Ancient Chinese 
Sexual Secrets 
/or �stem Lovers 
VALENTIN CHU 
A Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Book 
published by 
G. P. Putnam's Sons 
New York Most lirchet·'Pulnam books an: ava ilable at special quantity discou nts for 
bulk purchases tor saks promotions, premi ums , fund -raising , and educ�­
tional needs. S pecial books, m· book excerpts, can also be created to ht 
specific needs. . . . For details. write or telephone Special Markets, Putnam Pubhshmg Group. �00 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016. (212) 951-8891. AJeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Book 
Published by G. P. Putnam's Sons 
Publishers Since 1838 
200 Madison Avenue 
New York, NY 10016 
First Trade Paperback Edition 1994 
Copyright© 1993 by Valentin Chu 
All rights reserved. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in 
any form without permission. Published simul taneously in Canada 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 
Chu, Valentin 
The yin-yang butterfly : Ancient Chinese sexual secrets for western lovers I Valentin Chu. p. em. "A Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Book." Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN e>-87477-778-X (acid-free paper) 
1. Sex customs-China-History. 2. Sex instruction-China-History. 3-Hygiene, Sexual-China-History. I. Title. HQ18.C6C53 1993 92-39628 CIP 
3o6. 7'095 I�C20 
Designed by Lee Fukui 
Printed in the United States of America 
3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 
This book is printed on acid-free paper. @) The Wisdom o.f the East is based on practical knowledge coming 
from the flower £�{ Chitzese intellige nce, which we have not the 
slightest justification_for ut�dervalu ing. CARLjUNG, commentary to 
The Secret of the Golden Flower Acknowledgments 
My deep gratitude goes to Sigrid MacRae, whose gift to the Pritne 
Unicorn started it all; to Larissa Lawrynenko, who gave me con­
stant encouragen1ent and many insightful suggestio ns; to Carl 
Solberg, who read the manuscript and rendered valuable com­
ments; to Richard and Polly Fisher, whose timely help was a mag­
ical blend of aesthetics and logic; and to Roy Rowan, whose tips 
helped n1e get away from a sticky spot. I thank my publisher, Jeremy Tarcher, for his intuitive feeling, 
critical appraisal, and artistic taste, which largely were responsible 
for molding n1y manuscript into this finished book; my editor, 
Connie Zweig, for her contribution to the beauty of the book; 
and Lee Fukui and Lisa Amoroso, for the elegant design, cover, 
and illustrations. Thanks are due also to Coral Tysliava, Diane 
Lomonaco, and Allen Mikaelian for their coordinating work. My heartfelt thanks to Julian Bach, literary agent extraor­
dinaire, who not only found a good birthplace for this book but 
took the trouble to guide me through the publishingjunglc. To many friends-author friends, friends in the media, artist 
friends, and just good friends-1 express my appreciation for 
their eagerness and good wishes, which inspired me to keep on 
with this esoteric project all these years. Contents 
PRE FACE 
PART ONE. THE SENSUAL LANDSCAPE 
1. THE CuLTURE THAT NuRTURES 
The Quest for Sexualit y 
2. THE MAT ING OF YIN AND YANG 
Sexual Cosmo logy, Tao ism, and Con fuci anism 
3. WH EN CoN FUCius WA sN'T LooKI NG 
Cus toms, Courtes ies, and Courtesans 
4· IN THE FoRBIDDEN PALAC E 
Am orous Emperors and Lasc ivious Lad ies XIII 
I 
3 
9 
22 
5. FIVE THOUSAN D YEA RS OF EROTICA 54 
Voluptuous Poems, Bawdy Novels, and Spicy Woodcuts 
PART TWO. THE ART OF THE BEDCHAMBER 79 
6. LADY DocTo Rs OF LovE 81 
Sex Therapists in the First Cen tury 
7· THREE PEA KS, Fiv E DES IRES, AND NINE EssE NCES 93 
Secr ets of Love-Play 
8. CLOUDS AND RAI N 102 
Positions of Lovem aking 
9-THE SEX UAL DuEL OF PLUCK-AND-NURTURE 120 
Battling for the Elixir of Life IO. FooD AND HERBS FOR LovE I30 
Aphrodisiacs and Sexual Nutrients 
II. SEXUAL VITALITY FROM THE SEA OF CHI I46 
The Taoist Fountain of Youth? PART THREE. ANCIEN T SECRETS 
FOR MODERN LOVERS I 59 
I2. THE MYSTIC MASTER OF THE GROTTO, 
AND MASTERS AND jOHNSON I6I 
Where Ancient Taoists and Modern Sexologists Meet 
I 3. RECAPTURE THE SPRING I72 
Exercises for Sexual Vigor 
I4. THE ALCHEMY OF DESIRE I84 
Enhancing Love-Play 
I 5· SPRING BuTTERFLY AND PEACOCK TEASE 201 
Love Games for Grown-ups Only 
I6. ORGASMIC BRINKMANSHIP AND MuLTIPLE O's 2I4 
Intensifying and Prolonging Ecstasy 
AFTERWORD 236 
GLOSSARY 2]8 
BIBLIOGRAPHY 243 
INDEX 245 Preface 
THIS IS A BOOK on sex and eroticism, themes intimately linked to 
health and longevity. It is intended for weekend readers who en­
joy stories and anecdotes about a titillating subject, avid aficiona­
dos of sexuality who are not averse to a bit of ancient bedroom 
wisdom, and modern lovers who seek a new dimension in their 
sex lives. Although the book's area of interest and practical applications 
are universal and contemporary, its background is more circum­
scribed and remote-nam ely, ancient China. We will look at China 
in centuries, indeed millennia, past, and more specifica lly, into its 
bedrooms. Most Westerners arc not aware that the world's earliest 
known sexology classics came from China, and that the Chinese 
used them for more than a millennium before they began to disap­
pear about a thousand years ago. More recently some of these "lost" classics have been discov­
ered or reconstructed, both inside and outside China. A careful 
study of them shows that within the antiquated and esoteric writ­
ing arc hidden remarkable theories and observations about human 
sexuality that happen to agree with the latest theories of modern 
sexologists. WHY I WROTE THIS Bo oK 
In the 1 CJ?Os, I came upon several of these Chinese sexology texts, 
dating from about two thousand years ago . They were interesting 
enough, but the ancient classical writing was so abstruse that I felt 
they would mean little to people today. Even in contem porary 
China, where vernacular Chinese is flourishing, classical writing 
is a dying language to n1ost of the younger generation. XIII Preface 
XIV These ancient texts advocate many theories and practices, and 
make the claims that good health leads to good sex, and good sex 
leads to good health-and even rejuvenation and long life. Arc 
such claims grounded in mysticism, or do they have a scientific 
basis? No contemporary scientist or sexologist has made a serious 
study of these claims, and because most people are not aware of 
the existence of ancient Chinese sexology, there is no real "ex­
pert" on the subject. I recognized this back in the seventies, and it 
is still true today. While there is no expert, there are students. And it was as a 
student that, a decade ago, I began my arduous, but by no means 
unpleasant, research into these ancient classics, as well as contem­
porary Western sexology and health sciences. What started as a 
hobby soon became an intense pursuit. My research revealed some extraordinary facts. First, in spite 
of its Confucian mask, China has seen interest in erotic tech­
niques and sexual potency for thousands of years. Second, the 
Chinese were using mind-body practices centuries ago, not only 
in advanced martial arts, but also in advanced marital arts. And 
third, an increasing number of ancient Chinese concepts relating 
to health and sexology appear to be endorsed, albeit unwitting ly, 
by contemporary Western health scientists and sexologists. Here was something intellectually fascinating, and perhaps 
useful. I decided I n1ight try to introduce and interpret relevant 
parts of the ancient sexology, within a modern fran1e of reference, 
for the benefit of today's readers. To my surprise, I discovered that 
Chinese scholars who understood the ancient classics knew little 
about modern health science and sexology. Western writers who 
had that modern knowledge, predictably enough . could not read 
ancient Chinese classical writing without Chinese help. I wondered whether I was qualified to write such a book. I 
was born and educated in China, and I know Chinese classical 
lang uage and literature well. My acadernic training in the sciences 
and my professional experience with popu lar books on health, 
medicine, psychology, nature. and other subjects, would help. In 
addition, I had worked as an editor and writer for nujor Arnerican 
