as their want of beards, their cringing, hang-dog demeanor, and often their bloated appearance -though in old age they invariably became thin and deeply wrinkled, making them look like old women.
Most of the eunuchs' leisure time was spent In gambling among themselves, their greatest source of enjoyment. It is said they were especially affectionate toward women and children, and loved pets, many of them keeping a puppy on which they lavished great affection. As late as tile 1920s, one dismissed but fairly well-off eunuch was commonly seen ice-skating on Peking's outdoor rink, displaying miniature Chinese dogs that he sold to foreign ladies to make his living.
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