Why didn't the eunuch faction improve stability in Imperial China?
score:8
There was no such thing as "the eunuch faction".
Generally, individual eunuchs could gain power only by virtue of their proximity to the emperor. They may form alliances or support each other against external threats (generally from the gentry), but their power was personal and specific to their own relationship with the sovereign.
This leads to two major consequences:
Eunuch power was merely an projection of royal power. Since their political influence depended upon imperial favor, it was structurally impossible for eunuchs to be a check or balance on the master they serve. In fact, more often than not, the eunuch's political influence merely reflects the wishes or temperament of the emperor. For example, the first eunuch to wield power, Zheng Zhong, gained his status as a reward for helping Emperor He take down the Empress Dowager's family.
Eunuchs could not transmit power, nor maintain it for long. When we see extended periods of eunuchs in power, it was never one faction maintaining power, but rather a series of eunuchs attaining power - often directly at the expense of each other. There was no continuity, nor any overarching goal. For example, Gao Lishi was the first Tang eunuch to gain power, under Emperor Xuanzong. He was exiled in 760 by Suzhong's favorite, Li Fuguo. Daizong then used Cheng Yuanzhen to strip Li of power and had him assassinated in 762. By 763, Cheng himself was impeached, exiled and shortly thereafter murdered.
Thus, while individual eunuchs were significant agents in palace intrigues, they were not a unified, singular faction with concrete long term goals or aspirations. By the nature of their power, eunuchs compete for the favor of the monarch, and carry out imperial will. These are not conditions that encourage eunuchs to pursue national stability or to restrain an emperor in dereliction of his duties - it generally much easier to ingratiate yourself with a king by indulging in their vices.
That said, were eunuchs "the most destaibilising force"? Probably not. Such a reputation is at least partially because eunuchs were scapegoated by emperors and scorned by literati prejudice. As mentioned above, eunuchs were for the most part an extension of the emperor's will, or only allowed to misbehave by imperial indulgence. For example, Liu Jin was one of the most powerful Ming eunuchs, to the point he was described as an emperor; but with just a slip of paper, the Zhengde Emperor trivially had him put him to death by 3,357 cuts. The power of Wei Zhongxian was said to have rivaled the Tianqi Emperor himself, but Chongzhen Emperor diposed of him just by reading a number of charges against him. So it's hard to not place much of the responsibility for what the eunuchs did at the feet of the monarch himself.
Keep in mind that traditionally, the primary axis of imperial power struggle was between the Emperor and his prime minister / head his imperial bureucracy. Eunuchs were one of the most reliable pawns of the throne; gentry public opinion, Confucian zealots were often on the side of ministers.
It's a heavily lopsided contest, but as long as the emperor wasn't a sociopath, the moral authority of public opinion and traditional Confucian values could - and many times did - win. When that happens, it often becomes convenient for both sides to pin the blame on the people responsible for actually carrying out the emperor's wishes. Eunuchs were therefore a recurring prime target for scapegoating.
Upvote:-3
I think there is an issue in how you phrase your question (or at least how I understood it). The issue is about fundamental causes and triggering events. To define the difference between those two, let's take a simple example:
- Fundamental causes of the Pacific War are: war of Japan in China, US oil embargo, Japan war in China, etc...
- Triggering event is : Pearl Harbour attack See the difference?
You say:
A lot of the instability in hereditary monarchies occurred when the ruler was mentally deficient, reclusive, or otherwise unwilling or incapable of governing.
The same difference applies:
- Fundamental causes of instability are: part of the elite unofficially does not recognize the divinity of the emperor, hence his authority. Problem in the countries. Factions. Etc...
- Triggering events: The lack of authority of an emperor (childhood, mental health issues), war with foreign countries...
If you consider this difference, then the question is different: how did the eunuch faction decide and act, and thus did it cause stability or instability in China?
The answer to this question is, AFAIK, that eunuchs used women as a mean to influence the emperor, thus they triggered instability. They wanted to have money/power, thus they triggered instability. They were not lacked by other men (generals for example, governors...) so this triggered instability.
More post
- 📝 Were Russians less racist than I thought?
- 📝 How many Romans would use an average-sized balneum every day?
- 📝 How would British counterfeiting efforts in the revolutionary war have inflated the American currency?
- 📝 Has there been a soldier who refused a direct illegal order and was not prosecuted for insubordination (post-1945)?
