Related
reading:
Chinese history has witnessed a group of sexually impotent males
who were forced to act as royal servants their entire lives. These
men were deprived of the right to marry and have descendants. Some
even lost their ability to control their urine.
Sometimes they were treated like dirt; sometimes they stood at the
apex and wielded immense power. Their tragedy and pomposity were
brought about by a sole reason: they served the supreme sovereigns
– the emperors and their family.
When the last eunuch, Sun Yaoting, passed away in 1996, a unique
group of people dating from China's feudal dynasties finally
disappeared.
Now the revision of a Beijing museum has again focused public
attention on eunuchs. This museum concentrates on eunuch culture
and even contains the tomb of a eunuch, which is scheduled for
renovation. The museum will reopen next July. Museum authorities
explained that this is China's only Eunuch Culture Museum, located
at the Tian Yi Tomb. The tomb, containing the remains of a Ming
Dynasty eunuch, is the best-preserved eunuch mausoleum in China.
(Click to see larger pictures. Photos by Wang
Zhiyong/China.org.cn)
Why has the tomb been so well preserved? What kind of eunuch
culture will this museum present to the public? With the help of
constant in-depth interviews by the Weekend reporters, the
mysteries of the eunuchs gradually unveiled themselves, revealing
periods of history full of treachery, absurdity, humiliation and
bitterness.
8 yuan entrance ticket
Deeply affected by traditional culture, when mentioning eunuchs,
people tend to angrily picture in their mind treacherous court
officials performing in whiteface on the stage, such as Zhao Gao of
the Qin Dynasty (221 BC – 206 BC) and Wei Zhongxian of the Ming
Dynasty (1368 – 1644). What is the function of this Eunuch Culture
Museum – to seek redress for these perfidious eunuchs or to
continuously denounce them?
"The primary function of the museum is to record the lives of
eunuchs," said Pang Xianhui, Curator of the Beijing Eunuch Culture
Museum. "Some of eunuchs caused many calamities to the nation and
the people in the history but most of them were not that powerful.
Since the moment their external genitals were removed, they were
branded with the mark of 'lowly servants.' They were inferior to
others. We neither seek rectification for them nor do we condemn
them. We just want to help people understand how these eunuchs
lived."
The Eunuch Culture Museum first opened to the public in 1998. Only
about several thousand people came to visit it each year. "Most of
the visitors are foreigners."
The entrance ticket only costs 8 yuan.
From eunuch tomb to kindergarten
In Chinese history, two big tomb groups were built for the Ming
Dynasty eunuchs in Beijing West Mountain area: one is the Biyunsi
tombs, with the tomb of Wei Zhongxian as the most magnificent. But
Wei's tomb was destroyed upon the order of Qing Emperor Qian Long.
Another tomb group is the West Mountain Eunuch tombs; it witnessed
various scourges, with most of the tombs demolished. The only
well-preserved crypt is the Tian Yi Tomb; it remains the last
completely preserved eunuch tomb in Beijing.
According to Pang Xianhui, Tian Yi, the tomb's owner, had a very
good reputation. Ming history contains many positive records about
Tian Yi so he didn't go experiencing the same fate as other
eunuchs -- their bodies were dug out after their deaths even
though they lived powerfully when alive.
Pang said that the museum was once the Cixiang Nunnery,
inhabited by monks and nuns and the eunuchs who guarded Tian Yi's
tomb. After the fall of Ming Dynasty, many Qing Dynasty eunuchs
donated money to improve the Cixiang Nunnery out of their
admiration for Tian Yi. Some eunuchs went to the nunnery to become
monks after they were driven out of the palace due to their
advanced age. They came to protect Tian Yi's tomb and end their
lives in the nunnery.
"This is why Tian Yi's tomb was soundly preserved despite changes
in dynasties," said Pang.
The tomb was greatly damaged during the era of the Republic of
China. "During that chaotic era, several warlords pillaged Tian
Yi's tomb and stole many treasures to raise troop funds. Luckily,
the overall bearing of the tomb was not destroyed and the structure
of the tomb was well preserved," Pang noted.
"The mausoleum was turned into a kindergarten by the Beijing
Municipal Commission of Education (BMCE) in the 1950s. To protect
the children's safety, the back entrance of the mausoleum was
sealed off and no one was allowed to enter," Pang remarked smiling.
"This rule consequently protected it from several rampages."
"The cultural heritage administration requisitioned the Tian Yi
Tomb from the BMCE in 1998. Then the Eunuch Culture Museum was
built at the Tian Yi Tomb; it was opened to the public on September
10 of that year."
Working staff with the Shijingshan Cultural Heritage
Administration of Beijing stated that the museum is now under
renovation, financed by a budget of 860,000 yuan. The renovations
will be completed by the end of this year. During the renovations,
the Tian Yi Tomb remains open to the public.
Since it is the only Eunuch Culture Museum, then what does the
collection consist of? And how will these collections demonstrate
the eunuchs' real lives to the public?
"We'll try to restore an authentic scene regarding the
castration room," Pang said. "Castration was the greatest agony
each eunuch had to suffer -- not just being wrecked physically but
also losing their basic functions as a man. For the eunuchs, the
castration room was even more important than the emperor's
bedroom.
As the museum is still under renovation, relics destined for the
castration room have not been fully assembled.
Besides the castration room, the main section of the 400 square
meter museum contains exhibition boards that introduce the history
of China's ancient eunuchs. Pang also expressed his wish to collect
more eunuch relics from society at large.
"The current collections are mainly articles donated by Sun
Yaoting, the last eunuch, before he died, with the most precious
item being a yellow jacket granted to him by Emperor Fu Yi," Pang
remarked.
(China.org.cn December 7, 2007)
