There's a curious footnote in Rafe de Crespigny's Generals of the South (p. 9, fn. 17):
See the biography of Luan Ba in HHS [Book of the Later Han] 57/47 at 1841-42. A man of Wei commandery, Luan Ba was a curious man with a remarkable career. He was at one time a eunuch in the imperial harem, but left that office because his virility returned. Expert in Taoist arts, he used his powers to control the gods of Yuzhang and destroy their cult. He was put to death about 170 for his opposition to the eunuch dominance of the court of Emperor Ling.
I'm just curious whether there's been any work on the status of eunuchs, for instance, it might be argued that the fact that this eunuch's "virility returned" could indicate that eunuch is less of an anatomical designation and more a social one.
Edit: There's a second part to the footnote:
In the Tang commentary to Luan Ba's biography, extracts from the Shenxian zhuan by Ge Hong of the fourth century suggest that he came not from Wei commandery but from Shu, in the west, and a number of anecdotes enlarge upon his magical achievements. His record as a temporary eunuch, as a Taoist adept, and as a local administrator who founded (presumably Confucian) schools, is somewhat confusing, and it appears that Luan Ba, whatever his origins and reality, served as a focus for a number of popular stories.
So perhaps this indicates that Luan Ba may have been a composite figure, which may explain his temporary eunuchness.
Your question is cool enough for me to come out of my extended AskHistorians maternity leave for some solid eunuchology…
So while you are 100% correct that a eunuch is first and foremost a social designation specific to certain culture (many men are castrated today, but we do not call them eunuchs or have special jobs for them, and if you call some poor guy with prostate cancer a eunuch you are a douche) Chinese eunuchs were literally castrated, both penis and testicles. If Luan Ba was a “temporary eunuch,” which indeed he does appear to have socially been a eunuch and then socially not, which is extremely cool from my scholarly perspective, he would have still literally been without his gentleman’s special interest goods for the rest of his life, but just living the life of a “normal” man after having “formally qualified” for the social position of a eunuch with the act of castration. Pretty wild.
This Google book preview shows a little more detail, which is that he claims his “yang qi was unblocked and he begged to withdraw.” (The book’s conclusion that he maybe had a unique born physical condition other than castration is very specious and I would ignore it.) This reads to me that Luan Ba was exercising his will to leave the palace, rather than any change in his actual physical state. So, in plain English, I think he didn’t feel like being a eunuch anymore, as he had higher career goals, so self-identified as once again experiencing that pesky yang lust and very effectively put in his 2 weeks notice to being a eunuch, off to a new career. No one can really argue with that, it’s your lust to report on.
He has his own entry in A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD) by your same author:
Luan Ba 㩓ⴵ Luan Ba is the centre of a number of stories, many of them relating to the supernatural. HHS 57/47 says he came from Wei commandery but the third century text Shenxian zhuan, claiming him as a Taoist adept, says he was a man from Shu; as Luan Ba is not mentioned in Huayang guo zhi, this is doubtful. In the time of Emperor Shun Luan Ba served in the imperial harem and became an Attendant at the Yellow Gates. He had a strong sense of honour, and did not engage in the corrupt intrigues of his colleagues. He later regained his virility. Reporting this to the throne, he asked to quit his position, and he was appointed a gentleman cadet. After a series of lesser posts Luan Ba was sent to the south as Administrator of Guiyang. The people of this region were strongly influenced by shamans, but Luan Ba enforced marriage and funeral customs, established schools to develop Chinese culture and insisted that his local officials attend. After seven years he sought to retire on grounds of ill health, but the Inspector Li Gu, recognising his excellent service, secured his appointment as a Consultant at the capital. In 142 Luan Ba was named an acting Household Counsellor and joined the special commission of eight sent out to observe the conduct of the empire; Luan Ba was despatched to Xu province. Little came of the project and government fell further into the hands of the empress's brother Liang Ji and their kinsmen. Luan Ba then became Administrator of Yuzhang, where he again encountered local cults, this time based upon the mystic marriages of young men and women to spirits of the mountains and rivers, while shamans extorted money for their rituals. Luan Ba countered the shamans with his knowledge of magical arts, destroyed their shrines and freed the people from their former superstitions. Transferred to be Chancellor of Pei, he soon afterwards returned to take a position in the Imperial Secretariat at the capital. At the death of Emperor Shun in 144 the officials in charge of his tomb planned to clear a number of lesser burials from the area. Luan Ba protested, but the regent Dowager Liang resented this and sent him to prison. He was allowed to commute his punishment, but was proscribed from office and sent back to his home country. More than twenty years later, when Dou Wu and Chen Fan held power after the accession of Emperor Ling in 168, they called Luan Ba back to court as a Consultant. Soon afterwards the eunuchs overthrew Dou Wu and Chen Fan, and Luan Ba was viewed as one of the defeated faction. Sent away to be Administrator of Yongchang in the far southwest, he sought to refuse the office on grounds of ill health but was refused. He presented a memorial of complaint, and also protested the cruel treatment shown to Dou Wu and Chen Fan. The young emperor, furious, ordered his arrest, and Luan Ba killed himself
So looks like his use of “eunuch” as a temporary career option was a pretty unique way to climb the ladder, yet effective! But still living without the goods for the rest of his life. They make no mention of a wife or children, but even if they were there they would not preclude his being a eunuch, as Chinese eunuchs sometimes married and adopted, there were no laws against it.
However! Back to the issue of penises growing back. There are tales from the Ottoman empire of eunuchs having the penis begin to “grow back” and being forced to either have it “corrected” or leave the palace. The “corrective” surgery was often fatal. The penis, when removed and heals, forms something called a urethral stoma, which is a sort of butthole-shaped wound. (You can google stoma if you so desire, they all look about the same.) This tissue is not terribly stable and having a urethra that’s like 2 inches from the bladder naturally results in a high amount of infections in the urethra, bladder, and kidneys. My read on these “penile regrowth” tales from the Ottoman empire is that the eunuchs’ urethra stomas occasionally had some sort of infection, hernia, or prolapse, just like modern stomas do, and the Ottoman palace interpreted them as a sinister regrowth of penis. While it is certainly possible something like this might have happened to our Luan Ba, from the hint above that he self-identified as no longer “a eunuch” with the return of yang energy, and very skillfully leveraged his eunuch retirement into some new and better careers, I think he was a normal ole eunuch who got bored with standing around in fancy robes and had a good idea how to get out of it.
Cool story and I thank you for sharing it, I had never seen it before!