Eunuch and emperor in the great age of Qing rule /Norman A. Kutcher.
- Oakland, California : University of California Press, (c)2018.
- 1 online resource
Includes bibliographies and index.
"A time of pure Yin" : Forging the seventeenth-century consensus on the nature of Ming eunuch power -- The Shunzhi emperor and his eunuchs : echoes of the Ming -- "To guard against their subtle encroachments" : The Kangxi emperor's regulation of rank-and-file eunuchs -- The influence of eunuchs in Kangxi's inner circle -- Eunuch loyalties in the Yongzheng Emperor's troubled succession -- Yongzheng's innovative rules for regulating eunuchs -- The Qianlong emperor shifts the arc of history -- Qianlong's flawed system of oversight -- The world created by Qianlong and his eunuchs.
"This book offers a new understanding of eunuchs and their connection to imperial rule in early-to- mid-Qing China (1644-1800). Historians have traditionally viewed this period as one in which China's greatest emperors crafted policies that curtailed eunuch power, following its surge in the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Using archival, epigraphic, and other newly available sources, Norman Kutcher demonstrates the continuing influence and even empowerment of eunuchs throughout this period. The book traces this empowerment to eunuchs' exploitation of the gap between imperial rhetoric and practice and to their networking and other collective action in and beyond the city of Beijing"--Provided by publisher.