publishers. This experienc e equipped n1e to evaluate the ancient 
thL·ories and practices in the obscure classics with the yardsticks of 
contemporary science and sexology, and then share what I had 
found with Western readers. My findings do not represent a detinitive scientitic study. Rather, I present then1 as intellectual teasl'rs; health scientists and 
sexologists rnay want to exan1ine thern further. Although indi­
viduals who have practiced aspects of this ancient art of lovenlak­
ing have sworn to its etlicacy. I leave the laboratory proof to health 
scientists and sexologists. My intt. 'nt here is to introduce and ana­
lyze selected ancient theories and practices for conternporary read­
ers. I believe the knowledge gained frorn the ancients n1ay enrich 
people's sex lives today and. as the ancients nuintained, also bene­
fit health. youthfulness. and even longevity. SOURCES AND ORGANIZA TION 
I must adn1it I was sotnewhat intimidated by the vast amount of 
material available on the subject. Not only were there the ancient 
Chinese sexology texts themselv es, but I also had dynastic histo­
ries, official records, scholarly chronicles, literary treatises, fiction, 
folklore. and art to choose from. Of these, most of the original­
language sources had never appeared in English. Equally impor­
tant were the latest writings on sexology and health. I have used 
material freely from all these sources: the subject merits a multi­
dimensional treatment, and a touch of color. The information collected here demands an appropriate struc­
ture. of course, and an appropriate title. As to the latter: Yin and 
Yang are, respectively, female and male sexual energy. The but­
terfly is a Chinese symbol of conjugal happiness as well as sensual 
desire. A favorite of poets and painters, it signifies both flirtatious 
coquetry and tender intimacy. The Yin- Yang Butterfly, then, is divided into three parts. The 
first, "The Sensual Landscape," is a voyeur's view of sexual cus­
toms and practices in ancient China. The second part, titled "The 
Art of the Bedchambe r," highlights what the remarkable bed­
chamber sages taught many centuries ago about joyous lovetnak­
ing and all its ramifications. The third section, "Ancient Secrets 
for Modern Lovers," brings the past into the present and directly 
addresses contemporary readers. It is in a sense a recipe book for 
sexuality, based on or inspired by ancient erotic techniques and 
mind-body therapy to enhance sexual vitality. Preface 
XV Pr�face 
XVI BENEF ITS- AND A CAU TION 
You do not have to be Chinese, or ancient, to understand or bene­
fit from this book. You can usc selected features of the Art of the 
Bedchan1ber, especially as adapted in the third section, and fit 
them into your own lifestyle. If you are in your twenties, you may not need this book-yet. Youthful virility neither requires nor appreciates sexual savoir faire. If you are thirty-something, the book will spice up your sex life 
now and strengthen your sexual well-being in ensuing decades. If 
you are in your forties, fifties, or sixties, and arc enjoying or 
would like to enjoy sex, this book should open new vistas for you. If you are seventy or beyond and are still sexually active, you al­
ready may be familiar with a few things discussed here. On the 
other hand, if you have not had a sex life for many years, you can 
read the book as a fantasy, or keep it for your next incarnation. A word of caution: The ancients enjoyed sex in those halcyon 
days when sexually transmitted diseases were unknown, and many 
of their techniques of lovemaking involved an exchange of sexual 
secretions. In this age of sexual perils, readers are warned that 
some practices mentioned in this book are for confirmed "safe 
partners" only-those who have been in long-term monogamous 
relationships with each other, and who have tested negative for 
HIV. Otherwise, stringent safe-sex tneasures, such as the use of 
condoms, are in1perative. And until cures and vaccinations for 
such diseases as herpes gcnitalis and AIDS are found, even these 
protective measures arc not absolutely safe. The sexual nutrients, sexual exercises, and erotic techniques 
described in this book were popular with, and used in tnodcration 
by, the ancients. They con1e with no warranty attached. Readers 
should check with their own phys icians before trying thcn1. A NOTE ON TRANSLAT ION 
Written Chines e is an ideographic language: its characters derive 
fron1 inuges. It is also extrentcly condensed and cryptic. It has no 
prepositions, no verb tense, no nurnber differentiations, and until 
this century, it had no punctuation. Th<..· part of speech of a word 
is conveyed by its context. Yet this ancient tongue, or rather the 
tnodern, vernacular variation of its ancient, classical fonn, today 
is used by the larg<..·st nu1nber of people in the world. The ancit•nt Chitll'Se sources f(.u this book arc all in classical 
Chincst'. Tht·n· is n·ally no such thing as a litt·ral translation frotn 
classical Chinese. into English or any other language; this is es­
pt•cially true in tht• case of ancit·nt Chint·se poetry. In this hook. I 
havt' rt'IH.icred all tht' quotations frotn original Chinest ' texts ­
whether sho rter tt·nns or longer passages-directly into English 
tnysclf I t'lntnd son1c alrt·ady existing translatio ns of the san1e 
tt'xts to be inaccurate. or sitnply inadequate. In son1c instances, I 
have stykd the English translation very n1uch like the original, 
dclilx·ratdy using t:lulty gran11nar. fragn1cnts, and so on, to give 
the flavor of the Chin est' version . Chinese tenns rendered phonetically in English always have 
bt'l'll a source of confusion to n1any Westerners. In the past, pho­
ncticization \Vas based tnainly on the Wade-Giles and Mathews 
systcn1s. The ne\ver pinyin systen1, sponsored by the Beijing gov­
cnunent, is n1ore accurate for n1ost pronunciation , but some let­
ters it uses arc pronounced differently fron1 how they normal ly 
arc in English (or Romance languages). Chinese spellings here 
follow tnainly a tnixture of Wade-Giles and Mat hews systems; 
where the pinyin system obviously excels, in geographic nan1cs, 
for exan1ple, it is used. The long history of China, like that of ancient Egypt, is 
custon1arily designated by dynasties. Each dynasty, referred to by 
nan1c rather than nun1bcr, is divided into the reigns of kings or 
en1perors. Each reign is in turn divided into individual years des­
ignated by special nan1es, some con1puted fron1 the sixty-year 
Cycle of Heavenly Stctns and Earthly Branches. In citing historic 
events, I usc the custotnary monarchical designations, as well as 
dates of the Christian era. What I have plucked fron1 ancient Chinese sexology is, ob­
viously, fron1 another land, anothe r era, another culture. The Yin­
Yang Buttc�fly touches on both the n1ystical and the scientifi c, and 
should be read with this inclusiveness in n1ind. The book is intended to help readers dispel their bcdroon1 
blahs and add spice to their sex lives. The tnorc adventurous n1ay 
want to experin1cnt, judiciously, with son1e of the ancient prac­
tices, ain1ing at enhanced sexual ity, health, and youthfulnes s . Wha tever the results of such experin1entaion, one thing is sure: It 
is fun to try. Part One 
THE SENSUAL 
LANDSCAPE 
EuROPE AN ALCHEMY, Japanese geishas, Ind ian Tantric cults, vene­
tian blinds, fireworks, wedding rings -these and nuny other dis­
parate techno logical and cultural features from around the world 
originated in ancient Chinese sexual practices. For n1ore than a millenniutn, sexuality was enjoyed by the peo­
ple of China, sometitnes openly but mor e often discreetly, as a 
healthy part of life. Then came a century of political turmoil, fol­
lowed by waves of prudish neo-Confucianisn1 that swept across 
China during the past nine centuries or so. The great variety of 
Chinese sexual practices has been erased fron1 the n1emor y of 
contetnporary China, and is virtually unknown to the West. 2 THE SENSUAL LANDSCAPE 
If we look deeper, however, we find many surprises. What al­
lows us to look deeper is the penchant of the Chinese for record­
ing anything and everything they believed worthwh ile during the 
past five thousand years, from philosophical speculation to poetic 
eroticism, from events in the heavens to the coital thrusts of em­
