After Eunuchs: Science, Medicine, and the Transformation of Sex in Modern China

412 Pages·2018·14.576 MB·English

by  Howard Chiang

A F T E R

E U N U C H S
.
science, medicine, and
the transformation of sex
in moder.n china
HOWARD CHIANG
AFTER EUNUCHS

After Eunuchs
SCIENCE, MEDICINE, AND
THE TRANSFORMATION OF SEX
IN MODERN CHINA
Howard Chiang
Columbia University Press
New York
Columbia University Press gratefully acknowledges the generous support for
this book provided by Publisher’s Circle member Dorothy Ko.
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
cup .columbia .edu
Copyright © 2018 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data
Names: Chiang, Howard, 1983– author.
Title: After eunuchs : science, medicine, and the transformations of sex in modern China /
Howard Chiang.
Description: New York : Columbia University Press, [2018] | Includes bibliographical
references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017055402 | ISBN 9780231185783 (cloth : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9780231546331 (e- book)
Subjects: LCSH: Gender identity—C hina. | Sex role—C hina.
Classification: LCC HQ1075.5.C6 C45 2018 | DDC 305.30951—d c23
LC record available at https: //lccn .loc .gov /2017055402
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-f ree paper.
Printed in the United States of America
Cover image: “Social Manners in Secure,” 2015, Raintree Chan. Used with permission
of Raintree Chan.
For Hao- Te

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Toward a Genealogy of Sex 1
1 China Castrated 15
1i Vital Visions 70
1ii Deciphering Desire 125
1v Mercurial Matter 178
v Transsexual Taiwan 236
Conclusion: China Trans Formed 282
List of Abbreviations 287
Notes 289
Bibliography 325
Index 377
[ vii ]

Illustrations
Figure 1.1 Late Qing eunuch Sun Yaoting (left) and his biographer,
Jia Yinghua (right).
Figure 1.2 Ceramic figure of a eunuch servant from the Western Han
dynasty.
Figure 1.3 Ceramic figures of male (left), eunuch (center), and female
(right) attendants from the Western Han dynasty.
Figure 1.4 Drawing of a eunuch’s castration site (1894).
Figure 1.5 Photograph of a eunuch of the Imperial Palace in Peking
(1896).
Figure 1.6 Instruments used for Chinese castration (1896).
Figure 1.7 Western medical images of Chinese eunuchs (1933).
Figure 1.8 Photographs of eunuchs from the Qing Palace Archive.
Figure 1.9 A hand-d rawn replicate of Matignon’s eunuch photo (1908).
Figure 1.10 Late Qing Shanghai lithograph “How He Lost His Signifi-
cance One Morning.”
Figure 2.1 Hobson’s illustrations of male reproductive anatomy (1851).
Figure 2.2 Hobson’s illustrations of female reproductive anatomy (1851).
Figure 2.3 Hobson’s illustrations of the surgical treatment of scrotal
hernia (1857).
Figure 2.4 Diagram of the internal organs in Huangdi Neijing (side view).
Figure 2.5 Diagram of the internal organs in Huangdi Neijing (front view).
[ ix ]