Duan-xiu 斷袖 (the "Cut Sleeve")

​​lit.  the broken sleeve / euphemism for gay (men)

​上嘗與晝寢。嘗晝寢，偏藉上袖，上欲起，賢未覺，不欲動賢，乃斷袖而起。其恩愛至此." ​-- 出自《漢書·佞幸傳》

​Dong, Xian and Emperor Ai of Han often shared the same bed. One day, the pair were taking a nap together as usual. When Emperor Ai tried to get up, he realized Xian’s body was resting on the loose sleeve of his hanfu robe. To prevent awakening Xian, Emperor Ai cut off his sleeve. Such shows how intense their love is.
​--
​Translated excerpt taken from "Ning Xing Zhuan (The Biographies of Ning-Xing)" in “Han Shu (Book of Western Han)”  by Ban, Gu (班固)

• The chapter titled Ning Xing Zhuan covers the intimate relationship between various (Western) Han dynasty emperors and their male lovers/companions. The original segment centering around Dong, Xian is a lengthy detailed account of the romance between Emperor Ai and Xian, from the time they met when Emperor Ai was still the crown prince, to the emperor’s death and the subsequent suicide of Xian caused by the political turmoil at the end of the Western Han dynasty in early 1st century AD. 
  • The original text contains many interesting details. For instance, Dong, Xian became the highest-ranking official at a rapid speed and young age, as a result of the emperor’s affection. One time during a revel, the intoxicated emperor jokingly offered his kingship to Xian, which caused quite a stir among the officials attending the gathering.
• In other literary texts, the four-character idiom, “duan-xiu fen-tao (斷袖分桃)” or “the cut sleeve and the divided peach”, was used to imply homosexuality. (See Fen-tao 分桃)