perors in bed. They studied, wrote, and published so many books, 
essays, and chronicles that, by the estin1ate of European scholars 
in the eighteenth century, Chinese written records exceeded in 
volume the written records of all other languages put together. Perhaps that is not so surprising: after all, the Chinese invented 
paper and printing. For thousands of years, among the educated 
elite and illiterate peasants alike, the respect for scholarship has 
bordered on mania. And one of the subjects of that scholarship 
was sexuality. From all that has been written about it by the Chi­
nese, we have unexpected vistas of a sensual landscape. 1 
The Culture That Nurtu res 
The Ques t /or Sexu ality 
ONE HALLMARK OF CIVILIZATION, it is said, is cuisine. Indeed, the 
human race has come a long way from wolfing down bloody raw 
meat to savoring the subtle taste, aroma, and texture of a variety 
of foods. Another hallmark of civilization is sexuality. Humans 
have progressed from merely satisfying their carnal animal instincts 
to sharing loving intimacy, with all its passion and tenderness, its 
sensuality and playfulness. A healthy refinement of cuisine and 
sexuality is often the natural consequence of a stable, mature, so­
phisticated civilization. The way in which a people refine their 
skills in fulfilling their basic needs of food and sex, and distill 
them into art forms may be measurernents as significant as all the 
conquests made, monuments erected, and wealth amassed. In this respect let us note a contrast. French cuisine, to name 
one, is a favorite for many around the world, and the reputation of 
French lovers legendary . While Chinese cuisine has become pop­
ular among Westerners -but this only after World War 11 -Chinese 
sexo logy and sexuality arc sti11 virtually unheard of in the Wes t . This gap has its reasons; it is easier to monitor the kitchen than the 
bedroo m. And in the eyes of the world, China is a puritanical 
culture. Syrnptonutic of thi� idea is the pn:vailing myth among West­
crners that the: Chine�e do not kiss mouth to mouth. This myth 
was perpctuated by Western missionaries in ( :hina who knew 4 T H E s E N S ll A I I A N D S C A P l; 
nothing of the sex lives of their flocks, and by such respected 
Western sexologists as Theodore Van de Vclde. In his 1 �2X best­
seller Ideal Marriage, the otherwise very perceptive gynecologist 
writes: "Japanese, Chinese, Annamese (Indochinese! do not kiss 
as we understand the term." In fact, lip kissing is described and 
praised in Chinese sexology classics and in Chinese fiction and 
poetry. Deep kissing has delighted lovers all these centuries in 
China and elsewhere in the Orient. The only sources of research 
used by Van de Velde and the missionaries appear to have been 
Confucian classics. But if we look behind this formidable Confucian fa�ade, we 
find something quite different. The Chinese culture is the only 
major one that for thousands of years has been seriously , relent­
lessly-but discreetly-pursuing erotic techniques and sexual po­
tency as a means to health, youthfulness, and longer life. India's 
Tantrism, which advocates ritualistic sexual union, has some su­
perficial similarities with the Chinese approach. But it aims at 
religious salvation , while the Chinese pursuit is pragmatic and 
earth-bound, aiming at health and longevity. And, yet, as will be 
discussed later, some historians believe that Indian Tantrism was 
inspired by Chinese sexual practices. THE ART OF THE BEDCHAMBER 
For thousands of years, the ancient Chinese were intensely inter­
ested in the links among sex, health, and longevity. Their spirited 
research into sexuality is embodied in what loosely has been called 
the Art of the Bedchamber. This body of knowledge was de­
veloped by the ancient Chinese Taoist philosophers and proto­
scientists who seriously pursued bodily immortality, first through 
magic, then through alchemy, and finally through sexual prac­
tices. They experimented with means for greater sexual energy, 
which they believed was inseparable from better health and longer 
life. The techniques they developed, incidentally, enabled a po­
lygamous husband to satisfy as n1any as ten spouses in a single 
night and still not self-destruct. The mystical, at times sophisticated experimentation in all as­
pects of sexuality was practiced eagerly by people in China for 
more than a thousand years. But it was shielded very well from the outside world. About ten ct·nturies ago. tnuch of the ancient 
Chinese core sexual knowledge bt·gan to disappear. As a result. during the ensuing centuries, when prudery ruled supren1e. the 
Chinese forgot, or never learned. quite a few ancient sexual prac­
tices taught by their ancestors. They thus becan1e known as a prud­
ish people who lusted only after Confucianisn1 or con1n1unisn1. But their interest in sexual nutrients and sexual exercises contin­
ued in subdued or disguise d fonns. and fortunately for posterity. the Art of the Bedchan1ber was not lost cotnplc tely. Evidence of 
it was discovered early in this century. and we can now recon­
struct it in n1ore detail. For centuries. n1any Chinese have practiced the Art of the 
Bedchan1ber n1ore or less openly or secretly , consciously or un­
consciously. They have eaten specific foods and herbs, and exer­
cised their sexualtnuscles and sexual nerves to enhance bedroom 
prowess and nurture sexual vigor. They have invented ingenious 
toys to intensify coital pleasure or console lonely wotnen, and de­
vised a sexual physiognomy to predict an individual's sexual pro­
clivities by simply looking at facial (and other bodily) features. They have tnade insightful use of love-play to forestall problems 
of potency and build stamina in sexual union. They have discov­
ered erotic acupressure points and refined erotic massage to liven 
up love-play. The Chinese were the first to develop systematically a spec­
trum of therapeutic sexual positions. aimed at health, concep­
tion, and pleasure-though not necessarily in that order. They 
contrived various secret techniques for both men and women in 
the bedchamber: orgasm control to prolong sexual union, titillat­
ing patterns of coital thrusts, other tactics to heighten ecstasy. They spent countless hours in meditativ e breathing to enhance 
their life-force and enrich their sexual energy. The Chinese art of lovemaking was developed by the intel­
lectual elite: Taoist immortal ity-seekers, physicians, scholars, 
mandarins (high government officials chosen from among top 
scholars), poets, painters, and master chefs who felt that lasting 
longer in bed was as desirable as living longer in life. Not sur­
prisingly, the Art of the Bedchamber, with its theory of Yin and 
Yang, erotic techniques, and promise of long life, perhaps even 
immortality, was extremely popular with the royalty. The aristo­
crats were therefore the most enthusiastic patrons of this Art. Tlrf Culture That Nurtr4rcs THE SEN SUAL LAND SCAPE 
For five thousand years China had an absolute monarchy. Its 
rulers by tradition maintained forbidden palaces, essentially har­
ems, with thousands of palace ladies guarded by eunuchs. When a 
man was surrounded by countless beautiful and available women, 
his most ardent scientific research would involve coping with one 
bedmate after another, delighting and vanquishing, doing it again 
and again. To many sexually exhausted male aristocrats, happi­
ness was the delicious bedroom art that could repeatedly bring a 
woman to ecstasy, or an elixir that could raise a "dead" phallus. A HISTOR ICAL QU EST 
Sex was an important feature in the dynastic history of ancient 
China, as was the search for immortality. In the earliest time and 
for many centuries thereafter, Chinese monarchs firmly believed 
in the Taoist pursuit of immortality. In the third century B.C., 
the First Emperor of Chin sent three thousand yo ung men and 
women, all virgins, to search for the legendary herb of immor­
tality in the eastern seas, where the sun rises. The young peo­
ple and their leader, the Taoist Hsu Fu, were never heard from 
again. They n1ay have been shipwrecked or, as is generally be­
lieved, may have landed and settled in Japan. During the Han 
dynasty (c. 206 B.C.-A.D. 220), when the Art of the Bedchamber 
began to be practiced widely, one emperor had a giant dish built 
atop a 270-foot tower to collect dew, which, he believed, would 
