Sun Cheng

Sun Cheng (孫程) (d. 132) was an eunuch during Han Dynasty who, contrary to the stereotypes of Han eunuchs being corrupt and power-hungry, was loyal to the imperial family and tried (unsuccessfully) to counter the culture of corruption.

Contribution to Emperor Shun's restoration

During Emperor An's reign, his various trusted person, including the eunuchs Jiang Jing (江京) and Li Run (李閏) and his wet nurse Wang Sheng (王聖), as well as his wife Empress Yan Ji, effectively ran the imperial administration, and they used this opportunity to corruptly seize for themselves power and wealth. One of the things Jiang and Empress Yan engaged in was to, in 124, falsely accuse the nine-year-old Crown Prince Liu Bao (劉保) of crimes and getting Emperor An to depose him and make him the Prince of Jiyin.

In 125, Emperor An died suddenly, and even though Prince Bao was Emperor An's only son, Empress Yan wanted someone younger to control, and so she made Liu Yi (劉懿), the Marquess of Beixiang, emperor.

When the young emperor became gravely ill later in the year, Sun, who was then a mid-level eunuch, became concerned that Empress Dowager Yan would again bypass Prince Bao, the rightful heir, and so he entered into a conspiracy with a number of other eunuchs. They swore an oath to restore Prince Bao, and several days after the former Marquess of Beixiang died, they made a sudden assault on the palace and welcomed Prince Bao to the palace and proclaimed him emperor (as Emperor Shun). After several days of battling with the empress dowager's faction, the eunuchs led by Sun prevailed, and the Yan clan was slaughtered.

For their contributions to his restoration, Emperor Shun created Sun and 18 of his fellow eunuchs marquesses.

Failed attempt to guide Emperor Shun onto the right path

Emperor Shun, whose disposition was generally meek but weak, quickly himself became controlled by those eunuchs and officials around him, who were largely corrupt. Sun despised this situation, and in 126, when the eunuch Zhang Fang (張防) was accused of corruption by the governor of the capital district, Yu Xu (虞詡) but instead turned the situation around and convinced Emperor Shun that Yu had falsely accused him and should be sentenced to death, Sun and another eunuch who helped restore Emperor Shun, Zhang Xian (張賢), interceded at great personal peril to themselves. Yu was spared, while Zhang was exiled. However, officials who were close to Zhang then attacked Sun and his fellow eunuch-marquesses of being overly arrogant. Emperor Shun therefore sent them out of the capital Luoyang, to their marches. Of the 19, Sun alone became sufficiently enraged by this development that he had his marquess seal and emblems returned to the emperor and secretly stayed in the capital, looking to find another chance to try to guide the emperor onto the right path. He was soon captured, but Emperor Shun, remembering his accomplishments, simply sent him back to his march without further punishment, but also without listening to his advice on stamping out corruption.

Later in life

In 128, Emperor Shun, remembering what Sun and the others had done for him, summoned them back to the capital, but largely again ignored their advice. In 132, Sun died and was buried with great honors, including the posthumous name Gang (剛, literally "unbending").