Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall

Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall

The Beijing Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall (Tian Yi’s Tomb), also known as Cixiang Nunnery or Stone Incense Burner Nunnery, is situated at the foot of Cuiwei Mountain in Shijingshan District, Beijing, at No. 80 Moshikou Street. It lies to the north of Panlong Mountain and is about half a kilometer from Fahai Temple. It is the only well-preserved, highest-standard, and most intricately carved Ming Dynasty eunuch tomb in the country, built during the Wanli era of the Ming Dynasty, covering an area of approximately 4,000 square meters. It is now a district-level cultural relics protection unit.

Inside Beijing Tian Yi’s Tomb, there is also an Eunuch Culture Exhibition Hall that uses texts and images to introduce the emergence and development of China’s eunuch system, showcasing this unique phenomenon of eunuchs, and revealing the personal humiliation and historical tragedy they endured. This is China’s first thematic exhibition hall dedicated to eunuch culture. Eunuchs likely existed as early as the Shang Dynasty. To protect the emperor’s interests by preventing contact between palace women and men, while still needing male servants, eunuchs came into being. Initially, they were mainly war captives and criminals subjected to castration, later recruited or presented as tributes from various regions. Some chose voluntary castration out of poverty in hopes of rising in status. The descriptions of castration techniques are chilling and truly inhumane. Eunuchs wielded great power — internally, they had access to the emperor and imperial concubines; externally, they colluded with powerful ministers, and could even hold external or regional official positions (such as prefects or provincial governors).

Famous eunuchs in history: benevolent ones such as Zheng He, who promoted cultural exchanges on his voyages to the Western Seas; and malevolent figures like Wei Zhongxian and Li Lianying, who brought disaster to the nation. The life of eunuchs: “duishi” (mutual support relationships with palace maids), nominal marriages with no real spouses, adopted sons for old-age support and inheritance, group councils for elder care, temple building, and mass burials. “Three hundred and seventy temples west of the capital, most were first established by eunuchs.” The fate of the eunuch community was pitiful and tragic; the eunuch system was a grotesque byproduct of feudalism that stifled human nature. The fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911 marked the end of this system; in 1996, the death of Sun Yaoting, the last eunuch, signaled the final disappearance of eunuchs in China.