increase his sex1Jal stamina. Many emperors were known to seek 
the so-called elixir of in1mortality. They eagerly consumed this 
sexually oriented concoction prepared by experirnental alchenl­
ists-and sometin1es n1ct with disastrous results. In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, during the Yuan 
dynasty, the Mongolians who conquered and ruled China nude 
Lan1aisn1 the state religion and spent two-thirds of their irnperial 
budget on it. Lan1aisn1 was inspired in part by Indian Tantrisn1, 
which in turn rnay have been inspired by China's Art of the Bed­
chanlber. The Chinese drove out the Mongolians and established the 
Ming dynasty in the second lulf of the fourteenth century. The 
new en1perors returned to the Taoist Art of the Bedcharnber, al­
though son1e vestiges of the Lanuist sex practices renuined. By then much of Taoist sexology had degenerated into a mumbo­
jumbo n1ixture of n1ysticism and alchen1y. Charlatan Taoists 
formed sex cults among the common people, and n1ade spurious 
elixirs which were taken thirstily by several Ming emperors hop­
ing for increased sexual potency and long life. Emperors Shih 
Tsung (ruled I 522-I 567) and Kuan Tsung (ruled I62o-I62I) 
both died fron1 consuming such elixirs. The death of Kuan Tsung 
was one of the great Ming scandals, involving accusations, 
counteraccu sations, investigations, and impeachments of high 
court officials. A less tragic and more amusing case involved Em­
peror Mu Tsung (ruled I 567-1 573). After taking an aphrodisiac, 
he got an erection that refused to go away. He was forced to cancel 
his regular audiences for a few days until his priapisn1 subsided. From the seventeenth through the early twentieth centuries, 
the Manchurian emperors of the Ching dynasty reverted to some 
Lamaist practices but avoided excess. In their palace was a Lamaist 
temple filled with ''joyous Buddhas," Tantric idols in sexual em­
brace, some with movable genitalia. These were used as three­
dimensional sex manuals by the Lamaist priests who customarily 
coached royal princes who had reached a marriageable age. APH RODISIAC HEALTH ToN ics 
These later rulers of China were much more cautious in their 
quest for sexual vitality. They turned to safer aphrodisiac health 
tonics, which to this day are still taken earnestly by the Chinese. The Empress Dowager, for instance, meticulously ingested pul­
verized pearls and many other delux e substances such as ginseng, 
bird's nest, and silvery tree ears (a tree fungus) to enhance her 
looks and health. Her skin was said to resemble a baby's. Her hus­
band, Emperor Yen Feng (ruled 1851-1 862), kept two hundred 
plum blossom deer in a royal garden so that every day he could 
drink de er blood, a health and sexual tonic. In the summer of 
1 M6o, during one of the several invasions of foreign troops after 
the Second Opiu m War, British and French troops occupied the 
imperial capital of Beijing and burned several palaces. The em­
peror fled to Jehol, a province north of the Great Wall, and as a 
result of his hasty fligh t he had to do witho ut his daily tonic. Eventually, after moa ning in vain on his deathbed t(lr the precious 
deer bloo d, he died fron1 debility. Tile Cultr4r e Tlzat Nurtures THE SENSUAL LANDSCAPE 
During that same invasion in 1 86o, European troops bu rned 
Yuan Ming Yuan, a palace northwest of the Forbidden City. Some 
years earlier, a high government official named Ting Wcn-cheng 
had gone for a private audience with the emperor in the palace. Early for his appointment, Ting was told to wait for the monarch 
in a sn1all reception room. There he saw a bowl containing a 
dozen innocent-looking purple grapes. He sam pled one and soon 
felt a growing heat below his navel, followed by a monster erec­
tion. Since his thin muslin sun1mer gown could hardly hide his 
condition, Ting had to pretend to be violently ill; he doubled over 
and put his hand on his abdomen, and cried out in pain. He was 
led from the palace through a side door by courtiers who later told 
the emperor of Ting's "sudden sickness." Clearly, someone in the 
palace, perhaps the emperor, was using potent aphrodisiacs. However, most royal tonics were of the aphrodisiac health type. A LoNG- LAST ING PuR SUIT 
The Chinese desire for heightened sexuality was, and is, due 
partly to the Confucian obsession for siring heirs, partly to a Tao­
ist concern for health and longevity, but mostly to the delightful 
nature of their pursuit. This pursuit went on openly at first, and 
sometimes unwisely. Then it became more cautious, modest, al­
most covert. But even when it was carried on secretly, this quest 
went on, as it had before, for centuries. Whatever our level of sophistication and depth of knowledge 
today, we can learn from the ancient Chinese in n1atters sexual: 
how they used food and herbs to benefit their sexual vitality, how 
they exercised to train their sexual tnuscles and nerves, what 
erotic techniques they devised to enhance sexual union. They fer­
vently believed in and enthusiastically practiced activities they felt 
would nurture their health in general and their sexual vitality in 
particular. Chinese culture has been called nuny things by n1any 
people: as far as sexuality is concerned, it nuy be called a culture 
that nurtures. 2 
The Mating of 
Yin and Yang 
Sexual Cosmology, Taoism, 
and Confucianism 
YIN AND YANG, AND BEY OND 
Ancient China had a distinctive, deceptively simple cosmolog y­
a sexual cosmology. In the primeval void was Tai Chi, the Grand 
Ultimate, imn1aterial, formless, and impalpable. It moved and 
produced Yang, or male energy. Having moved to the utmost, it 
rested, and then produced Yin, female energy. The dual elements 
of Yin and Yang, opposite but complementary, mated and pro­
duced Tao, the Way that cannot be charted, the Name that cannot 
be described, the Truth that is unknowable. Tao encompasses 
heaven, earth, and humankind, all things material and spiritual. When Yin and Yang are in harmony, whether in nature, the 
world, or the human body, crops thrive, nations are at peace, indi­
viduals enjoy health. When that harmony is upset, natural calan1i­
ties, wars, diseases emerge. The basic dualis1n of Yin and Yang is 
conveyed in the symbol of Tai Chi. This common mo tif in Chi­
nese art consists of a circle divided into two equal curvy halves, 
each resembling a plun1p tadpole with a single eye. These two 
halves represent Yin and Yang n1ating into a harn1onious whole, 
9 10 Tai Chi symbol 
-
,�=,� 
1:1 :u 
'�==· 
--
The eight trigr,mls t�f 
I Ching and thus the essence of Chinese cosmology. Although the theory 
was later reconstructed and elaborated by various n1etaphysicians 
and philosophers, this cosmolog y goes back to the distant begin­
nings of Chinese culture, more than five thousand years ago. The idea of cosmic sexuality, the mating of Yin and Yang, 
would color the attitude toward sex in ancient China. It was con­
sidered a natural and guiltless human activity, and enhancing sex­
ual vigor and sexual pleasure was a legitimate pursuit in a healthy 
life. The sexual cosmology is also the foundation of Taoism, 
China's oldest indigenous philosoph y, which later branched out 
into religion and proto-science. Many basic concepts in this cosmic outlook are found in I 
Chi11g} or The Book £�{Changes} one of the oldest, most revered, 
and least understood Chinese classics. This unique book was 
compiled by various authors between the sixth and the fourth 
centuries B. c. It centers around sixty-four hexagrams, each con­
sisting of two trigrams, or a total of six whole (Yang) or broken 
(Yin) sticks arranged in various combinations, to denote various 
modes of coupling between Yin and Yang. Attached to each hexa­
gram are two brief texts, "Judgment" and "Image," which have 
been used as oracles for divination since antiquity. Subsequent 
commentaries by anonymous cosmologists and metaphysicians 
expanded these commentaries and made this abstruse text the 
basis of philosophical speculation for many Chinese thinkers. I Chit�g is thus a book of both divination and, more impor­
tant, philosophy. Poetic in language, cryptic in n1eaning , pro­
found in philosophical in1plications, it is the seedbed of Chinese 
thought and culture. It is also the cradle of costnic sexuality in 
China. The sixty-third hexagran1, for instance, is a syn1bol for 
