Why have eunuchs been so influential in Chinese history?
Upvote:1
I think eunuchs have been influential elsewhere, too. Besides being trustworthy around harems they were in a more general sense trustworthy: They had made a "commitment" I think in the sense that they as eunuchs had limited employment possibilities and were easily recognizable.
Upvote:2
The reason for the existence of Eunuchs was that they could serve the Emperor without risk of impregnating any of his Harem. Without Eunuchs, there is more doubt about whether the next heir to the throne is truly an offspring of the Emperor.
The rest, as Congusbongus says, relates to access. As they controlled access to the Emperor, and indeed were his primary "friends", they had power over the emperor.
Upvote:11
Chinese eunuchs were the personal servants of the emperor and his household; being close and having the ear of the emperor gives you power. An eunuch could help you by putting in a good word; eunuchs that are particularly well trusted could abuse that trust by manipulating what the emperor hears, withholding some information or twisting others. I think this alone is enough to explain why some eunuchs have had such a big effect in history.
I don't think eunuchs were an especially destabilising institution. If you did a comprehensive survey of all the power struggles throughout history, you will find many factions at play, including the usual suspects like princes (e.g. Li Shimin), generals (An Lushan), chancellors (Cao Cao), empresses (Wu Zetian), palace guards (Emperor Taizu of Song), ethnic/religious rebellions, and invasions. Eunuchs is just one of many factors.
I think it's important to be mindful of traditional Chinese historiography and its biases. Eunuchs were vilified due to their being considered subhuman, and much like women, their accomplishments were ignored until modern times. For example, Zheng He's expeditions were ignored in official history until the 20th century.
More post
- 📝 Were ships effective for sieging cities?
- 📝 How controversial were "updates" of churches in the past?
- 📝 What is the difference between NKVD and OGPU (USSR)
- 📝 How old was Murasaki Shikibu when she married her second cousin? And why did she marry him?
- 📝 What shoulder straps are these?
- 📝 Why did physicians recommend curing the "dancing plague" with more dancing?
- 📝 What unique personal experiences contributed to the formation of Mao's brand of Communism?
- 📝 In Dutch history two people are referred to as "William III"; are there any more cases where this happens?
- 📝 How to make a proper chiton and himation?
- 📝 Were Confederate pikes just a curious item to laugh at?
- 📝 Which historical figure is attributed with the most death of his people?
- 📝 Origin of the "Tartar" troops in the First Opium War
- 📝 What "other property" was considered for representation at the Constitutional Convention?
- 📝 What is so unique about ushabti that makes them valued and popular?
- 📝 Was "leather" really a technology introduced by Europeans to the Plains Indians?
- 📝 Why was PTSD not written about as much before the 20th century?
- 📝 What did women wear during the Rashidun era?
- 📝 Why weren't Harappan homes built of stones?
- 📝 How was Abd al-Rahman I recognized when he arrived in Islamic Hispania?
- 📝 Did the Mexican province of Nuevo Mexico have its own provincial flag?
- 📝 How did laborers travel from China to Malaya in the early 19th century?
- 📝 Why didn't former slaves become low-wage workers after emancipation?
- 📝 What equipment and formations did the Muslim armies employ against the Crusades?
- 📝 Warship Identification Needed
- 📝 Why didn't Zheng He colonize the countries he explored like what the Europeans did to the New World?
- 📝 What happened to the Heart of Atlanta motel after the ruling of Heart of Atlanta v. United States?
- 📝 What’s this odd hat/crown and is it related to Baal?
- 📝 Was there any war won by the victim without sending forces to lands/seas/air of the attacker?
- 📝 Did ordinary people during Hatshepsut's reign know she was a woman?
- 📝 How were false US flags identified on slave ships in the transatlantic slave trade?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Why have eunuchs been so influential in Chinese history?
- 📝 Why would graphite have been confused with lead?
- 📝 Italian History from 1870-1913: Why did Italy have such a hard time becoming a "Great Power" like Germany?
- 📝 Why do all my history books divide Chinese history after the Han dynasty?
- 📝 Why has there only been one dynasty in the history of Japan?
- 📝 Why would this word have been an unsuitable name in Communist Poland? Is it because it's a racial slur?
- 📝 Why have major sporting events been held every 4 years?
- 📝 Why would the heads of the Manhattan Project have been imprisoned in the event of its failure?
- 📝 Why have wheat and rice been consumed in different forms?
- 📝 Tricolore: Why have the colors been chosen that way?
- 📝 Have there been known instances in history when a queen consort slept with someone other than her husband, and no one got hurt? How was that possible?
- 📝 Why have so few paleo-Indian skeletons been found?
- 📝 Why was Hannah Ocuish believed to have been mentally disabled?
- 📝 Why have Polish kings been such a "mixed bag?"
- 📝 What explanations have been given as to why the Jews were not killed in Italy?
- 📝 Beside the USSR and the Chinese communist history, have there been other counterintelligence operations that turned into large scale witchhunt?
- 📝 Why exactly did telegraphs have to use "STOP" instead of a period and "QUOTE" instead of a quotation mark? (Or special codes.)
- 📝 What knowledge may have been lost at the Library of Alexandria?
- 📝 Why didn't Roman emperors have harems?
- 📝 Have there been any countries that voted themselves out of existence?
- 📝 Why didn't Hitler have more submarines in the English channel?
- 📝 Why didn't battleship Bismarck have more support?
- 📝 If the Union Jack joins the flag of England and Scotland, why does it have a different shade of blue than the Scottish flag?
- 📝 Why did the Soviet Union have multiple airplane manufacturers?
- 📝 Are there any examples of technologies have been lost over time?
- 📝 Where would the first nuke have been dropped in Germany?
- 📝 Why does this London Underground poster from 1924 have a Star of David atop a Christmas tree?
- 📝 Which countries (or comparable geographical units) have a lower population now than they used to at some point in history before 1950?
- 📝 Why aren't there any Chinese colonies?
- 📝 Have fair-skinned peoples ever been the lower/oppressed class?