Role of the Scholar-Gentry and Eunuchs in Imperial China Free Essay Example

Imperial China was a civilization of cycles that repeated throughout its historical course. The theme of unity, disunity, and unity was felt through each successive dynasty and played a major part in the changeover of dynastic families. Two groups in society were at the core of the dissent that almost always accompanied the downfall of each successive dynasty- the scholar-gentry and thee eunuchs. Their inability to see eye to eye defined many periods in Chinese history, two such eras being the Han dynasty and the Ming dynasty.

What then were the roles of the two societal groups that had such control over Imperial Chinese civilization?

The scholar-gentry had its beginnings in the gentry class, families with great wealth. As the Chinese became gradually more focused on scholarship, openings for men with education became apparent. Civil service exams were established and the men who passed these rigorous tests became members of the new scholar-gentry class. Most of the class originated from wealthy landowners who could afford to allow their sons to study, although ordinary male peasants could sit the exam if so desired.

1 Membership was not hereditary however and families could decline in status or rise in prominence depending on the knowledge of its sons.2 Once becoming a member of the scholar-gentry, the roles of these men were varied.

Only a small fraction became public officials, the ones who passed the highest of the exams. Most were appointed by the emperor to local positions performing day-to-day governance, belonging to an intermediate ruling class.

3 Their duties included teaching in schools, conducting Confucian ceremonies, collecting taxes, mediating minor legal disputes, supervising community projects, and generally upholding morality and virtue. Although they received no official salary, they did enjoy much of the prestige, power and privilege of the higher ruling class.4 Their power came from the fact that they were the only group who knew the workings of their local area and in that they

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were the only legitimate source too represent the community in discussing affairs with the emperor’s officials.5

The power of the eunuchs however came from the proximity they had to the ruling authority. In Imperial China, castration and eunichism were a traditional punishment and a way to gain employment in the Imperial service. Many eunuchs came from poor families volunteering young sons, and were often castrated before the age of 10.6 The role of the eunuchs was mostly to take care of the Empress, the children and the harem, but they did take on official, scholar-like and even military positions. The argument for their employment in high-ranking civil positions was that they had no heirs to form their own dynasty and would not consort with the queens who they served, however they formed their own allegiances with other eunuchs and gained their power through this bond. Due to their high office holding self castration was made illegal. The tension between eunuchs and the scholar-gentry was always great, some have suggested because the eunuchs represented the will of the emperor, whereas the gentry represented the will of the bureaucracy.7 Their clash was one of, more often than not political agenda.

The Han dynasty saw perhaps the first major clash between the scholar-gentry and the eunuchs. The founder of the Han dynasty, Liu Bang, placed new emphasis on education, rather than inherited status, and held examinations to find the most able to fill his governmental offices.8 Wealthy landowners paid to educate their able sons to fill these roles, and the sons who were not inclined to scholarship were left to run the family farm. The Confucian classics were mainly studied, being favored over Taoism at the time.

Strategic marriages between the wealthy scholar families were also preferential9, and this new class began according more respect to its females.10 The office holding role of the

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scholar-gentry became the most prestigious employment,, and the new bureaucracy had grown to 30 000 officials by the end of the 1st century BCE.11

The eunuchs in the Han dynasty played many a role. In the earlier stages of the dynasty, they were given positions in the centre of the government 12and soon obtained control of the civil service, much to the dismay of the scholar-gentry. The Confucian scholars disliked the eunuchs, as they saw them as fools lacking in education and interfering with their good government. The eunuchs were soon afforded more power after the emperors enlisted their help in ridding the infant emperors mother’s of leadership roles. This power however passed to the eunuchs, dividing the government due to the scholar-gentry’s ill- feeling towards their rivals.13 Relations between the two deteriorated until war exploded between them.

This was finally brought about by a Taoist who prophesized an event and sent his son to murder a man in confidence of this. As an associate of the eunuchs, the Taoists execution was stopped, however the gentry executed the son anyway. The eunuchs then accused the gentry of violating imperial orders and conspiring with other scholars in an illegal alliance, plotting against the government. Lingdi, the emperor of the time, ordered the scholars arrest, with many dying in prison.14 The entire empire was soon falling into disarray, through the eunuchs meddling in all affairs, weakening the authority of the emperor and the authority of the local scholar-gentry administrators. Men of wealth, but no scholarship began seizing more influence through bribery of the court eunuchs, and the generals commanding troops became more independent at the blessing of the eunuchs as well. All of these factions, the landed gentry, court aristocrats, generals and eunuchs became the new power base, similar to the structure that saw the decline of Ancient Rome.15 The eunuchs established a powerful party, one even becoming the

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emperor’s most trusted advisor.16 Any who stood against them were quickly dispatched, until the decline of the dynasty had made the Empire so vulnerable, there was nothing to be done in the attack of the Yellow Turbans and the dynasty ended in disarray in 220

BCE. Although willing to cooperate in the face of rebellion at the end17, the factionalism between the scholar-gentry and the eunuchs brought about the destruction of the Han dynasty.

