102 years ago today, on July 16, 1923 (June 3, 1923 in the lunar calendar), Puyi abolished eunuchs in the palace. Eunuchs in the Forbidden City At noon on July 16, 1923, Pu Yi issued an edict to "abolish all eunuchs in the palace and leave the palace immediately", ordering Shaoying and Qi Ling to mobilize all the guards and force the eunuchs out of the palace. The imperial concubines tried hard at first, but later learned that Puyi had issued an edict, so they had no choice but to leave a number of eunuchs behind for driving them. In the end, it was decided to abolish all except for the three imperial concubines, Puyi and Shufei, who would retain 20 eunuchs in each of the five palaces. Since the vast majority of eunuchs had no homes in Beijing, if hundreds of eunuchs were to live on the streets, it would be detrimental to Beijing's public security. Therefore, Wang Huaiqing and Xue Zhiheng were found to discuss ways to deal with them. It was agreed that the Ministry of Internal Affairs would raise a severance payment. Those who had families or relatives and friends staying in Beijing would immediately take their luggage and leave the palace; those who really had nowhere to go would temporarily live in Yanchi Building on Di 'anmen Nei Street, and after receiving the severance payment, they would return to their respective hometowns. In the evening, when Shaoying gathered all the eunuchs in Qianqing Gate and read out Puyi's edict, the eunuchs were very panicked and indignant. Most of them are from Cang County and Hejian in Hebei Province. They have been working in the palace for decades. The palace is similar to their home and has accumulated some things. Now that they are ordered to leave within a few hours, where will they go? How to live in the future? Some cried miserably, and some cursed loudly. At about 9 p.m., all the eunuchs, except those left behind, left the palace. In late July, the Ministry of Internal Affairs raised severance pay and started paying it out with military and police personnel in Yanji Building. A total of more than 700 eunuchs were abolished this time. Each leader received 200 yuan, and the general eunuch received 20 yuan. In addition to those who had homes in Beijing, some of the eunuchs moved to temples, some returned to their original places of origin, and more than 300 people still lived in Yanji Building and made a living by begging. Many eunuchs in ragged clothes set fire to cook under the porch, much like refugees fleeing from famine, and their appearance was quite miserable.