志异 Draft by Drama box December 2014 (english) | Page 13

※ Quah Sy Ren is Associate Professor at the
Division of Chinese, Nanyang Technological
University.

13
The Paradox of Harmony Quah Sy Ren

sorrow’ and they were ‘law-abiding people who treated others
with honesty and sincerity’. The ‘Country of Every Person’ was a
veritable utopia and a society in the ultimate state of harmony.
However, there was one little ‘imperfection’ in this otherwise
perfect paradise as it ‘also had the practice of keeping eunuchs’.
When Zheng He knew about this, he lamented: even the happiest
of existences requires some to pay the price of castration, no
matter that they take care to do it ever so gently and thoughtfully
on this little island.