Bodily Changes: Castration as Cultural and Social Practice in the Space of the Forbidden City

Peng Liu and Lan Lan

SAGE Open, 2021, vol. 11, issue 3, 21582440211040772

Abstract: This article examines the Chinese imperial body as “simultaneously part of nature and part of culture†and considers the interactions between the cultural body and physical body in sociological terms. The examination elaborates on the physical body as the manifestation of the demands of society mediated by cultural meanings. Bodily changes, such as castration, which Peng Liu argue is a trade between the physical body and cultural body in meeting the demands of Imperial Chinese society, affect the cultural embodiment of the body. This article examines the bodily actions of head eunuchs and how they interact with the emperor in the space of the Forbidden City during Imperial China. Eunuchs have undertaken an invasive physical operation to not only survive but thrive in imperial society. This reflects the constraints, struggles, and disciplining of the physically castrated and culturally embodied being.

Keywords: bodily modification; bodily movement; China; cultural analysis; fictocriticism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/21582440211040772 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:sagope:v:11:y:2021:i:3:p:21582440211040772

DOI: 10.1177/21582440211040772

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in SAGE Open
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().