Born into poverty, his family home was burned and fields stolen by a landlord in their village; his family hoped that by making Sun Yaoting into a eunuch, they would gain Imperial influence, and would be able to take revenge on the landlord.
At the age of eight, Sun Yaoting was emasculated by his father at home[1] with a single razor cut, and without the use of anesthesia.
[2][3][4] Nonetheless, Sun Yaoting became a palace eunuch, and had become the attendant to the empress before the imperial family was expelled from the Forbidden City.
He continued to serve in Manchukuo until the puppet state's collapse at the end of World War II.
The 1988 dramatic film Lai Shi, China's Last Eunuch is based on Sun Yaoting's life.