A eunuch ( ) is a man who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.
In China, castration included removal of the penis as well as the testicles (see emasculation). Both organs were cut off with a knife at the same time.
Eunuchs have existed in China since about 146 AD during the reign of Emperor Huan of Han, and were common as civil servants by the time of the Qin dynasty. From those ancient times until the Sui dynasty, castration was both a traditional punishment (one of the Five Punishments) and a means of gaining employment in the Imperial service. Certain eunuchs gained immense power that occasionally superseded that of even the Grand Secretaries such as the Ming dynasty official Zheng He. Self-castration was a common practice, although it was not always performed completely, which led to it being made illegal.
It is said that the justification for the employment of eunuchs as high-ranking civil servants was that, since they were incapable of having children, they would not be tempted to seize power and start a dynasty. In many cases, eunuchs were considered more reliable than the scholar-officials. As a symbolic assignment of heavenly authority to the palace system, a constellation of stars was designated as the Emperor's, and, to the west of it, four stars were identified as his "eunuchs."
The tension between eunuchs in the service of the emperor and virtuous Confucian officials is a familiar theme in Chinese history. In his History of Government, Samuel Finer points out that reality was not always that clear-cut. There were instances of very capable eunuchs who were valuable advisers to their emperor, and the resistance of the "virtuous" officials often stemmed from jealousy on their part. Ray Huang argues that in reality, eunuchs represented the personal will of the Emperor, while the officials represented the alternative political will of the bureaucracy. The clash between them would thus have been a clash of ideologies or political agenda.
The number of eunuchs in Imperial employ fell to 470 by 1912, with the eunuch system being abolished on November 5, 1924. The last Imperial eunuch, Sun Yaoting, died in December 1996.
History
Qin dynasty
Men sentenced to castration were turned into eunuch slaves of the Qin dynasty state to perform forced labor for projects such as the Terracotta Army. The Qin government confiscated the property and enslaved the families of rapists who received castration as a punishment. Men punished with castration during the Han dynasty were also used as slave labor.
Han dynasty
In Han dynasty China, castration continued to be used as a punishment for various offenses. Sima Qian, the famous Chinese historian, was castrated by order of the Han Emperor of China for dissent. In another incident multiple people, including a chief scribe and his underlings, were subjected to castration.
During the Han dynasty, the euphemism for castration was "sent to the silkworm house" since castrated men had to be shut in an enclosed room like how silkworms were raised during the castration procedure and when they were recovering in order to prevent death. Castration as a punishment was known as gōngxíng (宮刑 "palace punishment") or fǔxíng (腐刑 "rotting punishment").
The Han dynasty under the reign of Emperor Wu castrated a prince of the kingdom of Loulan from Xinjiang that they were holding hostage at court because he broke a law. Loulan asked for his return in 9 after their king died but the Han dynasty refused since they wanted to cover up the fact that they castrated him.
Zhang He, the older brother of Zhang Anshi was originally sentenced to death but was castrated instead when his brother pleaded for the sentence to be commuted.
The Han dynasty ordered the castration of Li Yannian (musician) as punishment for a crime. Li Yannian's sister Lady Li was a concubine of the Han dynasty emperor.
The Han dynasty ordered the castration of its envoy, Ge Du (Ke Too) because he did not kill the "Mad King" of the Wusun who deserved death in the eyes of the Han dynasty and instead helped the Mad King get doctors to cure his illness.
Su Wen was a eunuch who supported prince Liu Fuling and his mother Lady Zhao against Liu Ju, Crown Prince of Wei and his mother Wei Zifu.