While in another room (as usual) I heard a woman on tv (on Globe Trekker) mention that men who served as admirals and other authorities during a period in China were eunuchs.
I cannot comprehend this. 
Eunuchs in other societies were not, as far as I know, volunteers.
Different strokes, I guess.
Protectively covering himself,
mangeorge
There’s a book that was supposedly recently translated into English about one of the last eunuchs in China. I can’t find it on amazon.com, though. Too bad- I’d love to read it.
The guy interviewed for this book was castrated at age 8 by his father to advance the family’s interests.
Here?
http://www.bookzines.com/php/books_detail.php?bid=1868
Please let us know if you’re successful.
I’m going to China this summer on an eclipse tour. I may see if I can get it there, if I’d have to order it from there anyway.
Hmmm. It is available on amazon, but from a private seller. He bought it over there. In China. It would, I think, be cool to have it to read and to take with you.
The most famous Chinese admiral, Zheng He, had been made a eunuch in boyhood. He became a high adviser at the Imperial court and was then made an admiral.
I’d wonder what Chinese Customs would make of it if they searched my bag on the way in…
I seem to recall eunuch being a lucrative career path in certain Indian societies, up for which men would line. I could be misremembering, though.
I remember two, singers in the Vatican and harem tenders in Egypt. I’m pretty sure both were at the whim of the boss.
The point was that being a eunuch made you a dead end as far as setting up a dynasty. So you could be relatively trusted not to try to overthrow the emperor if he gave you power. So a lot of emperors made eunuchs into prime ministers, governors, generals, and admirals. And a lot of young men saw being castrated as an acceptable sacrifice to getting named as a prime minister, governor, general, or admiral.
I am almost certain that Cecil did a Straight Dope column on this subject, but I dont know how to find/link it…
OTOH, if Chinese customes does a body search and discover your package is missing, you are well on your way to a rewarding career.
[checks self]
I don’t have a package! Can I get a rewarding career in China?
I was going to order from that guy, but he wants $40 for it, and it’s 92 RMB (about $13.47 according to Google) in China. I’m not paying 3x what it’s worth if I can get it there. I want to read it soon, but I’m not that impatient.
ETA: I’m not saying that guy is ripping people off. He might be, or the shipping from China might have cost a lot.
Not in the Navy.
While I was in the US Navy we had a lot of girls posing as boys. It was fun. Of course, we didn’t tell our Marines.
What, you guys didn’t have girls aboard? Man, that’s gay.
I don’t know where eunuchs fall on the gay-straight spectrum. Probably somewhere between Marines and cross-dressers.
I didn’t say “eunuchs”, I said "girls posing (not passing, you’ll notice) as boys.
Anne assured us that she does not have a package. She wishes to be a admiral, in China. I’m hoping she’ll read that book before going, so she’ll reconsider that wish.
There ain’t no “between” with Marines and cross-dressers. 
The best “article” that I’ve seen on the general topic of Eunuchery and political positions was by Sampiro in this thread.