Celibate, but not childless: Eunuch military dynasticism in medieval China

This chapter describes the important role that eunuch adoptive networks played in the late Tang and contextualizes those networks within the vast array of ranks that eunuchs occupied during that time. The presence of eunuchs at courts in China can be dated as far back as the mid-first millennium bc. The most prominent posts that eunuchs held after the early ninth century were: the two "Protectors-in-Chief" or "Conciliatory Inspectors of the Left and Right Army of Divine Strategies" in Chang'an; and the army surveillance commissioners. Considering eunuchs as husbands and fathers might initially appear as a contradiction in terms, but in fact, eunuchs have been able to marry and adopt children; their sons could be either eunuchs or non-eunuchs. The fact that they were allowed to marry and adopt children could not compensate for their inability to father children - a point certainly not lost on even the most tolerant ancestor-fearing Confucian.