unmeasured terms of gratitude and esteem, describing him as the “very
backbone of the Throne,” reciting his glorious achievements and ordering
the erection of Temples in his honour in all the provinces that had been
the scene of his campaign against the Taipings, in order “to prove our
sincere affection for this good and loyal man.”
VI
TZŬ HSI AND THE EUNUCHS
One of the facts upon which modern Chinese historians, Censors, Imperial
Tutors and Guardians of the Heir Apparent have repeatedly laid stress,
is that the Ming Dynasty became effeminate, then degenerate, and was
eventually lost, because of the demoralising influence of the eunuch
system on the Court and its official entourage. Upon this text, moral
exhortations in the best classical manner have been addressed to the
Throne for centuries, regardless of the consideration that most of the
writers owed their positions, and hoped to owe further advancement,
to the eunuchs, who had the sovereign’s ear. These Memorials were
usually only a part of the hoary fabric of pious platitudes and
shadowy shibboleths which loom so large in the stock in trade of
China’s bureaucracy (in which matter China stands not alone), and the
Empress Dowager, under whose rule the evil grew and assumed monstrous
proportions, was ever wont to play her part in this elaborate farce,
by solemnly approving the views of the bold critics and by professing
the greatest indignation at the misdeeds of her eunuch myrmidons and
retainers.
There have been, of course, sincere and eloquent critics of this
pernicious system and its attendant evils; in fact, scarcely a reformer
worthy of the name during the past fifty years has failed to place the
abolition of eunuchs in the front rank of the measures necessary to
bring China into line with the civilised Powers. There is no doubt that
one of the first causes of the _coup d’état_ in 1898 arose from the
hatred of the Chief Eunuch, Li Lien-ying, for the Emperor Kuang-Hsü (who
years before had ventured to have him beaten), and his not unnatural
apprehension that the Emperor intended to follow up his reforms of the
Peking Administration by devoting his attention to the Palace and to the
abolition of eunuchs. As to the Boxer rising, it has been clearly proved
that this notorious and powerful Chamberlain used all the weight of his
great influence with his Imperial mistress on behalf of the anti-foreign
movement, and that, if justice had been done (that is to say had he
not been protected by the Russian Legation), his should have been one
of the very first names on the Peace Protocol “Black List.” The part
which Li Lien-ying played in these two national crises of recent years
is mentioned here chiefly to emphasise the fact that the platitudinous
utterances of the orthodox express, as usual, a very real and widespread
grievance, and that the falsetto notes of the Censorate are answered by a
deep undertone of dissatisfaction and disgust throughout the provinces.
It is for this reason that, especially during the past five years,
progressive and patriotic Chinese officials (_e.g._ men like the Viceroy
Yüan Shih-k’ai and T’ang Shao-yi, who realise how greatly the persistence
of this barbarous medievalism lowers China in the eyes of the world),
as well as the unanimous voice of the vernacular Press, have urged that
the Court should now dispense with eunuchs, a measure which the Regent
is said to favour, but which—such is the power wielded by these “fawning
sycophants”—would undoubtedly be difficult and possibly dangerous. As
early as 1906, _The Times_ correspondent at Peking was discussing the
possibility of their early removal as one of the many reforms which then
shone so brightly on the horizon. In the Chinese conservative’s opinion,
however, which still weighs heavily in China, there are centuries of
precedents and arguments to be adduced in favour of a system which has
obtained continuously since long before the beginning of the Christian
era, which coincides with the Chinese accepted ideas of polygamy, and
recognises the vital importance of legitimacy of succession in relation
to the national religion of ancestor worship. On the other hand, it is
true that in the golden days of the Sage Emperors at the beginning of the
Chou Dynasty, eunuchs had no place in the body politic. Later, during
the period of that Dynasty’s decay and the era of the feudal States,
Confucius refers with disapproval to their baneful influence, so that the
Sage’s authority may be adduced against them and their proceedings.