sexual intercourse, with the fen1ale trigran1 atop the tnale one, or 
Yin above Yang. In other words, Yin (wonun) takes precedence. The sixty-third hexagrarn is ernblenutic of Taoism, whose no­
tion of fenulc superiority distinguishes it rnarkedly fron1 Confu­
cianism with its ideas of fernalc inferiority. (Incidentally, the birury systen1, the counting systen1 used in 
cornputers, was inspired by the Yin and Yang sticks of the I Chiug 
hexJgrams. The inventor of the birury systern reportedly got the 
ideJ frmn a Frt'IKhman who lived in China and was intrigued by 
tht' Jncient text.) Chinese cosn1ologists arnplitled the sexual dualisn1 of Yin and Yang ntetaphysically and philosophically. lnnuntl'rable pairs 
of opposites-antong thern earth and heaven. shadow and light. softness and hardness. quiescence and activity. absorption and 
penetration-carne to syntbo lize these two forces. These Sl'Xual 
ratnitications are so pervasive in China. so accepted as natural. in 
fact, that they scern to aftcct l'Vcry facl't of Chinese culture. The concept of Yin and Yang ntust have been partly responsi­
ble for the secret, luxurious sex lives of this supposed ly inscruta­
ble people. To understand their sexuality, however, and to ntake 
usc of sonte of their bedroon1 secrets. it is essential first to take a 
brief look at what the Chinese have been thinking and doing. ANCIENT AcHIEVEM ENTS 
China as a nation has the oldest living and longest-lasting civili­
zation. Until only a few centuries ago the Chinese had been de­
veloping their own distinctive culture with recurrent flowerings 
in science and technology as well as philosophy. The English phi­
losopher Francis Bacon once named three inventions-printing, 
gunpowder, and the magnet-as having done more than any oth­
ers to speed humankind's progress into the modern world. He 
termed the origins of these inventions "obscure and inglorious," 
and never learned that all of them were Chinese. And those were 
by no means the only Chinese contributions toward human pr og­
ress. The compass, block and movable-type printing, paper, por­
celain, and lacquerw are are among the many well-documented 
Chinese inventions. Since World War II, a new breed of Western Sinologists has 
been claiming that for some twenty centuries Chinese culture 
was in many respects far more advanced than that of Europe. Joseph Needham of Cambridge University, author of the monu­
mental Science and Civilisation in China, has commented: "During 
the first fourteen centuries of the Christian era ... China trans­
mitted to Europe a veritable abundance of discoveries and inven­
tions which were often received by the West with no clear idea of 
where they had originated." Between the fifth century B. c. and 
the fifteenth century A. D., according to Needham, the standard of 
living in China was higher than that in Europe. In the preface to The Genius of China, Robert Temple writes: THE SEN SUAL LAND SCAPE 
12 "One of the greatest untold secrets of history is that the 'modern 
world' in which we live is a unique synthesis of Chinese and 
Western ingredients. Possibly more than half of the basic inven­
tions and discoveries upon which the 'modern world' rests come 
fron1 China. And yet few people know this." Orthodox Sinologists of the old school, it should be empha­
sized, were obsessed with China's Confucianism but oblivious to 
what Temple calls "untold secrets." And the Chinese themselves 
today have forgotten much of what their ancestors discovered and 
developed. Many centuries ago the Chinese built the 1, 700-mile Great 
Wall, the only manmade structure visible from the moon, and the 
I, 300-n1ile Grand Canal, with its innovative system of locks. According to Needham, Temple, and other Westerners, they were 
also the first to make cast iron and steel, and the first to deep-drill 
for oil and natural gas. They invented the seismograph, the rocket, 
the umbrella, and the parachute (and this fifteen centuries before 
Leonardo da Vinci's parachute sketches) . It may be hard to believe all this if one looks at China today, 
however. Why did China, so advanced in science and technology 
during ancient and medieval times, suddenly lose its advantage 
when n1odern science began to flourish in the West in the seven­
teenth century? Why has it lagged so far behind that today it is in 
some senses underdeveloped? There are various answers, but the 
nuin ones involve overpopulation, overemphasis on literary and 
artistic pursuits, and a disastrous encounter with opium. The ancient Chinese had a keen understanding of biology, 
and devised quite a few lasting tricks with livi ng beings. Bonsai, 
the art of dwarfing old trees and "aging" young ones, was in­
vented in China. The Chi nese developed tiny, brilliant-hued gold­
tlsh frorn large, dark-colored carp, and bred and rebred a ferocious 
four-hundred-pound war dog into the snull Pekingese, a lapdog 
kno wn around tht.· world. Moreover, the Chinese applied their 
knowledge of biology to hurnan rnedicine and physiology . Be­
cause their ancient practice was based on theories that were alien 
to the West, it was largely and consistently ignor ed . Taoist and Zen rneditation, which originated in China, have 
been considt.•rt.·d as pure rnysticisrn by nuny Westerners. But West­
ern science is beginning to find that such n1editation gt.·nerates 
brain wavt. 'S that enable the n1ind to benetlt the body. The Chinese have been using acupunctun.· as a tnedical treatnlt'tlt for tnore than 
three thousand yt·ars; only relatively recently has it ht·en discov­
ered by Westernl·rs. Tht· tnartial arts practiced in various Asian 
countries today all can be traced to ancient Chinese nlotus tt·rics 
where Buddhist and Taoist priests devist·d unanned but d eadly 
methods of self-defense. In these and other ways, tht· ancil·nt 
Chinese-and their dt•scendants-cultivatl·d knowlcdgl· of the 
living organistn, of life, and of sexuality. PHILOSO PHY AND RE LIGION 
More significant than science and technology in shaping ancient 
Chinese culture were philosophy and religion. Here we may enu­
nlerate three great n1olding forces: Confucianism, Taoism, and 
Buddhisn1. The first two were already in full bloom in the sixth 
century B. c., before the tin1e of Socrates, before the spread of 
Christianity. Notable among the sages were the humanist Con­
fucius, with his doctrine of ethics; the pacifist Mo Tzu, who taught 
universal love; the legalist Hanfei Tzu, who inspir ed the earliest 
known form of totalitarianism; and the Taoists Lao Tzu and 
Chuang Tzu, who advocated individualism and naturalism. Of 
these, Confucius and Lao Tzu have left the most lasting imprints 
on Chinese civilization. Confucianism is a philosophy of morals and a code of ethics; 
it is centered around the complex Chinese family system and ex­
tends to the entire nation. According to this doctrine, every indi­
vidual in a hierarchy, from the family to the nation, has a specific 
authority and duty, and is guided by innate morals in dealing with 
others. The highest moral value lies in filial piety. The Confucian 
utopia is a world not only at peace but in total harmony (which, 
incidentally, may preclude democracy). The self-contained, rigidly structured Confucian universe 
thrived on meticulou sly prescribed etiquette, forms of dress and 
address, rites and rituals; it even spelled out comportment as spe­
cific as a gentleman's walking gait. In essence, Confucianism ad­
vocated innate, personal morals in a humanist society steeped in 
social consciousness. Conf ucianism limits itself to pragmatic hu­
man relations. In its original form, it did not bother with cosmol­
ogy or acknowledge the supernatural or metaphysical. THE SENSUAt LAND SCAPE 
Counterp oint to worl dly Con fucian ism is otherworldly Tao­
isnl, a cur ious trinity of philosophy, religion , and proto-science 
inspired by the pursuit of imn1ortality. Taoism speculates boldly 
on such profound ideas as creation. nature and human nature, 
matter and spirit, time and change, being and nonbeing. As a 
proto-philosophy it grew from the earliest indigenous ideas of 
the Chinese race and had an an1orphous existence long before 
Confucianism was born. Lao Tzu, an older conten1porary of 
Confucius, shaped it into a philosophy, which was amplified and 
elaborated by Chuang Tzu more than a century later. Chuang 
