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Never in China's 5000-year history did surgery become a significant part of traditional medicine and health care. The body was seen as an inviolable whole. Acupuncture was as invasive as it generally got. In Europe, doctors were experimenting with cadavers and then on the living to develop surgery, a new discipline of medicine.
Apart from Confucian restrictions on human vivisection, one theory about why surgery did not take off in China is that circumcision was not practised. Without this starting point, surgery had little to build on.
But eunuchs, who were employed by the emperors as their palace servants, bureaucrats and advisers, present a counterargument.
Castration was practised in China for at least 3000 years. By the time of the Manchu emperors, castration had become a profession. Keith Laidler in his The Last Empress writes how the genitals were washed in pepper water to partially anaesthetise them, the stomach and upper thighs were tightly bandaged to reduce blood flow and once the candidate was settled on a heated couch, the castrator would sever the penis and scrotum. A plug was inserted in the urethra and the lesion bandaged.
The patient was not allowed to drink for three days, after which the urethra was unplugged. If the patient could pass urine, the operation was a success. If not and the urethra had healed shut, the patient would die within days. The severed genitalia were never discarded, so that on their deaths, eunuchs could be buried whole.
Access to the palace often meant influence and great wealth. Many eunuchs became rich through bribe-taking and were able to afford mansions and country houses. Consequently, the demand to become a eunuch was high.
More fun stories from China:
Teacher devises shocking punishment for slow readers
GUIZHOU - A Guiyang primary school teacher punished three girls and three boys by forcing them to lick the bottoms of nine other students, Xinhua reports. The teacher punished the six first-grade pupils because they could not read aloud as fluently as their classmates. The teacher was later disciplined and had his pay docked.
Lovers' duel turns into deadly rat-poison pact
HUNAN - A duel in Xiangxiang over the favours of a woman has resulted in the deaths of two people. The Xiaoxiang Morning News reports a 19-year-old man and his 27-year-old rival were competing for the affections of a 40-something woman when they decided to settle the issue by drinking rat poison. The survivor would get the woman. The 27-year-old man died. When the 19-year-old man's family was forced to compensate the family of his dead rival, the 19-year-old's mother killed herself.
Homemade beauty product whets dog's appetite
GUANGDONG - Pets and beauty products sometimes do not mix. A Guangzhou woman was forced to seek medical treatment when her pet dog bit her on the nose. The Information Times reports the dog was attracted by the scent of her homemade facial treatment.