Did Wai Siu Bo actually fool anybody into believing that he was a eunuch?

[Ken Cheng]

Palace eunuchs in China were required to undergo castration before beginning service. If the behavior of Dung Fong But Bai in SPW was any indication, castrated men will begin to behave effeminately.

During Wai Siu Bo's early days in the Qing court, he masqueraded as a palace eunuch. Was anybody really fooled, however? Wai Siu Bo's behavior was far from effeminate, and he didn't even make a pretense of behaving effeminately. Surely, somebody in the court must have figured out that he was no eunuch.

[smurf120]

*spoiler - cuz I know people are watching (Ken) and reading over at the translation forum

I used to have this question myself but he seemed actually quite respectful in court when other high officials were around and otherwise just acted like a hyper preteen/teen. I think he "outed" himself by the time he was 14-15 so no special display of effeminate behavior as characterized by "older" eunuchs.

[Ace High]

Actually, WXB's interaction with other eunuchs was pretty limited for others to figure out he isn't castrated.

In Jordan Chan's DOMD, Prince Kang, Songgotu and Dolong eventually realised he isn't a real eunuch and tried to castrate him for real.

[charbydis]

Could it be that only WSB was only in the palace in his early teenage years and during that age, his male hormones would have not taken place yet to cause him suspicion? Voice changes usually happen around 15 or so and facial hair doesn't come into effect until maybe 16 or 17 so to others, he just looked like an ordinary young eunuch. He was already on his way on his travels in the outside world when those changes occured and when he got those girls in his inside the palace, he seemed to enjoy teasing them more than actually molesting them. He probabaly showed sexual curiosity rather than urges at that early age which was normal as well. And when he was travelling, most people had no idea what an eunuch looks like or behaves so how could they tell unless they strip his pants?

If you think about it, all castration does is get rid of testosterone production which limits male development during puberty. An eunuch would have less facial and body hair, their voice would fail to lower in pitch and their bones would be shorter and less bulky. The effiminate behaviour is an environmental influence where they are surrounded by females all the time or older eunuchs. They do no have a normal male model to look upon when growing up so they pick up these effiminate gestures from palace maids or concubines. Say if a kid in the outside world got castrated by accident yet got treated normally by his family and friends, apart from the slight physical differences, he would probably be very similar to a normal skinny gentle boy.

As for XAJH, I think all those castrated men became effiminate because that is what they expected it to be and they enjoyed it. DFBB probably had a crush on YLT and wanted to be more of a woman to please him and thus those effiminate gestures. Most likely some latent bisexuality that was suppressed by social expectations that were released after they were castrated as they thought they should act differently.

[Ace High]

Could it be that only WSB was only in the palace in his early teenage years and during that age, his male hormones would have not taken place yet to cause him suspicion? Voice changes usually happen around 15 or so and facial hair doesn't come into effect until maybe 16 or 17 so to others, he just looked like an ordinary young eunuch. He was already on his way on his travels in the outside world when those changes occured and when he got those girls in his inside the palace, he seemed to enjoy teasing them more than actually molesting them. He probabaly showed sexual curiosity rather than urges at that early age which was normal as well. And when he was travelling, most people had no idea what an eunuch looks like or behaves so how could they tell unless they strip his pants?

WXB entered the palace when he's about 12-13 years old. He was officially announced as a fake eunuch when he's about 13-14 years old.

[nie_feng2002]

In the novel, Jin Yong stated that under Eunuch Hai Da Fu's orders, WXB was very generous in terms of money and giving loans when the other eunuchs lost in gambling.. he probably gained a lot of "goodwill" that way...

Also, WXB's superior Hai Da Fu was known to be weird and ruthless (as seen from the fact that the 2 Eunuchs who borrowed money from WXB was so frightened of Hai Da Fu that they pleaded with WXB not to reveal their debts to Hai Da Fu...), add to the fact that WXB is a favourite of Kang Xi and to a lesser extent, the Empress Dowager (from outsiders POV), nobody in their right mind would go make a big fuss out of accusing WXB of NOT being a Eunuch, for fear of reprisals

They would most probably have suspected something.. but would most prob suppressed their suspicions...