The rebel general who unseated the Sui e1nperor Yang, theca­
nal builder, raised his banner of revolution because of a woman. He was having an affair with the cn1pcror's favorite concubine 
when the illicit liaison becan1e known. To save his own neck the 
desperate general had to stage a revolt. He was successful against 
the unpopular tyrant and founded the Tang dynasty. This resplen­
dent dynasty later was weakened and brought to its end because 
of another wo1nan, the in1perial concubine Yang, as recounted 
above. The in1n1ediate cause of the fall of the great Ming dynasty was a beautiful wotnan . In thc sevt'lltt'cnth century tht· Min� line 
was enfeebled by rneddling eunuchs and plagued by revolts. A 
pov1erful rebel. Li Tzu-cheng. capturcd the capi tal of Beijing. wherc the last Ming en1pcror hangcd hitnsd f Ther e Li captur ed 
the fan1ous beauty Chen Yuen-y uen. the beloved con cubine of 
the Ming general Wu San-kuei. who was guar ding the Great Wall 
along China's northern border with Ma nchuria. When he learned 
of the capture of his \Von1an by Li's rebels and realized that the 
Ming troops were powerless to oust thetn. Wu asked the Ma n­
chus for help. He opened the fortress gates of the Great Wall and 
let Manchu troops into China. Once inside. the Manchus did not 
wish to leave. Thus began three centuries of Manchu rule under 
the Ching dynasty. This chapter may have given the in1pression that imperial 
China was ruled by monarchs who did little but seek out mem­
bers of the opposite sex. Certainly , the privileges accorded an ab­
solute monarch were a strong temptation for sexual excess. But 
most of the nearly thousand rulers of ancient China were not sex­
ual activists like those described above--even when they did en­
gage in polygamy. Some monarchs were valiant warriors and 
great conquerors. Others were wise rulers who made the empire 
prosper. Many were highly cultured and enthusiastic patrons of 
art and literature. Still others tried, within the framework of the 
monarchy, to establish contacts with their humble subjects by in­
cognito direct inspections. Quite a few erected what may be 
called a drum of injustice at the palace gate. Any lowly person 
wronged by a high bureaucrat or nobleman could beat the sono­
rous drum, and his grievances would be heard by the emperor. But those monarchs who were especially active sexually made 
their own type of contribution to Chinese culture. Besides 
adding spice to history, they were responsible for nurturing and 
promoting the Art of the Bedchamber. In thr Porbiddar Palace 
53 5 
Five Thousand Years 
of Erotica 
Voluptuous Poems, Bawdy Novels, 
and Spicy Woodcuts 
THE EROTI C LITERATURE and art of the Chinese reflect their par­
ticular style of treating sex as a natural hun1an phenomenon, 
without sensationalistn. One detects little if any guilt associated 
with sex, and finds few if any references to pathological traits or 
practices-child molestation, incest, rape, sadomasochism. However difficult it may be to spell out, there is a distinction 
between pornography and erotica. The stnut peddler, often abet­
ted by the dial ectic ian, clai n1s that even what n1ight be judged as 
obscene is an exer cise in free speech and therefore sacrosanct. The 
stern rnoralist insists that anything depicting sex is dirty, sinful, 
and depraved. Both arc cxtrctnists. Neither knows the ditTerence 
between por nogr aphy and erotic a. The public is pulled back and 
forth in the n1iddle of a tug-o f-wa r, as opinions fly fron1 pulpit 
and wit ness stan d. 
This book uses the t(Jllowing working definitions: Pornogra­
phy is that which presents sex in a crude and vulgar nunner, and 
the sexual act Js an anitnalistic encounter of raw sexual organs. Soml · porn ography n1ight seen1 sintply coarse, Jnd hJnnlcss to 
thl· mJtur e ntind, but it nuy be lktrintcntJl to Jdolescents, \Vhose 
54 sexuality is still antorphous. Porno graphy that involves degra ­
dation , pathological perversity, and violence is destructive to 
irnrnatur e youths and, \vhen it has an adverse inthtL'nce on the 
psychol ogic ally unbala nced, espe cially the rri 111 in ally insJn e, di­
sastrous to society in general. Much of porn ogr aphy is actually 
anti-erotic in eftt.·ct. Erotica, on the other hand, depicts sex as part of life. in ntodes 
ranging frorn the delicately subtle to the brazenly explicit. It usu­
ally portrays the sexual act \Vithin a fratnework of en1otions or a 
socialrnilieu, and the ernphasis is rnore on sensuality than sensa­
tions, n1orc on sexuality than sex. It is son1etirnes impossible to 
draw a clear line between the erotic and the por nograp hic, as they 
rnay n1erge into each other . On the basis of this rough distinction, much of the sexual lit­
erature and art of China can be categorized as erotica. This is es­
pecially true of poetry, which always has played a significant role 
in Chinese literary life. Partly because of the nature of the classical 
language, perhaps, descriptions of the most passionate lo ve scenes 
are couched in cryptic, elegant imagery that subtly suggests, rather 
than explicitly narrates. As has been mentioned before, the Chinese language is ex­
tremely condensed , and the context in which words are placed 
decides their function. Its richness of imagery enables Chinese to 
offer a thousand shades of emotion . When translated into En­
glish, it may appear even more florid than in the original Chinese. The purity of diction and vividness of images characterizing Chi­
nese classical poetry were well suited to erotic suggestiv eness. EARLY ERoTIC PoE MS 
