Things I didn't know until last night:
Buddhism had first arrived in China during the Han....Eunuchs proved enthusiastic converts, comforted by the promise of reincarnation; they carried their severed parts, their "precious," băobèi, in a special container so that they could be reunited with them in the next life.
OK then.
Yet no one who believes in reincarnation ever says they were a eunuch.
This puts Gollum in an entirely new light...
Chinese eunuchs were not simply castrated, but had the entire "package", if you will, removed. So precious indeed. Mortality rates from the procedure were 50-60%, but if the boy survived and joined the imperial household, it could be a gateway to great wealth and influence. The last of the imperial eunuchs from the household of the former emperor Pi Yi died in 1996.
Not sure we needed to know that, but I guess I started it, didn't I?
In my experience the Chinese are nothing if not thorough.
How cruel not to tell them that it's their soul that is reincarnated, not their bodies. Some unfortunate Eunuchs may have returned as asexually reproductive animals. Oof.😬
I think I'm destined to be a Sloth or a Quokka. Anything but a Koala -- Chlamydia anyone?
Saw somewhere that men who have had their testicles removed through surgery or some kind of accident have been shown to live longer on average, because the energy required to maintain the testes is put to better purpose.
You mean a "different" purpose, don't you?
How much are two nuts worth, really? Maybe there's a time when you should just have them bronzed and hung over the mantle.
Of course. That’s why I walk around carrying my severed genitals. Are you implying that you carry yours around for a different reason?
I carry mine because the reception is great everywhere and the sound is clear as a bell.
I knew this, I think because it was mentioned in the film The Last Emperor. I haven’t seen the film in a very long time but I do recommend it. As I recall I dint care much for the characters in the film but it was amazingly beautiful to watch. Kind of like Barry Lyndon in that way.
In more fabulous news of death,
decomposing bodies in cemeteries ooze a fluid called 'cemetery leachate' which can seep into the surrounding groundwater bringing with it carcinogenic heavy metal contamination, and new mass burials caused by covid are causing an issue with a flood of cemetery leachate,
https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/02/17/bodies-of-covid-19-victims-could-be-poisoning-our-water-supply-scientists-say
I knew this because it's a plot point in the historical novel "China" by Edward Rutherfurd.
First section of "Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Robison for a graphic description of the eunuch-making process.
I wonder how many "eunuchs" would today be considered trans women by choice.
I wonder how many women who "pretended to be men" in order to study Torah or go to war would today be considered trans men by choice.
Did you hear about the sultan who discovered that there were a rash of unexpected pregnancies in the harem? He called in the chief eunuch and said, "Old friend, I've got a feeling that you're not cut out for this job."
"Medieval China." I had no idea.