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Zheng He (1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was born Ma He to a Muslim family, and later adopted the conferred surname Zheng from Emperor Yongle.<br/><br/> Zheng commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. His larger ships stretched 120 meters or more in length. These carried hundreds of sailors on four tiers of decks.
Zheng He (1371 – 1433 or 1435) was a Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat, fleet admiral, and court eunuch during China's early Ming dynasty. He was born Ma He to a Muslim family, and later adopted the conferred surname Zheng from Emperor Yongle.<br/><br/> Zheng commanded expeditionary voyages to Southeast Asia, South Asia, Western Asia, and East Africa from 1405 to 1433. His larger ships stretched 120 meters or more in length. These carried hundreds of sailors on four tiers of decks.
The Qing like all dynasties that ruled China made much use of eunuchs in the Imperial Palace.<br/><br/> In China, castration included removal of the penis as well as the testicles. Both organs were cut off with a knife at the same time.<br/><br/> The number of eunuchs in Imperial employ fell to 470 by 1912, when the practice of using them ceased. The last Imperial eunuch, Sun Yaoting, died in December 1996.
The Imperial City (Vietnamese: Kinh thành Huế) in Huế is a walled fortress and palace in the former capital of Vietnam. The grounds of the Imperial City were surrounded by a wall 2 kilometers by 2 kilometers, and the walls were surrounded by a moat.<br/><br/> The water from the moat was taken from the Song Huong (Perfume River) that flows through Huế. This structure is called the citadel. Inside the citadel is the Imperial City, with a perimeter of almost 2.5 kilometers. Inside the Imperial City is the imperial enclosure called the Purple Forbidden City in Vietnamese, a term which follows that used by the Chinese for their own Forbidden City.<br/><br/> The enclosure was reserved for the Nguyen imperial family.
The Ottoman court harem—within the Topkapı Palace (1465–1853) and later the Dolmabahçe Palace (1853–1909) in Istanbul—was under the administration of the eunuchs.<br/><br/> These were of two categories: Black Eunuchs and White Eunuchs. Black Eunuchs were Africans who served the concubines and officials in the Harem together with chamber maidens of low rank. The White Eunuchs were Europeans from the Balkans. They served the recruits at the Palace School and were from 1582 prohibited from entering the Harem.
The Qianling Mausoleum is a Tang Dynasty (618–907) tomb site located in Qian County, Shaanxi province, China, and is 85 km (53 miles) northwest of Xi'an, the former Tang capital.<br/><br/> Built by 684 (with additional construction until 706), the tombs of the mausoleum complex house the remains of various members of the royal Li family. This includes Emperor Gaozong of Tang (r. 649–683), as well as his wife, the Zhou Dynasty usurper and China's first (and only) governing empress Wu Zetian (r. 690–705).<br/><br/> The mausoleum is renowned for its many Tang Dynasty stone statues located above ground and the mural paintings adorning the subterranean walls of the tombs. Besides the main tumulus mound and underground tomb of Gaozong and Wu Zetian, there is a total of 17 smaller attendant tombs.