I was on a liquor-drenched party boat that was sailing in the Strait of Malacca, one of the busiest and most important shipping lanes in the world today, when I saw its namesake in the distance. From ...
Chinese history has witnessed a group of sexually impotent males who were forced to act as royal servants their entire lives. These men were deprived of the right to marry and have descendants. Some ...
The Los Angeles Times reviews “The Last Eunuch of China: The Life of Sun Yaoting,” who was castrated at age 8 and served the wife of the last emperor, Puyi: Sun was unusual: Inspired by an older ...
We love this Reuters headline: “China’s last eunuch spills sex, castration secrets.” Well, among other things. While headlines like the above evoke a prurient interest, the new English translation of ...
It would have been difficult not to have been intrigued by the entrance to a Ming dynasty (1368-1644) tomb in central China’s Shanxi province, which featured a stunning doorway with beautiful carvings ...
At the time, Chinese eunuchs would carry their “three jewels” with them in a small pouch, so that they could be made whole again in the afterlife. Sadly, five centuries after his death, there is no ...
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