Sun Yaoting ( Traditional Chinese: 孫耀庭,

Simplified Chinese Simplification, Simplify, or Simplified may refer to: Mathematics Simplification is the process of replacing a mathematical expression by an equivalent one, that is simpler (usually shorter), for example * Simplification of algebraic expressions ...

: 孙耀庭,

Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...

: Sūn Yàotíng, Wade-Giles: Sun Yao-t'ing; 29 September 1902 – 17 December 1996) was the last surviving imperial

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

Chinese history The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC, from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC), during the reign of king Wu Ding. Ancient historical texts such as the ''Book of Documents'' (early chapter ...

. He was castrated at the age of eight by his father with a single razor cut, mere months before the last emperor Pu Yi was deposed. He still became a palace eunuch and had become the attendant to the empress before the imperial family was expelled from the

Forbidden City The Forbidden City () is a palace complex in Dongcheng District, Beijing, China, at the center of the Imperial City of Beijing. It is surrounded by numerous opulent imperial gardens and temples including the Zhongshan Park, the sacrifi ...

, following which he continued to serve in

Manchukuo Manchukuo, officially the State of Manchuria prior to 1934 and the Empire of (Great) Manchuria after 1934, was a puppet state of the Empire of Japan in Manchuria from 1932 until 1945. It was founded as a republic in 1932 after the Japanese ...

until the puppet state's collapse. 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

1902 births 1996 deaths Qing dynasty eunuchs Writers from Tianjin {{China-bio-stub