#286 - Special: Everything Eunuchs All At Once

The History of China

Chris Stewart

History

4.6 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Everything you ever wanted to know (and probably some you didn't) about Court Eunuchs in Imperial China (warning: contains description of castration & its effects) Mary M. Anderson, Hidden Power: The Palace Eunuchs of Imperial China. Duhalde, Marcelo. "How an army of eunuchs ran the Forbidden City" in The South China Morning Post. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:44.0	Hello. Hello and welcome to the history of China.
0:51.6	Episode 286, everything eunuchs all at once.
1:00.0	Zhao Gao was contemplating treason, but was afraid the other officials would not heed his commands. So he decided to test them first.
1:03.0	He brought a deer and presented it to the second emperor, Chen Arsha, but called it a horse.
1:10.0	The second emperor laughed and said, emperor, Chen Arshe, but called it a horse.
1:13.2	The second emperor laughed and said,
1:19.1	Is the chancellor perhaps mistaken, calling a deer a horse?
1:22.9	Then the emperor questioned those around him.
1:30.6	Some remained silent, while some, hoping to ingratiate with the eunuch Zhao Gao, said it was a horse,
1:33.9	and others insisted that it was a deer.
1:41.5	Zhao Gao secretly arranged for all those who said it was a deer to be brought before the law and executed.
1:46.1	Thereafter, the officials were all terrified of Zhao Gao.
1:54.9	From the Shi Ji, the chapter on the Qin Dynasty, by Sima Qian, the grand historian.
	...

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