Away from the desk: A visit to the world's only eunuch museum
The mausoleum of Tian Yi, the favourite eunuch of Ming Dynasty emperor Wanli, is now a memorial to those who sacrificed so much to serve, as Malcolm Moore reports.
By Malcolm Moore
3:00PM BST 18 Oct 2012
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/away-from-the-desk/9617901/Away-from-the-desk-A-visit-to-the-worlds-only-eunuch-museum.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/away-from-the-desk/9617901/Away-from-the-desk-A-visit-to-the-worlds-only-eunuch-museum.html)
No one knows if, according to custom, Tian Yi was reunited with his private parts when he died. At the time, Chinese eunuchs would carry their "three jewels" with them in a small pouch, so that they could be made whole again in the afterlife.
Sadly, five centuries after his death, there is no record of what happened to Tian Yi's pouch at his mausoleum, which also serves as the world's only Eunuch Museum.
We do know that the Ming Dynasty emperor Wanli's favourite castrato was buried in style.