History Abridged with Jack Rackam | The Cut Sleeve: Romance in Ancient China #Shorts @JackRackam | Uploaded March 2022 | Updated October 2024, 2 minutes ago.
Today’s story is actually quite wholesome. It’s 4 BCE in China, and the young emperor has become absolutely smitten with a minor official named Dong Xian. Everyone pretty much assumes they were an item because of a very famous story called “the Passion of the Cut Sleeve”. One day they were taking a nap together when the emperor awoke and had to continue about his day, but found the sleeve to his robe was caught under Dong Xian. Rather than wake his sleeping partner the emperor cut off the sleeve of his priceless garment just so he could rest a moment longer. Emperor Ai declared that when he died, he would leave everything, including the kingdom itself, to his soulmate. And then when he died young his grandmother forced Dong Xian to kill himself.