With the establishment of the present Dynasty at Peking (1644), the
Manchus took over, as conquerors, all the existing machinery and
_personnel_ of the Chinese Court, eunuchs included, but they lost no time
in restricting the latter’s activities and opportunities. At the first
audience held by the young Emperor Shun-Chih, the high officials, Manchu
and Chinese, united to protest against the recent high-handed proceedings
of the Court menials, declaring them to be “fit only to sweep floors,
and in no wise entitled to have access to the Monarch.” Regulations
were promptly introduced, which remain in force (on paper) to this day,
forbidding any eunuch to occupy any official position, or to hold any
honorific rank or title higher than a Button of the fourth class. More
important still, in view of the far-reaching conspiracy of the Chief
Eunuch, Wei Chung (whom the last of the Mings had beheaded), was the law
then introduced, which forbade any eunuch to leave the capital on any
pretext whatsoever. For the next two hundred years, thanks to the wise
rule and excellent traditions handed down by the two famous Emperors
K’ang-Hsi and Ch’ien-Lung, the Palace eunuchs were kept generally under
very strict discipline; but with the present century, when degeneration
had set in strongly under the dissolute monarch Hsien-Feng, and even
before the appearance of Yehonala on the scene, their evil influence had
again become paramount in the Forbidden City. With Tzŭ Hsi’s accession to
power, all the corruption, intrigues and barbarous proceedings, that had
characterised the last Mings, were gradually re-established and became
permanent features of her Court.
Of the power which the eunuchs exercised throughout the whole of Tzŭ
Hsi’s reign, there is no possible doubt: the abuses which they practised
under her protection, abuses flagrant and unconcealed, increased with
the passing years and her own growing indifference to criticism, until,
after 1898, her favourite and chief body-servant, Li Lien-ying did not
scruple to boast that he could make or mar the highest officials at his
pleasure and defy the Son of Heaven on his Throne. Of the countless
legends of debauchery in the Palace, of orgies devised for Tzŭ Hsi by
the Court eunuchs and actors, there is naturally nothing approaching
to direct evidence: the frequent denunciations by Censors and the
scurrilous writings of Cantonese and other lampooners, afford at best but
circumstantial proof. The writings of K’ang Yu-wei and his associates,
in particular, are clearly inspired by blind and unscrupulous hatred,
and so inaccurate in matters of common knowledge and history, that
one must perforce discount the value of their statements wherever the
Empress Dowager or Jung Lu are concerned. But common report in China, as
elsewhere, is usually based on some foundation of truth, and in Peking,
where the mass of the population has always been conspicuously loyal to
Tzŭ Hsi, there have never been two opinions as to the extravagance and
general profligacy of her Court and of the evils of the eunuch _régime_.
Nor is there room for doubt as to the deplorable effect exercised by
these vicious underlings on weak and undisciplined Emperors, rulers
of decadent instincts often encouraged in vicious practices to their
speedy undoing. That this was the fate of Tzŭ Hsi’s own son, the Emperor
T’ung-Chih, is well-known, nor is there any doubt that the deaths of
both Hsien-Feng and Kuang-Hsü were hastened, if not caused, by the
temptations to which they were exposed by their vicious environment.
The inner history of the Celestial Empire and the Manchu Dynasty during
the last seventy years is inextricably bound up with that of the Palace
eunuchs and their far-reaching intrigues. During the half century of Tzŭ
Hsi’s rule, the power behind the Throne (literally a power of darkness
in high places) was that of her favourite Chamberlains. Of these the
last, who has survived her, Li Lien-ying, is known by his nickname of
“Cobbler’s Wax Li” (P’i Hsiao Li)[17] from one end of the Empire to the
other as the chief “squeezer” and arch villain of many a Palace tragedy.
His influence over his Imperial mistress was indeed remarkable; on all
occasions, except State audiences, she was wont to treat him with an
affectionate familiarity, and to allow him a _sans-gêne_, to which no
courtier, nor any member of her own family (save perhaps Jung Lu) dared
ever aspire.
