Factors Contributed that to the Formation of Eunuch Culture in Ming Dynasty

Eunuchs, a group of castrated people served in the palace, were initially hired to take care of the personal life of the emperors. However, because of their accessibility to the rulers, they sometimes could be so powerful that can control the government. Shi, Yi, a historian in Qing Dynasty, had ever said that”There were three periods in Chinese History, in which eunuchs actually took control of the country. Among those three periods, Ming dynasty was the most severe one.” Compare to their predecessors in late Tang dynasty, eunuchs in Ming dynasty possessed less power as they could not control the military and were not instrumental in selecting the next emperor. However, eunuchs in Ming dynasty was famous because they built their own culture. Based on this background, my question raised—what factors exclusively belonged to Ming dynasty that contribute to the formation of this uncommon culture.

The first unique character of Ming dynasty is the booming supply of castrated people. Before Ming dynasty, castration was a kind of heavy penalty intend to humiliate male criminals. However, after the establishment of Ming, a practice of self-castration became a popular path for peasants to change their miserable life. According to the History of Ming,the most Wei, Zhongxian, the most powerful eunuch in Ming dynasty, castrated himself to avoid the gambling debts. Others peasants, risking of being executed, viewed this practice as a replacement of the civil service examination and emasculated themselves to serve in the court. During the reign of Emperor Hongwu, only a few hundreds of eunuchs served in the palace, and by 1644, almost the end of Ming dynasty, there were 70,000 in the palace and more than 100,000 eunuchs spread nation-wid...

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...icious nature of emperors, and the provision of education, together formed this rarely seen culture.

Reference:

Zhang, Tingyu, “Biography of Eunuchs” in “The History of Ming” (Zhonghua Book Company，1974)

Shi, Yi, “Eunuchs in Ming Dynasty” in “The Notebook of Twenty-two Histories” (Chinese Bookstore, 1987) Chapter 35

Xia, Xie, Ming Tong Jian (Zhonghua Book Company, 1959)

Pan, Chengzhang, Guo Shi Kao Yi (Shanghai Ancient Books Press,2002)

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Crawford, Robert B. , “Eunuch Power in the Ming Dynasty” in T’oung Pao, Second Series, Vol.49 , Livr 3 (1961), p.p115-148

Chen, Yi, “The formation and its reasons of Ming Eunuchs” in Journal of Chuzhou University, Vol.10, No.5, Oct, 2008.