Eunuchs in Vietnam

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A eunuch (/ˈjuːnək/ YOO-nək)[1] is a man who has been castrated.[2] Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function.[3]

Regarding eunuchs, the Vietnamese adopted the eunuch system and castration techniques from China. Records show that the Vietnamese performed castration in a painful procedure by removing the entire genitalia with both penis and testicles being cut off with a sharp knife or metal blade. The procedure was agonizing since the entire penis was cut off.[4] The young man's thighs and abdomen would be tied and others would pin him down on a table. The genitals would be washed with pepper water and then cut off. A tube would be then inserted into the urethra to allow urination during healing.[5] Many Vietnamese eunuchs were products of self castration in order to gain access to the palaces and power. In other cases they might be paid to become eunuchs. They served in many capacities, from supervising public works, to investigating crimes, to reading public proclamations.[6]

History[]

Lý Dynasty[]

Lý Thường Kiệt was a prominent eunuch general during the Lý Dynasty (1009–1225).

Trần Dynasty[]

A boy student was given money in exchange for becoming a eunuch by Tran Canh in 1254 since many men castrated themselves to become eunuchs during the Tran and Ly dynasties.[7]

The Trần Dynasty sent Vietnamese boy eunuchs as tribute to Ming dynasty China several times, in 1383, 1384 and 1385[8] Nguyen Dao, Nguyen Toan, Tru Ca, and Ngo Tin were among several Vietnamese eunuchs sent to China.[9]

Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam (Ming dynasty)[]

During the Fourth Chinese domination of Vietnam, the Ming Chinese under the Yongle Emperor castrated many young Vietnamese boys, choosing them for their handsomeness and ability, and brought them to Nanjing to serve as eunuchs. Among them were the architect-engineer Nguyễn An[10] and (阮浪).[11] Vietnamese were among the many eunuchs of different origins found at the Yongle Emperor's court.[12] Among the eunuchs in charge of the Capital Battalions of Beijing was Xing An, a Vietnamese.[13]

Lê Dynasty[]

In the Lê Dynasty the Vietnamese Emperor Lê Thánh Tông was aggressive in his relations with foreign countries including China. A large amount of trade between Guangdong and Vietnam happened during his reign. Early accounts recorded that the Vietnamese captured Chinese whose ships had blown off course and detained them. Young Chinese men were selected by the Vietnamese for castration to become eunuch slaves to the Vietnamese. It has been speculated by modern historians that the Chinese who were captured and castrated by the Vietnamese were involved in trade between China and Vietnam instead of actually being blown off course by the wind and they were punished as part of a crackdown on foreign trade by Vietnam.[14]

Several Malay envoys from the Malacca sultanate were attacked and captured in 1469 by the Lê Dynasty of Annam (Vietnam) as they were returning to Malacca from China. The Vietnamese enslaved and castrated the young from among the captured.[15][16][17]

A 1472 entry in the Ming Shilu, reported that some Chinese from Nanhai county escaped back to China after their ship had been blown off course into Vietnam, where they had been forced to serve as soldiers in Vietnam's military. The escapees also reported that they found out that up to 100 Chinese men remained captive in Vietnam after they were caught and castrated by the Vietnamese after their ships were blown off course into Vietnam. The Chinese Ministry of Revenue responded by ordering Chinese civilians and soldiers to stop going abroad to foreign countries.[18][19] China's relations with Vietnam during this period were marked by the punishment of prisoners by castration.[20][21]

A 1499 entry in the Ming Shilu recorded that thirteen Chinese men from Wenchang, including a man named Wu Rui (吳瑞), were captured by the Vietnamese after their ship was blown off course while traveling from Hainan to Guangdong's Qin subprefecture (Qinzhou), causing them to end up near the coast of Vietnam during the Chenghua Emperor's rule (1447–1487). Twelve of them were enslaved as agricultural laborers, while Wu Rui, the only one still young, was castrated and became a eunuch attendant at the Vietnamese Imperial Palace in Thang Long. After years of service, upon the death of the Vietnamese ruler in 1497, he was promoted to a military position in northern Vietnam. There, a soldier told him of an escape route back to China through which Wu Rui then escaped to Longzhou. The local chief planned to sell him back to the Vietnamese, but Wu was rescued by the Pingxiang Magistrate, then was sent to Beijing to work as a eunuch in the palace.[22]

The Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư records that in 1467 in An Bang province of Dai Viet (now Quảng Ninh Province) a Chinese ship blew off course onto the shore. The Chinese were detained and not allowed to return to China as ordered by Le Thanh Tong.[23] This incident may be the same one where Wu Rui was captured.[24]

Nguyễn Dynasty[]

The poet Hồ Xuân Hương mocked eunuchs in her poem as a stand-in for criticizing the government.[25]

