Publisher's Foreword 9
Foreword 15
CHAPTER I - The Artificial Third Sex 21
- Incomprehensible Beings 21
- Origin of Eunuchs 26
- Methods of Castration 28
- Appearance and Characteristics 36
CHAPTER II - Provenance of Eunuchs 43
- Strong Jealousies 43
- Symbols of Conquest 46
- Emperor's Shadows 50
- Sources of Supply 52
- Castration as Punishment 55
- Changes in Supply 58
- Excess of Eunuchs 65
- Major Social Problem 71
CHAPTER III - Residents of the Women's Quarters 74
- One Hundred and Twenty-two Wives 74
- "One-set" Marriage System 81
- Rise of Fearsome Wives 88
CHAPTER IV - In the Palace 96
- Duties of Eunuchs 96
- Twenty-four Official Agencies 101
- Eunuchs in Charge of Imperial Bedchambers 110
- Influential Court Ladies 116
- Hung Pills 120
- Married Eunuchs 123
- Fate of Eunuchs 126
CHAPTER V - The Two Intimates in Destroying Empires: Earlier Han and Later Han 128
- Emperors Raised in Laps of Eunuchs 128
- Obsessions of an Empress Dowager 130
- Yellow Age and Moral Thought 134
- Eunuch's Daughter Becomes Empress 141
- Eunuchs Band Together 146
- Emperors and Ministers 151
CHAPTER VI - Eunuchs and Calamities Involving Women: T'ang Dynasty 153
- Ch'ang An: Capitol of Beauty and Immorality 153
- Agents of Autocratic Emperors 158
- Abortive Attempt to Control Eunuchs 159
- Last of the Eunuchs 160
APPENDIX 1 - Why There Were no Eunuchs in Japan 169
APPENDIX II - Eunuch-like Men in Modern Times 173
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