The Eunuch Group In The Foreign Relations Of The Early And Mid-ages Of Ming Dynasty

The eunuch is a unique product of the Chinese imperial system. Traditionally scholars view the collapse of the Ming Dynasty and its social system as results of the autocratic of the eunuch or the damage it imposed on the political system as an unconventional bureaucratic group.As an independent political group, the eunuch group as well as its actions in diplomatic activities can be ana lysed and observed since it follow the same rules of bureaucratic groups.However, there are a lot of ambiguities and unfairness in histories wrote by civic official that consist the major source in the studies on the evolvements of the eunuch group in the foreign relation of Ming Dynasty.This study tries to judge the eunuch group with subjectiveness and fairness and reinstitute the whole picture of it from words and sentences scattered in many history books.Compared to the mature civil bureaucracy, the eunuch group is still on an unformal and low-organized level,thus the activities and choices of the individual eunuch often become independent events. Consequently,the roles and events of individual eunuch will be considered and analyzed,especially the psychological influences the distinguished eunuch have on this group.Further more,this article focuses on the eunuch group, emphasis on its role in the diplomatic activities in the Ming dynasty.This article tries to prove that as a part of the bureaucracy of the Ming Dynasty, the eunuch group is more inclined to implement positive and outgoing policies in the process of diplomacy compared to the civilian groups due to its character and its pursuit towards power. Consequently, the eunuch group plays a two dimensional role as both the promoter and the implementer in the early ages of the Ming Dynasty. However, as the ever-expanding loss of the authority of monarch and expansion of the power struggle between the inner and outer court, the eunuch Group withdraw its attention from the diplomatic activities, which directly lead to the end of the frequent contacts the Ming dynasty had with foreign countries.