changwei 廠衛, the Eastern and Western Depots and the Brocade Guards

The Eastern (dongchang 東廠) and Western Depots (xichang 西廠) and the Brocade Guards (jinyiwei 錦衣衛) were security and surveillance units created during the Ming period 明 (1368-1644). They were supervised by high-ranking court eunuchs and wielded considerable power. Historians say they were the "eyes and ears of the emperor" because they were particularly designed to spy on state officials and eliminate potential rivals.

The Brocade Guards (jinyiwei 錦衣衛, full title of the institution: jinyiwei qinjun du zhihuishi si 錦衣衛親軍都指揮使司) were created in 1382 as a further standardisation of the personal body guard (gongweisi 拱衛司) of Zhu Yuanzhang 朱元璋 (the eventual founder of the Ming, Emperor Taizu 明太祖, r. 1368-1398), when he was still King of Wu 吳. In 1369, the institution was called Commandery of the Imperial Guard (qinjun duwei fu 親軍都尉府). It consisted of five companies subordinated to the Imperial Regalia Service (yiluansi 儀鑾司). The guards retained the duties of personal guard and ceremonial display but were additionally given the task of surveying the officialdom. They were headed by a commander (zhihuishi 指揮使), generals (jiangjun 將軍), guardsmen (lishi 力士) and commandants (xiaowei 校尉) and had in the beginning a size of c. 1,500 men. A drastic increase in strength was enforced until the Jiajing reign-period 嘉靖 (1522-1566), when the guards reached a total size of 50,000 to 60,000 troops. These were then divided into 17 battalions (qianhusuo 千戶所), whose troops were commanded by company commanders (zongqi 總旗), platoon commanders (xiaoqi 小旗) and lower officers. Mounted troops were known as "red-brown cavalry" (tiqi 緹騎). The office of the Guards was headed by a "civilian" associate administrator (tongzhi 同知) and assistants (qianshi 僉事).

The Guards administered two institutions with administrative and jurisdictional rights, namely the Southern Administrative Court (nan zhenfusi 南鎮撫司) and the Northern Administrative Court (bei zhenfusi 南北鎮撫司). The former was responsible for archiving records and files (on judicial matters, faji 法紀, and on military matters, junji 軍紀), while the latter handled correspondence with the emperor regarding jurisdictional cases (zhaoyu 詔獄, also called jinyiwei yu 錦衣衛獄), including the right to maintain its own jail and execute punishments. In the late years of the Hongwu reign-period 洪武 (1368-1398), the Guards were forbidden to handle penal matters autonomously, but this practice was reintroduced during the Yongle reign-period 永樂 (1402-1424). In 1478, Emperor Xianzong 明憲宗 (r. 1464-1487) bestowed the commander of the Northern Court a seal that allowed him to report directly to the emperor and to receive his orders firsthand.

The three depots in the inner parts of the Forbidden City were entrusted with similar duties, giving the eunuchs the greatest power. These were the Eastern Depot (dongchang 東廠), the Western Depot (xichang 西廠), and the Palace Depot (neihangchang 內行廠). In 1420, the intelligence organisation of the Eastern Depot was established and supervised by two Directors of Ceremonial "wielding the brush" (silijian bingbi taijian 司禮監秉筆太監, also called duzhu 督主 chief supervisor). They were assisted by a commander of the penal battalions (zhangxing qianhu 掌刑千戶) and a commander of the execution companies (lixing baihu 理刑百戶各), who oversaw servicemen (liyi 隸役) and detention personnel (jishi 緝事). The rights of the Eastern Depot surpassed those of the Brocade Guards, and its commander was allowed to memorialise directly to the emperor and to execute imperial verdicts autonomously, including arresting and trying officials and punishing them. The Western Depot organisation was created in 1477. It was supervised by the chief eunuch Wang Zhi 汪直 (d. 1487). Its authority exceeded that of the Eastern Depot, yet its abolition was discussed and, as a result, it was temporarily closed. In the early sixteenth century, the Palace Depot was created as an administrative instance above the two other depots. Its creation was the result of an internal quarrel between the highest court eunuchs. The Palace Depot was headed by Liu Jin 劉瑾 (1451-1510), and it was the most cruel of all the secret eunuch institutions. After Liu's death in 1510, it was abolished.

There was, in fact, no difference in the jurisdictional rights of the Depots and the Guard, but the latter was not part of the regular bureaucracy and therefore had to submit a formal memorial to contact the emperor. It was also possible that relatives of the Guard members participated in its activities, while the Depots were supervised by chief eunuchs, trusted advisors to the emperor. The latter's authority was greater than that of the Guard, and they also spied on the Guard's activities. Each part of this internal espionage system kept an eye on the other. From the mid-Ming period onwards, the rivalry between the Guards and the Depots increased, but they also cooperated successfully in their reign of terror. All associated institutions were therefore collectively known as changwei 廠衛 "Depots and Guards".

Historiographers report that the chief supervisor of the Eastern Depot had up to 16,000 collaborators throughout the country. The senior informants were called "controllers of the files" (dangtou 檔頭), while the lesser ones, who carried out the questioning of alleged delinquents, were called "underlings" (fanzi 番子). On orders from above, these informants also took on punitive or intimidating tasks to terrorise state officials, often extorting money from the targeted persons. In the worst cases, people were arrested and tortured to death. A common form of 'punishment' was public flogging or beating (tingzhang 廷杖), a measure that normally required the emperor's consent or order. For each five blows, the executioner was changed, so that the force of the blows remained severe. In the early period, the executioners contented themselves with the number of blows announced in the verdict, but later on, all "delinquents" were beaten to death. During the Zhengde and Jiajing reign periods, 280 officials were punished with the bamboo cane, and 28 were beaten to death. Six high officials belonging to the Donglin Faction (Donglin dang 東林黨) died in the secret jails of the Guards. Under the domination of Liu Qin, a special cangue was introduced with a weight of 300 pounds (jin 斤), which squeezed delinquents to death within a few days. The notorious tyrant Wei Zhongxian 魏忠賢 (1568–1627) introduced some extremely cruel corporal punishments, namely cutting in two at the waist (duanji 斷脊), cutting off fingers (duozhi 墮指), cutting out the heart (cixin 刺心), or the "lute punishment" (pipa xing 琵琶刑, tan pipa 彈琵琶), in which the ribs of a victim were treated with a knife as if they were the strings of a lute.

Although such cruelties were ended after the downfall of Wei Zhongxian, the institutions persisted until the end of the Ming.