During the Court’s residence, and the Emperor’s illness, at Jehol in
1861, the young Yehonala had occasion to notice and to appreciate the
intelligence and willing service rendered by one of the eunuchs in
immediate attendance upon her; this servant, by name An Te-hai, became
her faithful henchman throughout the crisis of the Tsai Yüan conspiracy,
and her intermediary and confidant in her dealings with the young
guardsman, Jung Lu. Upon her accession to the Co-Regency, he became her
favourite attendant and emissary, and later her _âme damnée_, sharing in
all her ambitious hopes and plans, with no small advantage to himself,
while at the same time employing his undeniable talents to the diversion
of the young widow’s mind by the provision of the elaborate Court
pageants and theatrical entertainments which her soul loved. An Te-hai
was himself an actor of no mean ability and exceedingly handsome of his
person.
It was at this time, before the Regency was firmly established and while
yet the reverberating echoes of the Tsai Yüan conspiracy lingered in
Chihli, that the leading Censors began to send in Memorials against
the self-evident extravagance and the rumoured profligacy of Tzŭ
Hsi’s Palace. The young Yehonala, headstrong and already impatient of
criticism and restraint, confident also in the strength and loyalty of
her immediate following, never allowed these remonstrances to affect her
conduct in the slightest degree; nevertheless, a stickler always for
etiquette and appearances, and an adept at “face-saving” arts, she had no
objection to expressing the heartiest approval of, and agreement with,
her professional moralists. On more than one occasion, in those first
years, we find her proclaiming in most suitably worded Edicts, pious
intentions which were never intended to be taken seriously by anyone,
and never were. The following Decree, issued in the third year of the
Regency, (1864) is a case in point, and particularly interesting in that
it refers to the wholesale pilfering by eunuchs in the Palace, which has
continued without interruption to this day.
A Decree in the name of the two Empresses Regent, in the third year of
the Emperor T’ung-Chih:—
“The Censor Chia To memorialises, saying that it has come
to his knowledge that certain of the eunuchs who perform
theatricals in the Imperial Household, have had their costumes
made of tribute silks and satins taken from the Imperial
storehouses. He asserts that they perform daily before the
Throne and regularly receive largesse to the amount of
thousands of taels. He asks that these practices be forbidden
and discontinued forthwith, in order that all tendency towards
vicious courses may be checked.
“With reference to this Memorial, it should be stated that last
year, although the twenty-seven months of Imperial mourning
for the late monarch were drawing to their close, we issued a
Decree forbidding all festivities, for the reason that His
late Majesty’s remains had not yet been removed to their final
place of sepulture; at the same time we gave orders that the
seasonal tribute in kind, and provincial offerings, should be
forwarded, as usual, in order to provide eventually for the
costuming of the Palace theatricals, with reference to which
matter we intended to issue another Decree in due course,
upon the conclusion of the funeral ceremonies. We seized the
opportunity, in this same Edict, to abolish once and for all
the custom of bringing actors to the Palace to be made eunuchs,
holding it to be wise, while His Majesty is still a minor,
that everything that might tend in any way to lead him into
paths of extravagance and dissipation should be firmly nipped
in the bud. The Censor’s present Memorial has therefore filled
us with real amazement. At a time like this, when rebellions
are still raging, and our people are in sore distress, when
our treasuries are empty and our revenues insufficient for
the needs of Government, our hearts are heavy with sorrowful
thoughts, and must be so, especially as long as His late
Majesty’s remains have not yet been borne to their final
resting place. How then could we possibly permit such a state
of things as the Censor describes?[18] Furthermore, it is the
duty of the Comptroller of our Household to keep a complete
inventory of all bullion and silken stuffs in the Palace, none
of which can be touched without our express permission. Surely
this is sufficient to prove that all these rumours are utterly
devoid of foundation.
“Nevertheless, in our remote seclusion of the Palace, it is
inevitable that we should be kept in ignorance of much that
goes on, so that it is just possible there may be some ground
for these reports. It may be that certain evil-disposed
eunuchs have been committing irregularities beyond the Palace
precincts, and, if so, such conduct must be stopped at all
costs. We hereby command that drastic measures be taken to deal
with the offenders at once.
“It is imperatively necessary that the Emperor, in the
intervals of his studies, should have about his person only
honest and steady retainers, with whom he may converse on
the arts and practice of government. If his attendants are
evil men and make it their business to flatter his ears and
divert his eyes with luxurious and effeminate pastimes, the
result might well be to produce in His Majesty most undesirable
tendencies; and any fault in the Emperor, however trifling,
is liable to involve the State in far-reaching misfortunes.