The Ming dynasty began and ended in much the same fashion, with the scholar-gentry and the eunuchs playing very similar roles. The scholar officials who populated the ranks of bureaucracy were still recruited through the examination system, and as in earlier periods, the focus was still the Confucian texts. The expansion of the printing industry however had made the spread of knowledge easier and as a result bolstered the amount of candidates worthy of the exams. The scholar-gentry of this dynasty were graded into nine hierarchies, with salaries accorded to each rank. The scholar-gentry’s roles lasted a maximum of nine years in office, and grading every 3 years took place. If graded highly, the scholar could advance a rank, or if inadequate could be demoted, dismissed or punished. Scholar-gentry who had entered into civil service through the examinations were classified as executive officials. Other scholar-gentry who had not been awarded in an official capacity were given roles as lesser functionaries. In this role they performed clerical and technical tasks for the government agencies and after nine years of this service could be accepted into the civil service ranks. Again, these local gentry were still the major factors in keeping local areas running smoothly, ensuring the areas cooperated well with the government officials, and ensuring the emperor’s official policy was carried out.18 The Ming scholar-gentry cared about the people and their welfare, and showed this mainly through their work with the officials on reforming the tax system, leaving it less

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burdensome on the citizens.19 The scholar-gentry’s positions afforded them power and they used it wisely to benefit the people.

The eunuchs held no such power at the start of the Ming dynasty. The first emperor, Hongwu recalled the trouble caused by eunuchs in earlier dynasties and set forth policy forbidding eunuchs to learn reading or to engage in politics. A tablet in his palace read ‘eunuchs must have nothing to do with administration’, and he forbade any to handle

important documents. His policy also included reducing their numbers, keeping only those in service to the harem.20 In time however the eunuchs reemerged, determined to reestablish their power base. Whole units began to appear at court, and were soon made use of for confidential court business.21 At first still only trusted with imperial household affairs, many eunuchs rose to prominent positions, with the ability to influence the emperor and his decisions. The roles the eunuchs began to take included the command of the palace guard, commanders in the military, imperial inspectors, heads of luxury workshops, supervision of tribute and heads of official missions.

The court recruited eunuchs in great numbers, at one stage with as many as 70 000 in service to the emperor.22 Their organization mirrored that of the scholars, with a structure of offices, ranks and titles divided into twelve bureaus. The eunuchs took any opportunity to enrich themselves and even came to control the secret police, overseen by the Directorate of Ceremonial, the most powerful eunuch.23 At one time the eunuch Zheng He conducted voyages by sea which were very expensive and unseen before in the world, and were entirely opposed by the scholars.The abuse of eunuch power was excessive through the lives of the dictatorial eunuchs Wang Zhen, Wang Zhi and Liu Jin,24 however their control became almost absolute in the 1590’s with Wanli’s granting of more rights over the civil bureaucracy to the eunuchs. Wei Zhonngxian became the dominate eunuch. His army of eunuchs controlled the court, torturing Wei’s political enemies to death and

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killing hundreds of scholars, who were branded conspirators to the crown.25 The eunuch’s stranglehold was complete and the court was unstable right as pestilence, natural disasters, rebellion, and invasion came to its peak. After Wei’s death, the eunuch

problems continued, ultimately opening the way to the conquest of the Manchu’s and the Ming dynasty collapse.

The roles of the two social groups of the scholar-gentry and the eunuchs were as expressed many and varied but it was their ultimate destiny to be at odds throughout the civilization of Imperial China. There are few examples of eunuchs in high positions, honored by the scholars for their conduct and assistance in government and vice versa.26 One explanation for the ill feeling between the two could be that the great part of the eunuchs came from poorer families, while the scholar officials came from richer gentry clans, and that their beginnings in the world could not be overcome. This dissent between the two factions defines some of the greatest power plays in Chinese history, and their roles were played out always with the ultimate goal of gaining the upper hand in society.