Tzu is celebrated for his dream in which he was a butterfly flitting 
among the flowers; when he awoke, he was not sure whether he 
was Chuang Tzu who had dreamed of being a butterfly, or a but­
terfly dreaming of being Chuang Tzu. In its cosn1ic sense, Tao is the ultimate, unknowable reality, 
which governs everything in the universe. It has been described as 
resen1bling an infinite web of perpetual movement and change. All physical objects, living beings, events in nature and human 
nature arc tnere changing shapes and phases in the contractions 
and expansions, ripples and undulations of this infinite web. Ev­
erything changes ceaselessly. Nothing that exists, nothing that 
happens, ever repeats itself exactly. Taoists believe that n1ortals 
may glean an instant of this constant change and delude them­
selves with the evanescent image as reality. Ancient as it may be, 
this concept of reality applies to our modern science of quantum 
physics, which in effect looks at what we call reality as an illusion. Taoists scorn the Confucianist doctrines of propriety and so­
cial status as overdccorous and potnpous. Taoists, who in contrast 
value spontaneity and intuitiv eness, believe that resilience tri­
unlphs over rigidity, and quiescence over activity. Their outlook 
on life leans to nature and the natural. Happiness con1cs frmn 
merging into and hannonizing with nature, not in conqueri ng it, 
and certainly not in the foolhardy pursuit of things worldly­
such as power, fanll', and wealth. To people enjoying success, Tao­
ism rnentions failure, and to those suffering failure, it calls to 
mind success. Taoisrn depends on nuny paradoxical aphorisn1s, 
such as, .. Great wisdon1 resetnbles stupidity." In the past, son1e 
laoists, rebelling against the rigid Confucian establishtnent and 
the ancient Chinese version of the rat race, went about with 
disheveled hair and unkcntpt clothing, sontctitnes reeling fron1 too n1uch wine. ()nl' n1ight consid er then 1 the origin;ll hippies . l:1oisn1 disrnisses as futile such intellectual exercises as hair­
splitting exatninati on and deba te. It values instead the intuit ive 
leap and is responsible for the characteri stic Chinese thought pro­
cess. narndy. synthl·sis rather than analysis. ltnaginative and ro­
rnantic. T.1oisrn has aftl.·cted the litl.· philosophy of all Chinese, 
even the rnost rabid Con fucian ists. For tnany Chinese the choice 
ben vel'n Con fucianisn 1 and T:.1ois1 n has been delightfully conve­
nient: one can be a Con fucianist in success and a Taoist in failure, a 
Conf ucianist in public and a Taoist in private , a Confucianist by 
day and a Taoist by night. Even in early tin1es, Taoisn 1 , \·vhilc it in trigue d intellectuals 
with its potH:kring on esoteric subjects, began to interest other. less cerebral people. During the second century A. n., under the 
influenc e of a Taoist philosopher and n1etaphysi cist, a religious 
otTshoot began to grow fron1 the rnain philosophical trunk. This 
Taoist religion was bas ed strongly on the popular Yin -Yang cos­
rnology and was enriched with clements of folk legend. Even­
tually it beca n1e an organized religion, con1plete with a pantheon 
of gods. goddesses, and in1mortals. THE IMMO RTALS 
The immortals, or lzsie11, represent a uniquely Taoist concep t. 
They arc humans who have discovered the secrets of everlasting 
life and acquired an astral bod y resembling their physical one. These men and women stopped aging once they achieved immor­
tality. The early Taoists not only believed in this bodily immor­
tality but seriously pursued it, with centuries of research and 
experiment. Their spirited quest was to leave fascinating imprints 
on science in the West and bedroom art in the East. With its un­
likely mixture of proto-science and mysticism, Taoism lured dev­
otees to try to perfect an elixir of immortality (hsien tan), first in 
the alchemist' s crucible, then in the human body itself 
Sorne Western scholars believe that alchemy originated in 
China under this impulse several centuries before the Christian 
era; it later spread westward to Arabia and Europe. But while 
medieval European alchemists engaged aln1ost exclusively in try­
ing to transn1utc base n1etals into gold, their Chinese counter­
parts focused on concocting the elixir of in1n1ortality. This elixir, Tire A1t�titr.l.! ,�f )··;, mrd Yatr.� 
15 THE SENSUAl . I AND SCA PE 
16 it was believed, would not only confer immortality and stop 
aging but also boost sexual vitality. '-1�1 Europe, alchemy directly or indirectly inspired chctnistry. Although the alchemists failed to turn base n1etals into gold, they 
have in a way been vindicated. Metals ccm be transmuted, not in 
the alchen1ist's crucible but in the nuclear physicist's cyclotron. In China, Taoists believed that the secret of the elixir of im­
mortality was locked in several ingredients, including cinnabar, 
naturally occurring mercury sulfide. They used this potent min­
eral in a number of ancient recipes, and many Taoists and a couple 
of emperors died of mercury poisoning after ingesting the elixir. Taoist alchen1ists eventually abandoned their crucibles, but not 
before they had-accidentally-invented gunpowder. SEXUAL ALCHE MY 
In their research the Taoists turned their attention to "inner al­
chenly," or sexual alchemy . This was nothing less than an effort to 
perf ect an elixir of immortality inside the human body. A key 
Taoist concept is chi, primeval life-energy or life-force. The an­
cient Chinese believed that all living organisms possessed this 
force, the essence of life. This vital, ceaseless energy not only per­
meated all living beings but also emanated from ina nin1ate ob­
jects. It ebbed and flowed in heaven and on earth. Chi was thus the 
supreme universal energy. The mystical Taoist search tor immor­
tality eventually developed into a more pragn1atic quest for lon­
gevity and health-through sexual energy. When Buddhism was introduced into China fro1n India in the 
first century A. o., it encountered a sophisticated, deeply en­
trenched civilizat ion already several thousand years old. Through 
the centuries the three tonnidable systen1s of philosophy and 
rdigion-Confucianisn1, Taoisn1, and Buddhisn 1-were to com­
pete against, copy fron1, and influence each other in n1yriad ways. The result was the crystallization of Chinese culture and, in addi­
tion , the enrichtnent of sex lite on the Asian continent. The school of Buddhisn1 that reached China was Mahayana 
(Great Vehicle) . By the seventh century , Ma hayana Buddhisn 1 in 
China had absorbed elcrnents of Taoist rnetaphysics and tnind­
body practices. Chi nese Buddhi sts revised the concept of nirvana, 
the ultin1ate blissful state of salvation, which Indian Buddhists believed cou ld be attained only through tnultiple incarnations� 
Chi nese Buddh ists held that it could be achieved by intuitive, an­
tirational transc endental tneditation untilcnlightennwnt sudden ly 
can1e. Historians call this radic:tlly .tltered t(nnl of Buddhisn1, 
known as Zen or Chan Buddhisn1, a purdy Chinese phenotnen on� 
it is actually n1oditled \Vith a generous dose of Taoisn1. In the 
twelfth century Zen was exported to Japan, whe re it still thrives 
today. In China , Zen Buddhisn1 has been practiced n1ainly by the 
educa ted dite. For nuny atnong the illiterate, Mahayana Bud­
dhisrn degenerated into rnere super stitious idol worship. Zen Bud dhisrn has left lasting tnarks on China, especia lly in 
the notions of con1passion and reincarnation. The relig iously eclec­
tic Chinese tend to tnix and n1atch selected beliefs, whether they 
call thernselves Buddhi sts, Taoists, Muslitns, Christians, or even 
agnostics. Most acknowledge a supretne intclligence-n1orality 
they tcnn .. heaven," which is a concept of God. Individuals are 
guided not so n1uch by the fear of fire and britnstone as by their 
own conscience. The Chinese do not conceiv e of original sin and 
venerate no itnplacable gods. During the Tang dynasty (61 8-907) , often recognized as the 
golden age of China, Taoism was made a state religion. The two­
pronged pursuit of in1mortality through alchemy and sexual union 
was at a zenith. This was the heyday of ancient Chinese sexology. TANTRISM 
Probably around the end of the sev enth century, according to 
Joseph Needhan1, R. H. Van Gulik, and other Western Sinolo­
