Dong Xian

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Dong Xian (董賢; 22 BC – 16 August 1 BC) was a Chinese Han dynasty politician who quickly rose from obscurity as a minor official to become the most powerful official in the imperial administration of Emperor Ai within a span of a few years, and he had both the interest and the complete trust of the emperor. Most scholars agree that Dong's quick career advancement came mostly because of his personal relationship with Emperor Ai, very likely a romantic and sexual one, rather than a demonstration of abilities. Both men were married to women, but Emperor Ai, at least, was childless. An idiomatic term for homosexuality in Chinese is duanxiu zhi pi (斷袖之癖, literally, "passion of the cut sleeve"), derived from an episode involving Dong and Emperor Ai. They often slept together on the same straw mat. One afternoon, after Emperor Ai woke up from a nap, Dong was still sleeping, and Emperor Ai's sleeve was stuck under Dong's head. Rather than waking Dong up, Emperor Ai cut off his sleeve to allow...

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