Yinghua Jia (Author), Haichen Sun (Translator)
Paperback: 314 pages
Publisher: China Intercontinental Press; 1 edition (1 Jan. 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 7508514076
ISBN-13: 978-7508514079
China’S 1ast eunuch Sun Yaoting died in December 1996 at age 94.He took with him intimate stories of the last vestiges of Imperial China and was himself the 1ast in the line of eunuchs who had served the royal family for more than 2,000 years.His personal iourney from poor farmboy to revered servant to PU Yi and Wanrong.China’S last emperor and empress,iS an amazing iourney which also chronicles nearly one century of turbulence and upheavalin Chinese history and culture.
This engrossing biography by Chinese historian Jia Yinghua fcatures first.hand accounts by Sun Yaoting of his adventures in the Forbidden City.his reunion with Pu Yi in Japanese—held Manchukuo in the 1 930s.his return to“normal”1ifc as a community organizer in the Buddhist temple where he 1ivcd out the rest of his lifc.
Beginning in the early 1900s.Sun’S story follows events in China such as Pu Yi’S abdication of lmperial rule.the Japanese occupation 0f China which ended with the conclusion of World War 1 J.China’S civil war and the eventual victory of the Communist Party in 1 949.the Cultural Revolution f 1 966—1 976),and the subsequent "opening up"policy from which China has emerged as a leading economic and political power worldwide.
The Last Eunuch of China:The Life ol’Sun Yaoting iS a unique glimpse into China’S storied past from the perspective of a man who faithfully served China’s Imperial FamilY in the Forbidden City but was later forced to maneuver himsel f among thc tremendous and often turbulent events that became the history of 20th century China.AS Sun Yaoting recalls his experiences, he also recounts the lire of the dwindling eunuch community in China.