We therefore hereby authorise the Ministers of our Household
to see to it that the Chief Eunuch enforces strict discipline
upon all his subordinates, and should any of them hereafter
venture to commit presumptuous acts, or to display their
overweening arrogance, they must at once be arrested by the
police and severely punished. And should such a case occur the
Chief Eunuch will also be dismissed for neglect of his duty of
supervision, and the Comptrollers of the Household will incur
our severe displeasure, with penalties. Let this Decree be
copied and preserved in the archives of the Household and the
Ante-Chambers.”
As everyone in the capital was well aware of Yehonala’s passion for the
theatre, this Decree was naturally regarded as so much “fine writing
on waste paper,” and it is noticeable that from this time until her
favourite and chief eunuch An Te-hai, came to his dramatic end, the
Censors continued to impeach her and to denounce the ever increasing
extravagance, which was already seriously disorganising the Metropolitan
Government’s finances and entailing fresh _corvées_ in the provinces.
In 1866, two courageous Censors memorialised on this subject, having
particularly in their minds the abuses caused by the unlawful proceedings
of An Te-hai.
“More care,” said they, “should be shown in the selection
of the Emperor’s body-servants. All the disasters that have
overtaken previous Dynasties have been directly due to the
machinations and evil influence of eunuchs. These creatures
worm their way into the confidence and even into the affection
of the Throne by their protestations of loyalty and faithful
service; they are past-masters in every art of adroit flattery.
Having once secured the Imperial favour and protection, they
proceed to attach to themselves troops of followers, and
gradually make for themselves a place of power that in time
becomes unassailable. We, your Memorialists, therefore beg
that this danger be now averted by the selection of well-bred
and trustworthy attendants to wait upon His Majesty. There
should not be about the Throne any young eunuchs of attractive
appearance, creatures who make it their aim to establish
influence over the Emperor and who would certainly turn it to
their own ends so soon as he assumes the control of affairs.”
In the Decree commenting on this Memorial, the Empresses Regent, in the
name of the Emperor, observe:—
“This Memorial is very much to the point. History is full of
instances where disaster has been brought about by eunuchs, and
the example afforded us by those rulers who have been corrupted
and undone by these ‘rats and foxes,’ should serve as timely
warning to ourselves. By the divine wisdom of our predecessors
on the Throne, not only have eunuchs been forbidden to meddle
in all business of State, but they have never been permitted
to gain the ear of the sovereign, or to influence him in any
way, so that, for the past two hundred years, eunuch influence
has been a thing of the past, and these fawning sycophants
have enjoyed no opportunity of practising their evil arts of
intrigue. Ever since their Majesties, the present Empresses
Dowager, assumed the Regency, they also have conformed strictly
to this House-law of our Dynasty, and have refused to allow
these artful minions undue access to their Presence. As we
peruse the present Memorial, we must admit that it evinces a
very clear perception of those dangers which may overtake the
State because of the undue influence of eunuchs. Our feelings,
while reading it, are like those of the man who ‘treading
upon the hoar-frost, realises that winter is at hand.’[19] We
therefore now command that if any of these noisome flatterers
are attempting to pervert the intelligence of the Throne, the
matter must be dealt with promptly, and we must be informed,
so that their fitting punishment may be secured. We desire that
all our attendants shall be of indisputable integrity and good
morals, so that the door may be firmly shut on all evil and
degrading tendencies.”
