In the vast pages of Chinese history, the figure of the eunuch often conjures images of palace intrigue, political maneuvering, and shadow power. Yet among those individuals stands Sun Yaoting, the last imperial eunuch of China a living relic whose life spanned the twilight of the Qing Dynasty, the Republican era, Manchukuo, the People’s Republic, and even the Cultural Revolution. His story, reflected in the film Lai Shi, China’s Last Eunuch, offers a rare glimpse into a world that has since vanished. From selfcastration and service to emperors, to religious retreat and the loss of personal identity, his journey is both fascinating and poignant, revealing much about societal change, tradition, and resilience.
Early Life and SelfCastration
Sun Yaoting was born on September 29, 1902, in Jinghai County near Tianjin. His family was poor and hoped that making him a eunuch would grant them influence and favor at court. At the age of eight, he underwent emasculation complete removal of genitalia performed by his father without anesthesia. This brutal tradition, deeply rooted in Chinese court history, was seen as a pathway into imperial service
Life in the Forbidden City
Sun’s aspiration to serve the Qing emperor coincided with the collapse of the dynasty. Nonetheless, he did enter the imperial court and served Puyi, the last Qing emperor. When the imperial family was expelled from the Forbidden City in 1924, Sun continued in the service of Puyi, even in Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in northeast China
Film Depiction: Lai Shi, China’s Last Eunuch
Sun Yaoting’s life story inspired Ni Kuang’s novel and the 1988 Hong Kong film Lai Shi, China’s Last Eunuch directed by Jacob Cheung. The film stars Max Mok as Liu Laishi, a character based on Sun, whose journey mirrors the real eunuch’s transformation from hopeful imperial servant to opera actor to wandering social outsider
- It highlights traditional values and social aspiration leading to selfcastration
- It dramatizes the collapse of the Qing and personal turmoil that follows
- As the dynasty ends, the eunuch’s identity becomes fractured, signaling a broader societal shift.
Struggles in Republican China and Wartime
After leaving court life, Sun lived through chaotic decades. He adapted, serving in Manchukuo and then navigating the tumult of the Republic. Yet his identity as a eunuch rendered him marginalized in a modernizing China. The fall of the imperial order meant that eunuchs like Sun were anachronisms, caught between obsolete privilege and contemporary suspicion
Cultural Revolution and Personal Loss
Under Mao’s regime, eunuchs were reviled as symbols of feudal backwardness. During the Cultural Revolution, Sun faced persecution. The family, fearing red Guard retaliation, discarded the precious jar containing his severed genitals once kept for burial rituals to restore his manhood in reincarnation
Legacy and Death
Sun Yaoting died on December 17, 1996, in Beijing. He was widely celebrated as China’s last imperial eunuch. His life story, spanning monumental shifts from dynasty to republic to communist rule, became a subject of memoirs, biographies, and documentaries. His preserved memory and the infamous jar were lost to political zeal, but his life remains a symbol of historical continuity and change
Historical Significance
End of an Institution
Sun Yaoting embodied the final link in a chain of palace eunuchs whose history extends back to the Han dynasty. His death marked the end of a social class that wielded significant influence for centuries
Cultural Shift
The transition from eunuch-power in imperial courts to marginalization reveals broader societal transformations. His life highlighted changing values once seen as loyal servants, eunuchs became stigmatized as relics of repression and patriarchy.
Human Dimension
Beyond institutional roles, Sun’s story is also deeply personal. Castrated as a boy, devoted to emperors, stripped of identity, he clung to rituals and religious hopes for return. His journey reveals the emotional toll of serving roles imposed by tradition and erased by modernity.
Reflections in Popular Culture
- The film adaptation brings emotional depth and visual drama to his story, blending history and fiction
- Biographies like The Last Eunuch of China (published posthumously) provide detailed accounts of his experiences in palace politics and personal suffering
- Media portrayal fosters public interest in a vanished world imperial rituals, court hierarchy, faith, and identity.
Sun Yaoting’s life as China’s last eunuch bridges centuries of history. From selfcastration in hopes of imperial privilege to exclusion and spiritual retreat, his journey traces the cultural, political, and moral shifts of modern China. His story reminds us that human lives are shaped by systems larger than themselves dynasties, revolutions, ideologies and that the fall of traditions leaves personal scars as well as historical legacies. Even in death, the last eunuch casts a long shadow, reminding us that progress often leaves complexity and loss in its wake.
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