gists, Taoist sexual theory was introduced to India. Within a sin­
gle century Tantrism emerged there. Indian Buddhism, which 
previously had espoused the elimination of all human desires, 
had a new school, Vajrayana, which preached that salvation could 
be attained through ritual sexual intercourse. The Vajrayana scrip­
tures indicate that an Indian holy man was taught this when he 
visited China. Soon a Hindu sect, Saiva Sakta, appeared, with a nearly iden­
tical sexual doctrine for salvation. The beliefs and practices of 
both sects arc called loosely Tantristn. Today, the writhing cou­
ples carved on the temples of Khajuraho and Konarak ar c a solid 
testimony to Indian Tantrisn1. Vajrayana Buddhistn, which con1-
17 THE SE NS UA L LA NDSCA PE 
18 bined with folk religion to form Lamaism in Tibet, Nepal, and 
Mongolia, died out in India . Saiva Sakta Tantrism still exists 
there. In the first half of the eighth century, Tantric missionaries 
from India journeyed to China, where the Tang Chinese, who had 
been cheerfully practicing their own Taoist sexual exercises, in­
corporated mystical Tantric features into their sex classics. A prin­
cipal belief the Chinese adopted was that semen undischarged in 
the practice of nonejaculation could "return" to the body's reser­
voir of life and sexual energy, via a point in the brain. Whether as 
a result of Tantric feedback or not, Taoist sexual classics became 
increasingly mystical and obsessed with the idea of nonejacula­
tion, especially in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. CoNFUCIANISM AD APTS 
Drastic changes in religion and philosophy came during the Sung 
and Southern Sung dynasty (960-1280). To compete with Taoism 
and Buddhism, Confucianists adopted many elements of these 
other two systems. The revised ideology, known as nco­
Confucianism, incorporated the Taoist theory of Yin and Yang 
and some Buddhist cosmology. It touched on metaphysics and the 
supernatural, subjects not found in the original teachings of Con­
fucius. I Chitz,g, considered a Confucian classic but neither written 
nor edited by Confucius, became the bible of neo-Confucianists, 
even though it was based on Taoist thinking. While strategically incorporating Taoist and Buddhist fea­
tures, the neo-Confucianists went further than Confucius hinl­
self in exagger ating loyalty to the en1peror and sexual propriety. They insisted on separation of sexes, even within the fa1nily. Chi­
nese en1perors gladly seized neo-Conf\.tcianisnl as an ideological 
justificat ion for their author itarian rule. They were likely to 
frown on pure Taoistn: the frcedon1-loving, iconoclastic Taoists, 
unlike the Con fucian contonnists, had been the fountain head of 
nuny a bloody rebellion. A UNIQUE SOCIETY 
The civilization of this ancient en1pire, having developed in vir­
tual isolation for centuries, was in nuny aspects antitht'tical to that of the West. l)f course. it is intpossibk· to �t·ncralizt· on tht· 
cornplexities and parado xes of China. \vhich t•vcry once in a 
while \vould spring a surpri st• to tht· rt·st of the world. China en­
joyed long ct•nturit•s of peace and prosper ity. and despite intcr­
rnittent periods of tunnoil and viokncc it rentaint·d t:tirly stable. This stability was due to the powt·rful influt·nce of its three rnain 
schools of thought. as \Veil as to its solidly entrenched social and 
political structur es. For several thousand yea rs the country was fed by a vast popu­
lation of farn1ers. and rule d by an entpcror through the ntan­
darins. high-ranking otl lcials chosen at con1petitive imperial 
exan1inations . The scholars who wrote the most erudit e essays. cornposed the n1ost sensitive poetry. and rendered the n1ost aes­
thetic calligraphy or painting becan1e mandar ins. While dynasties 
rose and fell. and empe rors can1e and went, the n1andarin bu­
reaucracy endur ed. In effect, China was ruled for many centuries 
b .. h d" y egg ea governments. At the top of Chinese society were mandar ins, scholars, po­
ets, calligraphers, painters, and master chefs. All Chinese, includ­
ing illiterate peasants, revered them. Farmers who tilled the land 
were respected. at least in an abstract sense. No Chinese, whether 
prince or peasant. would leave even a single grain of rice in his 
bowl uneaten: rice symbo lized the back-breaking labor of the 
peasants, and wasting it was a moral sin. Next down the social ladder were traders, merchants, and 
craftsmen. The business of making money , though respectable, 
was not consider ed a noble pursuit. If a businessman was lucky 
enough to make a fortune, he was never accepted into the elite. Only his offspring could rise socially-and then only if they be­
came scholars. When a man became suddenly wealthy, his pri­
ority was to engage tutors to teach his children poetry, 
calligraphy, and painting. Because of the strong Confucian influence, the Chinese al­
ways have valued harmony and disdained contention. Even an ag­
gressiv e person in an adversarial situation would disguise himself 
in a cloak of harm ony. Disputes were settled usually through me­
diation rather than lawsuits. In son1e eras, in fact, lawyers were 
grouped socially just above prostitutes. The monolithic Confucian fan1ily systetn n1ade filial piety the 
highest moral; the n1istreatmcnt of parents was the greatest sin. Tlrl' J\.-latin.'! ,�f Yirr arrd Yau.� THE SEN SUAL LAND SCAPE 
20 Young children were pan1pered, but as soon as they reached the 
age of reasoning, they were taught self-discipline. The family in­
stitution was formidable; divorce was rare, and even a man's mis­
tress was integrated into his family as a concubine. Significant 
milestones-births an d major birthda ys, weddings, deaths­
were celebrated with colorful, elaborate ceren1onies. Confucianism, with its strong family values, did not exist 
alone, as we have seen. Buddhism contributed the conce pt of re­
incarnation and the practice of anonymous charity to accumulate 
merits in heaven. Taoism made the Chinese toler ant of others and 
eclectic in their philosophy of life. THE FALL OF AN EMPIRE 
The reverence for scholarship became so strong in China that 
eventually it backfired. By the middle of the eighteenth century, 
the long, relentless emphasis on belles lettres had left a mark of 
effeteness on the culture. The brightest minds scorned science 
and technology as inelegant "petty skills." Scholars looked down 
on physical activity and labor, comfortable in their silk robes with 
long, loose sleeves, and at times growing their fingernails several 
inches, to show that their activities were exclusively inside the 
head. Corruption in government was facilitated under inept mon­
archs and the powerful, schen1ing eunuchs in their courts. Be­
tween 174 I and 1 8 5 I the population of China n1ore than tripled 
from 140 n1illion to 430 million. The cause of this explosion has 
puzzled historians, yet its effects on a nation with lin1ited arable 
land arc undeniable: seemingly insoluble econon1ic problen1s, and 
food shortages, have plagut ·d China to this day. The shaky Dragon Throne n1ight have survived its problems, 
as it had before, if there had been no outside forces to tip the bal­
ance. But at this tin1e, driven by the trading itnpcratives of the In­
dustrial Revol ution, European powers were casting their eyes on 
the protnise of rich pr otits in the East. Despite repeated protests 
by the Chinese governn1ent, British traders flooded China with 
increasing atnounts of India n-gro wn opiun1. When a Chinese 
itnpcrial comm issioner seized a British shipn1ent of opiurn in 
Canton and burned it, the British sent their gunboats to China, 
thus launching the First l)piunl War ( 1 S39-1 S42). The Chine Sl' had invented various \Vl'apons, hut thei r descen­
dants by then had forgottl ·n about thl'nl. The .. barbarians" fron1 
thl· West had itnproved and nlolk·rnized these guns and cannons, 
which , when carried on fighting ships, rl'IH.kr ed their hl·arers vir­
tually invincibk. The once proud Cdestial En1pin: was brought 
to its knees. China was, in the l'tH.i, a papl·r tiger. The pigtails 
sported by Chinl·se n1en. as specified by irnperial decree, and the 
bound feet of Chinl·se won1en becune syn1hols of a backwar d, 
degraded people. The elite of the nation increasingly sought so­
lace and escape in opiu n1, \vhich was evl·rywher e. 