- 📝 What relation do the early sexual experiences of Lolita and her classmates bear to the real experience of children in New England in 1947?
- 📝 What civilisation used wolf pelts for their archers armour?
- 📝 Did nutmeg really prevent infections during the Bubonic Plague?
- 📝 How many women lived in Spanish Californian presidios?
- 📝 How prevalent was pork in Arabia before Arabs conversion to Islam?
- 📝 What date does a 1738 British author intend by "soon after the revolution"?
- 📝 Was there a stated reason for the evacuation of Israeli settlers from the Gaza strip?
- 📝 Why did Sweden and Norway become the vassals of Denmark?
- 📝 What would have been on the menu in an Ancient Egyptian tavern?
- 📝 Were East Germans more acquiescent to Soviet domination than the rest of Eastern Europe and if so, why?
- 📝 Why couldn't the Weimar Republic peg their currency to another one?
- 📝 How was the political landscape of Tibet during the era of fragmentation?
- 📝 How was the border between Vichy and German Occupied France decided?
- 📝 Is there a name for the style of the 'superhero' Russian statues?
- 📝 How did Hussars change from heavy cavalry into light cavalry?
- 📝 What is the earliest known reference to the phrase 'water of life'?
- 📝 When did households become electrified?
- 📝 Was Mid-Night always considered the transition point between two days in Gregorian/Julian Calendars?
- 📝 How did the Swedish army deal with prisoners of war in the Thirty Years War?
- 📝 How was the Spanish Armada coordinated?
- 📝 Murder–suicide by sinking the ship
- 📝 Were Israel-Iran relations better in the 80s? What changed?
- 📝 Is there a good source for statistics of holocaust survivals?
- 📝 How was silver/gold mining done in colonial Americas?
- 📝 1972 textbook by Charles University professor on Thirty Years War
- 📝 How to track down a Spanish/Latin American soldier that fought in wars internationally (18th/19th century)?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why didn't the eunuch faction improve stability in Imperial China?
- 📝 Why didn't Imperial Japan attack the Soviet Union during World War 2?
- 📝 Why does the United States keep using "old" date representations and imperial system, while being in the minority?
- 📝 Why did China shut itself out of the world in the 15th century?
- 📝 Why could China keep most of the lands it conquered after 17th century but European powers could not?
- 📝 Why did the Republic of China retract its simplified Chinese characters?
- 📝 If the Ch’in dynasty was so short-lived, why was China named for it?
- 📝 Why does the Great Wall of China follow such a bendy route?
- 📝 Why didn't China assist in the Vietnam War like they did in Korea?
- 📝 Why didn't the British Grand Fleet force an engagement with the German Imperial Navy in WW1?
- 📝 Why does Japan celebrate the Gregorian New Year but China still celebrates Chinese New Year?
- 📝 Why is the Qing Dynasty in China considered Feudalistic?
- 📝 Why is China a member of the UN Security Council?
- 📝 Before entering WW II, why was the US so against Japanese aggression in China but did nothing about Germany in Europe?
- 📝 Why did Japan not withdraw from China as its pacific front was crumbling and the threat of US invasion imminent?
- 📝 In the 18th c., did/would China accept gold from Europe as trade payment? Why / why not?
- 📝 What was the social status of a man who failed the civil service exams in Imperial China ( 1200 - 1800 AD )?
- 📝 Why didn't China try to explore or colonize the Americas?
- 📝 Why was "Caesar" borrowed for the imperial title in German rather than "Augustus"?
- 📝 When and why China started to make a difference in the superpower arena?
- 📝 Why would Japanese people be in China during the 1920s?
- 📝 Why were the populous coastal areas of China not linguistically united?
- 📝 Why were the continuity states of Imperial and Royal Austria-Hungary disunited, while the continuity states of Imperial Russia were united?
- 📝 Why did China begin persecuting Falun Gong after tolerating the movement for nearly a decade?
- 📝 Why is this hat identified as the Byzantine Imperial kamelaukion?
- 📝 Why was the Tea Horse Route through Tibet less prevalent than the Silk Road route through Tarim Basin, for contact between China and India?
- 📝 Why haven't bankers gained as much power in China as the Medici got in Europe during their height?
- 📝 Why was the US table tennis team sent to communist China even after a difference in ideology?
- 📝 Why did Russia, Cuba, NK, China support the Peruvian government during the internal conflict?
- 📝 Why did China and some other communist countries boycot the 1980 Summer Olympics?