TY - JOUR AU1 - Déry, Carl AB - Reviews 313 Rudi Volti Rudi Volti is Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Pitzer College. His publications include Technology Transfer and East Asian Economic Transformation (Oxford University Press). Norman A. Kutcher. Eunuch and Emperor in the Great Age of Qing Rule. Oakland: University of California Press, 2018. xxv, 317 pp. Hardcover $75.00, ISBN 978-0-520-29752-4. This book is about eunuchs’ relations with Qing emperors during the first half of the dynasty, from Shunzhi to Qianlong. Eunuchs have always been tainted with mysteries and our knowledge of their lives has always been limited due to the nature of the sources available. While a consensual master narrative mostly emphasized the destructive role played by eunuch during Ming dynasty and the efforts made by Qing emperors to control and limit their influence within the government, this groundbreaking book presents a quite different picture, as the author deals with crucial aspects about the lives of a myriad of individuals that unveil the necessary relations happening behind the curtain of institutions like the Imperial Household Department. The author draws on case reports of crimes and transgressions committed by eunuchs as he tries to go beyond usual stereotypes. These reports include a considerable amount of details related TI - Eunuch and Emperor in the Great Age of Qing Rule by Norman A. Kutcher (review) JF - China Review International DA - 2019-12-12 UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/university-of-hawai-i-press/eunuch-and-emperor-in-the-great-age-of-qing-rule-by-norman-a-kutcher-VCCJmjCXHc SP - 313 EP - 317 VL - 24 IS - 4 DP - DeepDyve ER -