Eunuchs and concubines

For much of the imperial period,the Frobidden city was home to members of the royal household.Around half of these were eunuchs,introduced into the imperial court as a means of ensuring the authenticity of the emperor’s offspring and ,as the eunuchs would never have any family.an extreme solution to the problem of nepostism

As virtually the only men allowed into the palac,they came into close contact with the emperor and often rose to position of considerable power,Their numbers varied greatly from one dynasty to the next-the Ming court is supposed to have emplyed twenty thousand,but this is probabaly an overestimate,the relatively frugal Qing Emperor Kangxi reduced the number to nine thousand.

Most of the eunuchs came from poor families,and volunteered for their emasculation as a way of acquiring wealth and influence.

the operation cost si silver pieces and was performed in a hut just outside the palace walls.Hot pepper-water was used to numb the parts,then after the blade had flased the would was sealed with a solder plug.The plugwas removed three days later-if urine gushed out,the opration was a success.If it didn’t ,the man would die soon.in agony.Confucianism held that disfiguration of the body impaired the soul,so in the hope that he would still be buried “whole”,the eunuch carried his servered genitalia in a bag hung on his belt.One problem eunuchs were often plagued with was bed-wetting;hense the old Chinese expression,”as stinky as a eunuch”

Euuchry was finally banned in 1924,and the remainning 1500 eunuchs were expelled from the palace.An observer described them “carrying their belongings in sacks and crying piteously in high pitched voices”

Scarcly less numerous than the eunuchs were the concubines,whose role varied from consorts to whores.At night,the emperor chose a girl from his harem by picking out a tablet bearing her name from a pile on a silver tray—though the court astrologer had to OK the decision.She would be delivered to the emperor’s bed-chamber naked but for a yellow cloth wrapped around her,and carried on the back of one of the eunuchs,since she could barely walk with her bound feet.Eunuchs would be on hand for the event,standing behind a screen and shouting out cautions for the emperor not to get too carried away and risking harming the imperial body.Favoured wives and concubines were the only women in the dynastic China with power and influence;see the Box on Cixi,for a telling example of just how successful a concubine could be