Zhang Rang
| Zhang Rang | |||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 張讓 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | 张让 | ||||||
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | Zhāng Ràng |
Zhang Rang (pinyin: Zhāng Ràng) (135–189) was a palace eunuch during the Eastern Han Dynasty, who came to prominence during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han. He was also the leader of the so-called Ten regular attendants (Also known as the Ten Eunuchs), a group of court eunuchs who held great influence in the Han imperial court.
A native of Anping, Hebei Province, he gained the confidence of Emperor Ling (reigned 168-189), who referred to him as his 'father(阿父)'. Zhang Rang is characterized as “mastermind behind the emperor's financial manipulations” (that included extraordinary taxation and sale of offices). In 185 he was ennobled with eleven other eunuchs for what Emperor Ling considered to be accomplishments in suppressing the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
The influential families and the officials, including He Jin, Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, all agreed that Zhang Rang's power was too great. After Emperor Ling died and was succeeded by his son Liu Bian in 189, these individuals invaded the capital for the purpose of defeating the Ten Attendants, leading to He Jin's beheading in the palace courtyard by the Ten Attendants. Zhang kidnapped the emperor and his brother, the future Emperor Xian. However, Zhang was soon surrounded by enemy soldiers and so jumped in the river and drowned himself.
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