Sun yao ting biography

BEIJING - Once a victim of the whims and intrigues of a cruel emperor, year-old Sun Yaoting is peacefully living out his final years in an old Buddhist temple, under the protection of the Chinese government.

Authorities here say he is China's last surviving eunuch.

Driven to his fate by his impoverished family's thirst for riches, Sun recalled a life marked by fear and pain during his eight years within the red walls of the Forbidden City and thereafter, when he was forced into a society that regarded eunuchs as less than men.

"It was a bitter life in the Ching Dynasty," he said, his sparkling dark eyes filling with tears and his steady voice collapsing into a whimper.

"And when we left, it was difficult for a eunuch to get a job. Nobody wanted us."

Sun spoke in a sunny room of the temple, where city authorities who have cared for the remaining eunuchs for decades confirmed that he was the last.