Sun Yaoting
{{short description|Last imperial eunuch of China}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sun Yaoting
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1902|9|29|df=y}}
| birth_place = Tianjin, Jinghai County, Qing Empire
| death_date = {{death date and age|1996|12|17|1902|9|29|df=y}}
| death_place = Beijing, China
| nationality = Chinese
| other_names =
| known_for = Being the last surviving eunuch of Imperial China
| occupation = Imperial court eunuch
}}
Sun Yaoting ({{zh|t=孫耀庭|s=孙耀庭}}, 29 September 1902 – 17 December 1996) was the last surviving imperial eunuch of Chinese history.
Life
Born into poverty, his family home was burned and fields stolen by a landlord in their village; his family hoped that by making Sun Yaoting into a eunuch, they would gain Imperial influence, and would be able to take revenge on the landlord. At the age of eight, Sun Yaoting was emasculated by his father at home{{cite journal|last1=Chatterton|first1=Jocelyn|last2=Bultitude|first2=Matthew|title=Castration, The Eunuchs of Qing Dynasty China: A Medical and Historical Review.|journal=De Historia Urologie Europace|volume=15|pages=39–47|url=http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/id/eprint/16906|accessdate=1 January 2015}} with a single razor cut, and without the use of anesthesia. The emperor he had hoped to serve, Puyi, was deposed months later.{{cite news|title=Castration secrets of China's last eunuch revealed|work=ABC Online|publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=2009-03-16|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/16/2517614.htm|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120527074413/http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/03/16/2517614.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 27, 2012|accessdate=2009-03-16}}{{cite news|last=Faison|first=Seth|title=The Death of the Last Emperor's Last Eunuch|work=The New York Times|date=1996-12-20|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0DEFD71431F933A15751C1A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1|accessdate=2009-03-16}}{{cite book|last=Yinghua|first=Jia|others=Sun Haichen (translator)|title=The Last Eunuch of China-The Life of Sun Yaoting by Jia Yinghua |year=2008|publisher=China Intercontinental Press|pages=314|isbn=978-7-5085-1407-9}}
Nonetheless, Sun Yaoting became a palace eunuch, and had become the attendant to the empress before the imperial family was expelled from the Forbidden City. He continued to serve in Manchukuo until the puppet state's collapse at the end of World War II.{{cite news |last1=Graham-Harrison |first1=Emma |title=China's last eunuch spills sex secrets |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-eunuch/chinas-last-eunuch-spills-sex-secrets-idUSTRE52E06H20090316 |accessdate=14 December 2018 |work=Reuters |date=16 March 2009}} His preserved genitals, considered a treasure by eunuchs, were discarded by his family during the Cultural Revolution, when it was considered taboo to own anything from the "old society."
The 1988 dramatic film Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch is based on Sun Yaoting's life. His biography The Last Eunuch of China was published in 1998 and translated to English in 2008.
References
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