Thus was trigg ered the disintegration of an ancient crnpirc, a 
resplendent civilization. For n1ore than half a century Britain, 
Japan. and other colonial powers repeatedly encroached on Chi­
nese sovereign rights. Whenever the Chinese balked, European 
gunboats and troops invaded China. Only the Open Door policy 
(equal opportunity for all powers), advocated by the United 
States. saved China from being partitioned into colonies the way 
the African continent was. Outrage at the indignities inflicted on them by the "foreign 
devils" touched off decades of violent uprisings among the Chi­
nese. The Boxer Rebellion, which culminated in 1900, was one 
such rabidly antiforeign uprising. Early in this century, a boy 
monarch ascended to the throne, and the millennia-old monarchy 
soon was toppled by republican revolutionaries. During the next 
half-century China was devastated by battles among warlords 
and repeated Japanese invasions. The internal convulsions became 
more and more violent and senseless, and the Maoist Red Guards 
fought this violence with more violence. In this turbulent period, 
the so-called Cultural Revolution, many people were tortured or 
killed, and countless invaluable cultural artifacts destroyed. It will 
take years, perhaps generations, for China to recover from this 
cultural catastrophe. The traumatic loss of national prestige over the past two cen­
turies has brought the once proud Chinese to lose faith in their 
own cultural heritage. Many, especially the educated, have begun 
to scorn things Chinese and worship the West. Today the Chinese 
know only vaguely of their past cultur al brilliance; many are un­
aware of their ancestors ' sophistication in many areas, sex In­
cluded. 21 3 
When Confucius Wasn't 
Lool<ing 
Customs, Courtesies, and Courtesans 
SYMBOLS OF YIN AND YANG 
Sexuality has been all-pervasive in the Chinese psyche, whether 
in the prin1eval sexual cosmology or everyday customs and tradi­
tions. Through the centuries, however, this cosmic sexuality has 
been subtly symbolized and stylized, so that the sexual origin has 
been often obscured, and sometimes even forgotten. China has had no overt phallic worship. Nevertheless, the 
symbolic phallus, as well as the syn1bolic vulva, recur frequently. Chinese written characters, nuny of which are con1posed of two 
or n1ore elements, or radicals, developed frorn pictures, represen­
tational inuges. Although n1ost characters have evolved into styl­
ized forn1s, son1e can be traced easily to their pictorial origin. The 
character for .. sun," for instance, is J square (originally a circle) 
with a dot (sun spot) inside. The character for .. prisoner" recalls a 
hurnan figure held in a stockade. The character ft)r "ancestor" is 
foni1ed by two radicals, but its older fonn consisted of only one, 
resetnbling an erect phallus with two ridges around it. The char­
acter tor "tnother," made with SL'Veral curves and two dots, can1c 
fr01n the imagL' of the breasts and nipples of a nursing wonun. The character tt)f "woman" is a spread -eagle hunun tonn with a hole in the appropriate place. The character for "debauchery" 
consists of three of these spread-eagle forms. Sexual symbolism has entered into ritual and common cus­
toms as well. Until a century ago, at a festival held at the first full 
moon of the Lunar New Year, Chinese women customarily would 
visit the Cheng Yang Gate of the old city wall of Beijing. The 
massive doors of the gate were studded with thick, blunt stylized 
nails which protruded several inches from the doors. The women 
would fondle these undeniably phallic-shaped nails with their 
hands to ensure good health and fertility. Chinese art and crafts, with the exception of Buddhist sculp­
ture and murals, are full of sexual symbolism. Landscape painting 
often features lofty, craggy mountains in the background, dotted 
with knarled trees and shrouded in clouds; in the foreground is a 
lake, a bubbling stream, or a waterfall tumbling through wispy 
mists. Such elegant, poetic scenes are also sexual, for the Yin­
Yang polarity runs throughout them. Mountain peaks and craggy 
rocks are Yang; valleys and bodies of water are Yin. Swirling 
clouds and mists symbolize female sexual secretions; rain, male 
semen. The Yin and Yang in works of art symbolize arousal; each 
energizes its opposite with a vital sexual energy. Harmonizing be­
tween Yin and Yang is the genesis of everything in the Chinese 
universe. Paintings other than landscapes may be equally laden 
with sexuality. One famous work shows two women in a misty 
garden, surrounded by peonies and lin.R-chih (divine mushrooms); 
a male phoenix hovers above then1. Here the Yin of won1en , 
peonies, mushrooms, and mist is being energized by, and is har­
monizing with, the Yang of the male phoenix. The subtle vocabulary of sex ual symbolism is endless. A per­
fect harmony between Yin and Yang is the uni on of the Yin earth 
and the Yang heaven. Emanations from earth-water, clouds, 
mists-a re Yin, wh ile things from heaven-rain, dragons, jade 
(thought to be con gealed dragon semen )-are Yang. Yang sym­
bols in art include stallions, rams, cock s, and unicorns. Yin syrn­
bols include the peach, peo ny, lotus, and chrysanthen 1um, all of 
which suggest the vulva. The cloud -shaped lin)!-ch ih rnushr oon 1, 
valued by Taoists as the plant of immortality, syn1bo1izes fetnale 
t>fAuvia. Vases and other con tainer s are Yin symbols. Medici ne cups 
Wl're often made of rhino ceros horn, which symbolizes the vulv a When Confucius Wasn't Looking THE SE NSUAL LANDSCAPE 
24 with its dripping Yin essence. Incense burners consist of a bowl 
(female organ) on a tripod (male organ). The good-luck emblem 
ju-i ("as you wish"), a favorite in reception halls and at wedding 
ceremonies, is a stylized scepter, often carved in jade. Its graceful 
shape belies its origin: theju-i is a discreet phallic symbol. In the past in China, personal seals were used instead of signa­
tures; they functioned as a symbol of authority . An emperor's 
edicts, for instance, had to carry his royal seal. Paintings too have 
always borne the artist's personal seal. Besides the carved scripts 
on the bottom, necessary for imprinting, seals are often decorated 
on the sides with representations of mountains, dragons, and 
other subjects. Many seals have a rounded top, a subtle phallic 
shape. Until recently, gold and silver in China were cast in the 
form of yuan-pao (prime treasure) instead of ingots and bars; the 
boat-shaped yuatz-pao is a vulva symbol. Many Chinese paintings depict an old man sitting serenely 
near winter-flowering plum blossoms, which signify sexual plea­
sure in old age.
vdoc.pub_the-yin-yang-butterfly-ancient-chinese-sexual-secrets-for-western-lovers.txt
Summarize the following text section accurately and concisely. Maintain specific details and numerical information, and use anti-repetition mechanisms:

        Ancient Chinese 
Sexual Secrets 
/or �stem Lovers 
VALENTIN CHU 
A Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Book 
published by 
G. P. Putnam's Sons 
New York Most lirchet·'Pulnam books an: ava ilable at special quantity discou nts for 
bulk purchases tor saks promotions, premi ums, fund -raising, and educ�­
tional needs. S pecial books, m· book excerpts, can also be created to ht 
specific needs. For details. write or telephone Special Markets, Putnam Pubhshmg Group. �00 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016. (212) 951-8891. AJeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam Book 
Published by G.
The book explores ancient Chinese sexual secrets and techniques, focusing on the connection between sex and health, and their potential benefits for longevity.
What is the main focus of the book "The Yin-Yang Butterfly"?
The author, Valentin Chu, was inspired by his research on ancient Chinese sexology and wanted to share his findings with a Western audience.
What is the author's motivation for writing this book?
The concept of Yin and Yang is central to Chinese philosophy and is used to describe the balance and harmony of opposing forces, including those in the human body.
What is the significance of the concept of Yin and Yang in ancient Chinese culture?
The Chinese Taoists believed in the possibility of achieving immortality through alchemy, and they experimented with various potions and elixirs to achieve this goal.
How did the Chinese approach the concept of alchemy?
The author aims to introduce and analyze ancient Chinese sexology, providing insights and techniques for modern readers, while also highlighting the cultural significance of the subject.
What is the author's purpose in writing this book?