With the cut of a knife: A social history of eunuchs during the Qing dynasty (1644--1911) and Republican periods (1912--1949) (China)

As a social history of eunuchs during the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) and Republican periods (1912–1949), this study examines a complicated social group whose emasculation and employment located them at the center of the empire yet also subjected them to servile status and marginalization by society. In contrast to previous histories which have focused on the political intrigues and corruption of individual eunuchs, my study examines the life courses of the ordinary eunuch. Specifically, I seek to chronicle Qing eunuch life from the moment of emasculation to a new life within the Forbidden City. I further explore routes eunuchs utilized to leave the palace. Finally, I discuss the fate of eunuchs after the fall of the Qing and into the Republican era.; The study finds that eunuchs were gender misfits and social outcasts who served as imperial slaves. “Volunteers” supplied the court with eunuchs. However, emasculation was not always an individual choice. Poverty and a preference for young emasculates often led to the coerced emasculation of minors and the trafficking in male children. Eunuch lifelong tenure reveals the complexity of non-free status during the Qing. Subject to frequent beatings, restricted mobility, and deprived of the freedom to terminate their employment and the right to dispose of their own bodies, eunuchs desperate to leave the system faced two options, flight or suicide. While oppressed, eunuchs were not mere victims but also actively recreated the social bonds that emasculation and employment within the court denied them. Master/apprentice bonds, native place associations, pseudo-familial relationships and even marriage afforded eunuchs some semblance of family life, instilled a sense of esprit de corps, and provided a degree of agency. Upon retirement, financial problems, discrimination, and disassociation from family members complicated eunuch reintegration into society. After the abolition of the eunuch system in 1923, expelled eunuchs, like retirees, formed retirement communities in temples outside of Beijing. Others continued to serve Pu Yi (the last emperor) in Manchuria (Manzhouguo) until 1945. In sum, this study recasts and reclaims the past of this previously silent and often miscast group so vital to the court.