Wei Zhongxian
| Wei Zhongxian | |||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 魏忠賢 | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 魏忠贤 | ||||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Wèi Zhōngxián |
| Wade–Giles | Wei Chung-hsien |
Wei Zhongxian (Xian of Suning 1568 – Pekin, December 12, 1627) was a Chinese court eunuch who lived in the late Ming dynasty. He is considered by most historians as the most powerful and notorious eunuch in Chinese history. He is best known for his service in the court of the Tianqi Emperor (r. 1620–27), when his power eventually appeared to rival that of the emperor.
Little is known of Wei's pre-court life. Wei was illiterate throughout his life, which may be an indication that he was born into a peasant or merchant class family. He is presumed to have been born in 1568 in Suning County (100 miles southeast of Beijing), to have married a girl with the surname of Fang and to have castrated himself at age 21 (Ming dynastic records claim that he did in order to escape his gambling debts). Due to his infamy in Chinese culture over the past 400 years, other stories of his early life have appeared, many showing him as a ruffian and a compulsive gambler.
Through a relative of his mother, Wei was able to enter into service in the Forbidden City. As a eunuch in the Ming court, Wei slowly gained the favor of various palace officials while working in various unofficial positions. In 1605, he was given the job of serving meals to Lady Wang and her infant son Zhu Youxiao, who would eventually become the Tianqi Emperor. While serving in this position, he grew close to Zhu Youxiao's wet nurse, Madame Ke. As Zhu Youxiao grew older, he became extremely attached to both Madame Ke and Wei Zhongxian, treating them as his de facto parents once his mother died in 1619.
When the Wanli Emperor and his heir, the Taichang Emperor, both died in 1620, the palace bureaucracy was thrown into a succession crisis. The death of the Taichang Emperor brought Madame Ke, Wei Zhongxian, and Zhu Youxiao under the supervision of Lady Li, the Taichang Emperor's favorite consort, whom Zhu Youxiao hated. Not wanting China to fall under the temporary rule of a regent (Zhu Youxiao was still 15, and underage) Donglin activist Yang Lian invaded the Forbidden City, captured Zhu Youxiao, and had him proclaimed emperor in his own right. With Lady Li essentially deposed, it became much easier for Wei and Madame Ke to influence the imperial court's decisions.
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