After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, where did the eunuchs go?
Eunuchs have played a very important role in Chinese history, whether it is Zhao Gao of the Qin Dynasty, Gao Lishi in the Tang Dynasty, Wei Zhongxian in the Ming Dynasty, An Dehai and Li Lianying in the Qing Dynasty, etc., they have left many stories in history, and there are many after-dinner talks for future generations.
However, with the change of the times, the product of this feudal society, but also the tragic figures of feudal society, eventually disappeared from our society, precisely because they disappeared too hastily and quietly, so many people wondered, after the fall of the Qing Dynasty, where did the last batch of eunuchs in Chinese history go, and what was their end?
After the Xinhai Revolution, the situation changed greatly, and the eunuchs were dismissed in large numbers, and some were still sent to the palace
After the Xinhai Revolution, the imperial palace was no longer a safe place, and many eunuchs in the palace began to think about escaping. But for the children of poor families, entering the palace as a eunuch is still an important channel for making a living, so some people try their best to escape, and some try to get in. In 1912, the last emperor Puyi abdicated, but still lived in the Forbidden City.
In principle, the palace no longer allowed the recruitment of eunuchs, but there were still eunuchs sent into the palace. Among them was Sun Yaoting. According to Puyi's account in "The First Half of My Life", in 1922, there were still 1137 eunuchs.
The eunuchs were also crazy, and they also saw the end of the Qing court
As the situation changed, people began their last madness, the palace was in chaos, the eunuchs took advantage of every opportunity available to steal, they opened the locks and smashed the windows into the warehouse to steal, from time to time there were fire alarms, and there were murder incidents. Some eunuchs actually opened an antique shop outside, which made Puyi very angry, the investigation was fruitless, Puyi began to order an inventory of finances, and as a result, on the night of June 27, 1924, a fire alarm occurred in Jianfu Palace, burning a fine light.
Soon after, there was another fire alarm in Wuyizhai, and Puyi became more and more panicked, and he quietly overheard the eunuchs' conversations, and he felt that the eunuchs wanted to murder him. The next murder case made Puyi's sensitive nerves no longer calm, the cause of the incident was that a eunuch was punished by the chief eunuch because he was denounced, so the eunuch sneaked into the informant's room early in the morning, stabbed the informant's face with a knife, and then escaped without a trace.
From this, Puyi thought that he had abused the eunuchs countless times, would they raise a butcher's knife to him? So he was worried all day, putting a stick next to the bed when he slept, letting Wanrong keep vigil for him, etc., but this was not a long-term solution, and after a few days he finally made up his mind to dismiss the eunuch.
This dismissal did not drive out all the eunuchs, and the concubines and Empress Wanrong still had about 200 attendants by their side, and these remaining eunuchs waited to leave when there was no use value.
So where did these eunuchs in the Puyi period leave the palace and leave the royal family? Eunuchs have strict ranks: chief eunuchs, chief eunuchs, and general eunuchs. When they leave the soil on which they once depended, the results are different.
Where did they go? Some are too rich, some are too poor
The representative of the upper eunuchs was Xiao Dezhang, who was close to Empress Longyu, and these eunuchs had incomes in various names in addition to regular silver. Eight words to introduce Xiao Dezhang, that is, "your enemy prince, rich Tianzi", he first won the trust of Empress Dowager Cixi, and then became the chief steward of Empress Longyu's side, basically a moment of power, when he was still in the palace, what antique shops, silk shops have been opened.
After the death of Empress Longyu in 1913, Xiao Dezhang left the imperial palace and went to the Tianjin Concession, first built a villa in the French Concession, then sold it, built another one in the British Concession, found several aunts and wives, bought a large number of slaves, and lived a life of leisure, it is said that he always tortured his aunts and wives, one of them ran to the patrol house to find shelter, but was sent back, and was killed by Xiao Dezhang. The days when Xiao Dezhang was rich were very arrogant.
Eunuchs like Xiao Dezhang can't find a few, but there are many rich people, buy some land, get a "decent" home, and the second half of his life is not bad.
Eunuchs know better about hugging groups, and the most pitiful thing is that they are not accepted by their families
The representative of the middle-level eunuch is Sun Yaoting, Sun Yaoting entered the palace in 1916, and later became a eunuch by Wanrong's side, later, Puyi went to Changchun to be the emperor of puppet Manchukuo, Sun Yaoting also went to serve Puyi, but later Sun Yaoting fell ill and returned to Beijing.
Sun Yaoting, who returned to Beijing, lived in the Wanshou Xinglong Temple, which was a residence of eunuchs who had to pay a part of the silver to live in and live in a group. In fact, when the eunuchs were still on duty in the palace, there were groups outside the palace to solve the problems of old age and funerals.
These eunuchs paid for the real estate and rented it out to maintain their life in the temple, but in the long run it was not a long-term law, and some of them had to go out to pick up waste and garbage to live.
This is the most pitiful, they do not have much silver, after leaving the palace there is no place to take shelter, even if it is the hometown can not go back, one is that they have no ability to work, they cannot do heavy work, and each meal is white with a pair of dishes and chopsticks, and the second is that they cannot stand the pointing and sneering of the villagers.
They can only beg, or go to the homes of large families to become slaves, and finally they will die of starvation.
New China had a policy, and in 1996 China's last eunuch died
By the time of liberation, fewer than ten eunuchs were still alive. The Government brought them together for maintenance. Each person is given a monthly allowance of 16 yuan, and literate people are also assigned to work. Sun Yaoting was arranged to work as a cashier in the Beijing temple management group, with a monthly salary of 35 yuan, which was a high salary at that time.
By the 1980s, the only eunuchs left were Sun Yaoting and Ma Deqing. The government also arranged for them to have a monk to take care of their daily lives.
Ma Deqing died in 1987. In 1996, the last eunuch, Sun Yaoting, died. At this point, the last eunuch completely disappeared from the stage of history.