Thus, Tzŭ Hsi, in her best manner, “for the gallery.” But, “in the deep
seclusion of our Palace,” life went on as before, the merry round of
an Oriental Trianon, while the Chief Eunuch’s influence over the young
Empress became greater every day. It was common knowledge, and the gossip
of the tea-houses, that his lightest whim was law in the Forbidden City;
that Yehonala and he, dressed in fancy costumes from historical plays,
would make frequent excursions on the Palace lake; that he frequently
wore the Dragon robes sacred to the use of the sovereign, and that the
Empress had publicly presented him with the jade “ju-yi,” symbol of royal
power. Under these circumstances it was only natural, if not inevitable,
that unfounded rumours should be rife in exaggeration of the real facts,
and so we find it reported that An Te-hai was no eunuch, and again, that
Yehonala had been delivered of a son[20] of which he was the father; many
fantastic and moving tales were current of the licentious festivities of
the Court, of students masquerading as eunuchs and then being put out of
the way in the subterranean galleries of the Palace. Rumours and tales
of orgies; inventions no doubt, for the most part, yet inevitable in the
face of the notorious and undeniable corruption that had characterised
the Court and the seraglio under the dissolute Hsien-Feng, and justified,
if not confirmed, as time went on, by an irresistible consensus of
opinion in the capital, and by fully substantiated events in the Empress
Dowager’s career.
[Illustration: H.M. TZŬ HSI, WITH THE CONSORT (LUNG YÜ) AND PRINCIPAL
CONCUBINE (JEN FEI) OF H.M. KUANG-HSÜ, ACCOMPANIED BY COURT LADIES AND
EUNUCHS.]
Of these events, one, which had far-reaching results, was her violation
of the dynastic house-law which forbade eunuchs to leave the capital.
In 1869, being short of funds, and desiring to replenish her Privy Purse
without consulting Prince Kung or her colleague the Co-Regent, she
despatched her favourite An Te-hai on a special mission to Shantung,
where he was to collect tribute in her name.[21] By this time the Chief
Eunuch had incurred the bitter enmity of several of the Princes of the
Imperial Clan, and especially of Prince Kung, not only because of his
growing influence over Tzŭ Hsi, but because of his insolent bearing to
all at Court. On one occasion the Empress had curtly sent word to Prince
Kung that she could not grant him audience because she was busy talking
to the eunuch, an insult which the Prince never forgot and which cost the
favourite his life, besides leading to the disgrace of the Prince and
other consequences serious to the Empire.
The Chief Eunuch’s illegal mission to Shantung, and his outrageous
behaviour in that province, provided Prince Kung with a long-sought
opportunity not only of wreaking vengeance on him but of creating rivalry
and enmity between the Empresses Regent. The Governor of Shantung, an
able and courageous official named Ting Pao-chen, who had distinguished
himself in the Taiping rebellion, was highly incensed at the arrogant
eunuch’s assumption of Imperial authority, and being quite _au courant_
with the position of affairs in the Palace, he reported direct to Prince
Kung and asked for instructions. The Governor’s despatch reached the
Prince while Tzŭ Hsi was amusing herself with theatricals; without a
moment’s delay he sought audience of Tzŭ An, the Co-Regent Empress,
and, playing upon her vanity and weak disposition, induced her to sign
a Decree, which he drafted in her presence, ordering the eunuch’s
summary decapitation, the customary formality of a trial in Peking
being dispensed with. Tzŭ An, hard pressed as she was, gave her consent
reluctantly and with a clear presentiment of evil to come from the wrath
of her masterful colleague. “The Western Empress will assuredly kill me
for this,” she is reported to have said to the Prince, as she handed him
the sealed Decree, which Kung sent off post-haste by special courier.
The following is the text of this interesting document:—
“Ting Pao-chen reports that a eunuch has been creating
disturbances in the province of Shantung. According to the
Department Magistrate of Te Chou, a eunuch named An and his
followers passed through that place by way of the Imperial
Canal, in two dragon barges, with much display of pomp and
pageantry. He announced that he had come on an Imperial mission
to procure Dragon robes. His barges flew a black banner,
bearing in its centre the triple Imperial emblems of the Sun,
and there were also Dragon and Phœnix flags flying on both
sides of his vessels.[22] A goodly company of both sexes were
in attendance on this person; there were female musicians,
skilled in the use of string and wind instruments. The banks of
the Canal were lined with crowds of spectators, who witnessed
with amazement and admiration his progress. The 21st day of
last month happened to be this eunuch’s birthday, so he arrayed
himself in Dragon robes, and stood on the foredeck of his
barge, to receive the homage of his suite. The local Magistrate
was just about to order his arrest when the barges set sail and
proceeded southwards. The Governor adds that he has already
given orders for his immediate arrest.