First, it comes from castration.
Eunuch comes from eunuch, and eunuch comes from castration. According to historical records, the earliest castration was in the Yao and Shun period.
Shangshu-Lu punishment:? He started adultery, that is, jealousy, jealousy (that is, palace), jealousy. ? Another cloud:? Shundian five punishments, palace.
The original purpose of castration is to punish improper sexual relations between men and women, that is? Adultery women are not allowed to leave the palace; Husband adultery, break its potential? . Resurrection goes one step further: Men and women who made friends with each other insincerely were sentenced to prison. ?
Later, the scope of castration was expanded, and it became a means for the ruling class to suppress civilians and crack down on rebellious ideas. Even to foreign enemies.
During the slave society, large-scale wars were often held, and defeated prisoners were often imprisoned and then stuffed into the court to become eunuchs.
Prisoners of war were castrated in: Zuo Zhuan? "Twenty-nine Years of" xianggong "contains: In this year (544 BC), Wu people cut across the border and captured them, thinking that they would take a shovel and make them guard the ship. Wu sacrificed to watch the boat and stabbed it with a knife? .
(prisoner of war)
In addition to prisoners of war, there are criminals who have been castrated or their families.
An obvious example. Sima Qian, the Tai Shi Gong, defended Li Ling and angered Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. He was sentenced to death and later sentenced to castration. After being punished, he completed the work of Historical Records in prison with tenacious will.
In addition, there are palace.
If you want to practice this skill, you must go to the palace first? Mr. Jin created a successful image in Biography of Sunflowers. In history, there was also a successful man who was imprisoned in the palace. He finally climbed to the peak of power, under the real one, above ten thousand people. He is Wei Zhongxian.
Second, eunuchs came into being.
The rulers of slave society and feudal society occupied huge social resources. This resource naturally includes women. The higher the social status of princes, royalty and royalty, the more women they occupy.
For example, the number of concubines in the imperial harem of Yang Di is estimated to be as high as 60,000. Followed by Tang Xuanzong, with more than 40,000 people. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, and others also have tens of thousands of harems.
The harem of so many concubines needs a huge servant to take care of them in their daily lives. Maids are used, and some jobs can't be done. If you supplement normal men, I'm afraid these men will fuck around in the harem and be cuckolded everywhere.
So for peace of mind. The ruler took great pains to find castrated men to take care of the concubines in the harem.
(huge harem)
As a result, these eunuchs who filled the harem existed in organization and scale and were divided into three classes.
Third, the origin of eunuch address
Didn't everyone call them eunuchs before Ming and Qing Dynasties? Eunuch? . This? Eunuch? The appellation of ""first appeared in the Sui and Tang Dynasties.
In 662 AD, Li Zhi changed the palace province into the imperial palace, and sent eunuchs as eunuchs with less supervision. From then on, only eunuchs with higher status are qualified to be eunuchs.
In the Qing dynasty, eunuchs were all under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and they were all called eunuchs. And divided the corresponding grades, as follows:
General manager, deputy general manager, team leader, commanding eunuch, eunuch in the hall, general eunuch in the lower cleaning department, and little eunuch.
(Cixi favors eunuch Li)
Have fun with a short story:
The Outline of China's Philosophical History written by Hu Shi is only the first half, and the whole book has not been completed for a long time. Huang Kan said in the class of Central University. In the past, Xie Lingyun was a secretary supervisor. Today, Hu Shi is a works supervisor. ? The students were puzzled and asked why. Huang Kan way:? The supervisor is also a eunuch. Eunuch, there is nothing down there. ? The students burst out laughing. This is the real origin of eunuch books and eunuch authors.