A closer look
Climbing the bureaucratic ladder in imperial China required a horrific physical sacrifice, but keeping the receipts was mandatory if you wanted peace in eternity. Eunuchs serving in the Forbidden City were meticulously careful to preserve their amputated 'treasures' in specially sealed jars called baosheng. Traditional belief dictated that if a man died incomplete, he would be reborn as a female mule, so these jars were strictly guarded and eventually buried alongside them to trick the gods of the underworld.
