The Rise of Eunuchs in the Middle of Confucianism
The Ming Dynasty witnessed the highest point of the eunuch system and its political influence in the Chinese government during the 15th century. The eunuch system was the system where castrated men were responsible for carrying out assignments as servant for the Chinese emperor and government officers in the palace, also known as Ceremonial Directors in the Ming court (Scholz 129). Despite the conflict against traditional Confucianism, which was the founding belief in creating a Chinese virtuous government, the eunuch system continuously flourished and even led to the creation of voluntary eunuchs (Mitamura 70). Indeed, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was more than 70,000 eunuchs, which …show more content…
Lower class commoners began to perceive castration as a path to gain employment, luxury life and even political influence without having to go through schooling. In fact, they were too busy working for survival to have time for education. Many men lived their lives without getting married due to the lack of finance (Mitamura 68). Rationally, they saw castration as a suitable choice conditioned by extreme poverty and powerless …show more content…
The mandarin class, also known as the literati-bureaucrats or scholar officials, was those who had to gone through strict education to attain their authority (Laven 205). In the society of China, where social classes were completely divided, Confucianism seemed to only favor those who had the chance to go through the proper education. Indeed, despite the excessive power they attained, eunuchs were not popular since they were viewed as the “lesser species” by the scholar officials (Laven 205). However, aside from participating in the eunuch system, there were no other options for the poor to escape their class system while the economy was contracting. Confucian pride did not have materialistic value to the poor of China, those who would rather have food to survive than virtuous knowledge. On the other side, the Mandarin class in China had extreme disgust for the lower classes and eunuchs since the Mandarin class considered themselves as superior with the knowledge they attained from education (Laven 205). Losing power and political influence to the hands of the eunuchs created even more hatred, leading them to find ways to oppress the poor of China more than ever. Commoners, upon being oppressed, were powerless in their positions. Thus, in order to protect themselves and their families, castration appealed to them as a shortcut to gain political influence against
The Ming Dynasty witnessed the highest point of the eunuch system and its political influence in the Chinese government during the 15th century. The eunuch system was the system where castrated men were responsible for carrying out assignments as servant for the Chinese emperor and government officers in the palace, also known as Ceremonial Directors in the Ming court (Scholz 129). Despite the conflict against traditional Confucianism, which was the founding belief in creating a Chinese virtuous government, the eunuch system continuously flourished and even led to the creation of voluntary eunuchs (Mitamura 70). Indeed, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, there was more than 70,000 eunuchs, which …show more content…
Lower class commoners began to perceive castration as a path to gain employment, luxury life and even political influence without having to go through schooling. In fact, they were too busy working for survival to have time for education. Many men lived their lives without getting married due to the lack of finance (Mitamura 68). Rationally, they saw castration as a suitable choice conditioned by extreme poverty and powerless …show more content…
The mandarin class, also known as the literati-bureaucrats or scholar officials, was those who had to gone through strict education to attain their authority (Laven 205). In the society of China, where social classes were completely divided, Confucianism seemed to only favor those who had the chance to go through the proper education. Indeed, despite the excessive power they attained, eunuchs were not popular since they were viewed as the “lesser species” by the scholar officials (Laven 205). However, aside from participating in the eunuch system, there were no other options for the poor to escape their class system while the economy was contracting. Confucian pride did not have materialistic value to the poor of China, those who would rather have food to survive than virtuous knowledge. On the other side, the Mandarin class in China had extreme disgust for the lower classes and eunuchs since the Mandarin class considered themselves as superior with the knowledge they attained from education (Laven 205). Losing power and political influence to the hands of the eunuchs created even more hatred, leading them to find ways to oppress the poor of China more than ever. Commoners, upon being oppressed, were powerless in their positions. Thus, in order to protect themselves and their families, castration appealed to them as a shortcut to gain political influence against