During most of Chinese history, eunuchs were a pivotal component of the imperial court. In this documentary, I’ll explain the Chinese eunuch system throughout: its functions, prominent members, and demise. I expose the castration process, their service in the palace and particularly in the forbidden city, infamous eunuchs such as Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian, all the way to Sun Yaoting, the last eunuch in Chinese history.

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= MUSIC =
Total War Three Kingdoms - Oath of the Peach Garden
Total War Three Kingdoms - Besieged
Civilization V - Wu Zetian Peace Theme
Civilization V - Wu Zetian War Theme
Mongol Court Music
Ming dynasty buddhist music - Chui si Diao
Total War Three Kingdoms - Eternal Peace
Total War Three Kingdoms - Bitter Winds
Total War Three Kingdoms - A Noble Legacy
Total War Three Kingdoms - The Calm Before the Storm
Qing dynasty court music
The Loyalist - Lotus Lane

= VIDEO CREDITS =
Romance of the Three Kingdoms (1994)
Total War Three Kingdoms - Trailer
The Plough Department of Song Dynasty (2019)
Zheng He's voyages (2011)
Ming Dynasty (2019)
China's forbidden city (2007)
Royal Higness (2018)
The Great Eunuch and the Little Carpenter (1993)
Brotherhood of Blades II: The Infernal Battlefield (2017)
Young Son of Heaven (2002)
The Lady in the Portrait (2017)
The Empress Dowager (1975)
The Last Emperor (1987)
Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch (1988)

= MAIN SOURCES =
Chinese Eunuchs (1970), Taisuke Mitamura
The Eunuchs in the Ming dynasty (1996), Henry Shih-shan Tsai
How an army of eunuchs ran the Forbidden City (2018), Marcelo Duhalde

= TAGS =
chinese eunuchs documentary
forbidden city eunuchs
imperial eunuchs
eight tigers
liu jin
wei zhongxian
li lianying
sun yaoting

Introduction: (0:00)
Origins: (00:36)
The First Eunuch Era: (02:08)
The Second Eunuch Era: (04:01)
From Song to Yuan: (06:55)
Emperor Yongle: (09:39)
Castration process: (13:06)
Palace service: (14:27)
Eight Tigers: (15:40)
Wei Zhongxian: (18:03)
The Qing dynasty: (19:55)
Cixi's eunuchs: (23:45)
The end of an era: (25:40)
Conclusion: (29:02)