'Education without Discrimination': A Study of Mid and Late Ming Scholar-officials' Change of Attitude to the Eunuchs and the Significances of Their Resultant Actions

This dissertation studies the attitudes and actions of scholar-officials to the eunuchs in the Ming dynasty. From the perspective of political and cultural interaction, it explores how scholar-officials coped with changes in the political structures and political ecologies in which eunuch politics became a major issue of government. It examines scholar-officials' thinking and action in dealing with the eunuchs while attempting to implement their political ideal when monarchical despotism reigned in Ming times.;The study finds that there are important changes in scholar-officials' attitudes in mid and late Ming times. Instead of discrimination against eunuchs they tended to see eunuchs as their equal as human beings. They believed that eunuchs have similar human nature and humaneness as theirs, and advocated making them good imperial servants by moral and civil education. They adopted an approach that government improvement can be achieved by "transforming" the eunuchs through a Confucian-based education and recognizing the eunuch's significant role and status in the imperial government.;Mid and late Ming scholar-officials were eager to put their new ideas into actions. They were keen in reviving the Nei Shu Tang, the eunuch school in the palace and in writing books specially intended to educate the eunuchs. These books have a common focus on the eunuch's moral sense. Good and bad examples from history are cited to encourage them to get rid of evil thought and action and to cultivate their good sense to serve their monarchs and the imperial court well and loyally, thus also to help improve the monarch's character and enhance his virtues. I consider such effort by mid and late Ming scholar-officials to improve the emperor through educating the eunuchs a key form of upper-level statecraft.;The research finds that the Zhong Jianlu (Mirror of the Eunuchs) written in the very beginning of the Wanli period by Wang Ji, the most famous student of Wang Yangming, was a very effective education book for enlightening the eunuchs. The success of the book owes much to the respect and sympathy it show for the eunuchs. It considers them as ordinary human beings with conscience and good will rather than discriminating them by traditional prejudice. By contrast, the Diaodang Shijian (Historical Mirror of the Eunuchs) written by Zhang Shize in the middle period of the Wanli emperor, although also aiming to educate the eunuchs, failed to attract them because of a different approach to its presentation. These two examples shows that whether an education book was accepted by the eunuchs depends on whether it responded aptly to eunuch population's increase in knowledge and cultural achievement, as well as eunuchs' awareness of their importance in late Ming times.;In conclusion, this dissertation presents the following three views. First, the relationship between the scholar-officials and the eunuchs, which was often considered in oppositional or conflicting terms, was more complex and diverse. Scholar-officials in mid and late Ming times came to realize, and emphasized, that their political culture should be shared by the eunuchs. Second, Ming scholar-officials were pragmatic attempting to rectify their monarchs by educating the eunuchs, who were their immediate servant. This also shows that scholar-officials still had strong interest in influencing the monarch with their ideals and values at the highest level of imperial government. Third, scholar-officials' consideration of eunuchs as their fellow human beings capable of being educated for good heart and behavior suggests that the Confucian value system worked in a positive way only when abiding to the reality of political and social life. The practice of Confucian learning finds expression and meaning not in empty theories.