Commoners were banned from undergoing castration in Vietnam. Only adult men of high social rank could be castrated. Most eunuchs were born as such with a congenital abnormality. The Vietnamese government mandated that boys born with defective genitalia were to be reported to officials, in exchange for the town being freed from mandatory labor requirements. The boy would have the option of serving as a eunuch official or serving the palace women when he became ten years old.[26] This law was put in place in 1838 during the Nguyễn Dynasty.[27] The only males allowed inside the Forbidden City at Huế were the Emperor and his eunuchs.[28]

The presence of eunuchs in Vietnam was used by the French colonizers to degrade the Vietnamese.[29]

Notable Vietnamese eunuchs[]

  • Ly Thuong Kiet (1019–1105): general during the Lý Dynasty in Vietnam. Penned what is considered the first Vietnamese declaration of independence. Regarded as a Vietnamese national hero.
  • Lê Văn Duyệt: 18th-century Vietnamese eunuch, military strategist and government official (not a true eunuch, he was born a hermaphrodite).
  • Wu Rui: a Chinese eunuch in Lê Dynasty Annam (Vietnam).

References[]

  1. ^ εὐνοῦχος. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
  2. ^ "eunuch". dictionary.cambridge.org. Retrieved 2021-02-25.
  3. ^ "Eunuch". The New Oxford Dictionary of English. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1998. p. 634. ISBN 9780198612636.
  4. ^ "Bí mật về thái giám trong cung triều Nguyễn". Zing News. Theo Công An Nhân Dân. 18 July 2013. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 27 July 2013.CS1 maint: others (link)
  5. ^ Theo Công An Nhân Dân (18 July 2013). "Bí mật về thái giám trong cung triều Nguyễn". Zing news. Archived from the original on 21 July 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
  6. ^ Taylor, K. W. (2013). A history of the Vietnamese. Cambridge University Press. p. 121. ISBN 978-0521875868.
  7. ^ K. W. Taylor (9 May 2013). A History of the Vietnamese. Cambridge University Press. pp. 121–. ISBN 978-0-521-87586-8.
  8. ^ Tsai (1996), p. 15 The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty (Ming Tai Huan Kuan), p. 15, at Google Books
  9. ^ Nguyẽ̂n (2008), p. 169 The History Buddhism in Vietnam, Vol. IIID.5, p. 169, at Google Books
  10. ^ Wang (2000), p. 135 Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China, p. 135, at Google Books
  11. ^ Goodrich (1976), p. 691 Dictionary of Ming Biography, 1368–1644 , p. 691, at Google Books
  12. ^ Campbell (2009), p. 147 Children in Slavery Through the Ages, p. 147, at Google Books
  13. ^ Tran (2006), p. 116 Việt Nam: Borderless Histories, p. 116, at Google Books
  14. ^ Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Straits Branch, Reinhold Rost (1887). Miscellaneous papers relating to Indo-China: reprinted for the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society from Dalrymple's "Oriental Repertory," and the "Asiatic Researches" and "Journal" of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Volume 1. LONDON: Trübner & Co. p. 252. Retrieved 1 February 2020.(Original from the New York Public Library)
  15. ^ Tsai (1996), p. 15 The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty (Ming Tai Huan Kuan), p. 15, at Google Books
  16. ^ Rost (1887), p. 252 Miscellaneous papers relating to Indo-China and Indian archipelage: reprinted for the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Second Series, Volume 1, p. 252, at Google Books
  17. ^ Wade 2005, p. 3785/86
  18. ^ Wade 2005, pp. 2078–2079
  19. ^ Leo K. Shin (2007). "Ming China and Its Border with Annam" (PDF). In Diana Lary (ed.). The Chinese State at the Borders (illustrated ed.). UBC Press. p. 92. ISBN 978-0774813334. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  20. ^ Tsai (1996), p. 16 The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty (Ming Tai Huan Kuan), p. 16, at Google Books
  21. ^ Tsai (1996), p. 245 The Eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty (Ming Tai Huan Kuan), p. 245, at Google Books
  22. ^ (2007). Diana Lary (ed.). The Chinese State at the Borders (illustrated ed.). UBC Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0774813334. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  23. ^ Cooke (2011), p. 108 The Tongking Gulf Through History, p. 108, at Google Books
  24. ^ Cooke (2011), p. 109 The Tongking Gulf Through History, p. 109, at Google Books
  25. ^ Chandler (1987), p. 129 In Search of Southeast Asia: A Modern History, p. 129, at Google Books
  26. ^ Andaya (2006), p. 177 The Flaming Womb: Repositioning Women in Early Modern Southeast Asia, p. 177, at Google Books
  27. ^ Woodside (1971), p. 66 Vietnam and the Chinese Model: A Comparative Study of Nguyen and Ch'ing Civil Government in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century, p. 66, at Google Books
  28. ^ Fodor's (2012), p. 31 Fodor's See It Vietnam, 3rd Edition, p. 31, at Google Books
  29. ^ Stearns (2006), p. 1 Aching for Beauty: Footbinding in China, p. 1, at Google Books

Bibliography[]

External links[]

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