“Some of the most powerful men in China's history weren't exactly men.” This astonishing statement by Arkansas historian Henry Tsai refers to the castrated men who, for over 3,000 years served the emperors in the imperial court the eunuchs. While some served as menial servants, others held positions of immense influence and power or made spectacular achievements.
China's last imperial eunuch, Sun Yaoting served in the palace until the imperial order was overthrown in the 1911 revolution. He died in 1996 but the myths, intrigue and stories of the eunuchs live on.
The eunuchs' role was enacted mainly in the Imperial City including the Forbidden City—the residential palace of China's long line of emperors and empresses. Often the eunuchs were the only men, besides the emperor, permitted within the inner sanctum of the Forbidden City—they were given an unusual amount of trust to serve the emperor's wife and many concubines as, due to their emasculation, the emperor did not fear impregnation.