Much of the oldest classical Chinese poetry is found in The Book 
o_{Odes (Shih Chill�). a collection of 305 poems, ceremonial chants, 
religious hymns, and folk songs dating from the twelfth to the 
sixth centuries B. c. When nco-Confucian puritanisn1 ruled su­
preme, scholars arbitrarily interpreted the odes to be about pro­
priety, morals, and chastity. Modern Chinese scholars, however, 
rebelled against this literary dogrnatisrn and read rnany of the 
odes as love songs. Such a reading is und erstan dable: they may be 
laden with arcane symbolism, but these songs explicitly concern 
love and sexual seduction . Fil'c Tlwrucmd Years of Erotica 
55 THE SE NSUAL LAN DSCA PE 
The oldest and best-known sexual ode tells of a young hunter 
encountering a maiden in the woods and seducing her: 
In the wilderness lies a dead roebuck; 
It is wrapped with white ramie. In the woods walks a desirous maide n; 
She is lured by a lucky y01mg man. The fallen dwarf oaks in the woods, 
The dead roebuck in the wilder ness 
Are wrapped and bound with white ramie. The maiden is/ike fine jade. ooh, be slow! Oh, begentle! Pull not at my loincloth ! Make not the sleeping dogs bark!" Although quite a few odes in this classic depict sex between lov­
ers-sometimes between strangers, as in this poem-they are too 
esoteric to qualify as genuine erotic literature. Since antiquity , the Yin-Yang cosmology of the Chinese has 
brought them to interpret natural phenomena in terms of sex, 
and sexual phenomena in terms of nature. Among the most fre­
quently used literary allusions, as we have seen, are clouds, which 
symbolize female sexual secretions, and rain, symbolizing male 
semen. These allusions were set forth in the poetic essay "Kao­
tang Fu," attributed to Sung Yu, a well-known poet of the third 
century B. c. Highly esteemed, for its literary value as well as its 
lyrical portrayal of feminine charn1s and amorous dalliance, the 
essay is an early exan1ple of erotic literature. Its preface tells of a 
feudal king who drean1s that he meets a beautiful woman; she 
identifies herself as the goddess frorn the Sorcerer's Mountain and 
offers to "share pillow and mat" with hin1. They rnake love, and 
the goddess teaches hin1 n1uch about the art of love. When they 
part she says: "I am the n1orning clouds at dawn, and the pouring 
rain at dusk." Ever since, "clouds and rain" (yun-yu) has been an 
elegant and picturesque literary tenn for sexual intercourse. Traditional classical poetry reached its zenith during the Tang 
dynasty, when sex was footloose and sexology classics flourished. Paradoxically, n1ost of the renowned Tang poems were about na-ture, bureaucratic corruption, or the ravages of war. Chinese po­
etry, which had been written in rigid four-and five-character 
lines, extended to seven-character lines during the Tang dynasty. Later it evolved into a new form, tzu. In this form, the number of 
characters in each line differs in a variety of patterns. All Chinese 
characters are monosyllabic, so tzu meant a change from the old 
metronomic meter to a syncopation of musical phrases. The new 
poetic form ushered in other changes: vivid classical word imag­
ery was combined with zippy vernacular expression. Chinese po­
etry thus was liberated, and moved from the exclusive preserve of 
esoteric scholars to the popular playground of the literati. VoLU PTuou s PoETRY 
The liberated poetry was better equipped to portray the luxuriant 
nature of sexual love. There was a virtual explosion of "volup­
tuous poetry " (yen-shih), which thrived from the tenth century 
on. Most of this poetry consisted of lively gems about sexual love 
and passion. As Chinese women became increasingly secluded in 
public and most marriages came to be arranged by parents, poetry 
provided an outlet; it sang of clandestine trysts involving love­
struck maidens who in spite of convention and their own bash­
fulness give themselves to their paramours. The portrayals were 
quite delicately drawn; it was up to the reader to sense their eroti­
cism. The following excerpts fron1 more noted voluptuous poems 
date from the tenth through the seventeenth centuries. The wedding night was a popular topic. The bride's loss of 
her virginity was often described with natural metaphors : 
The peach hlossom is overwhelmed 
By persistent raindrops . The sNr ct heart �lows 
With stolen �lances. 'lao shy 
'/vask_/(lr.i!entleness, 
She only .l!rits her tcl'lh. Sud dnd y, a thrush trill. Five Thousand Years of Erotica 
..., '· THE SE NSUAL LANDSCAPE 
The thrush trill alludes to the sexual gasp made by a woman in 
pleasure or pain. Other birds, as well as bees, flowers, and fruits 
were favorite symbols in erotic poetry, as in this Tang poem: 
The bee steals wild nectar 
And savors its first taste; 
The golden oriole pecks at the peach, 
Melting the soft pulp in its mouth. Rippling ardor 
Makes her slightly pant; 
Tender passion 
Brings gentle delight. The peach is a Chinese symbol for the vulva, as well as for lon­
gevity. The freer forms of tzu poems enabled poets to employ florid 
classical imagery and enliven it with a vernacular twist. In this 
poem two lovers are making hasty love outdoors: 
I find her ir1 a rzoisy crowd. We look for a secluded spot. Fallen blossoms are our mattress. Her phoenix toes arc raised h(S?h 
Like a clashin�l! of silver hooks. Teased, herf(ue blushes dt'cply; 
Nowht'rt' to hide, 
She d(lSt'S her st,lrry t')'t'S 
A11d spt•aks i11 11 itlll', loll' I'Oi(t'; 
H'tmls hllwdihl <', l4'tmls lost. Slhmrt·, sh,lmt :! �J!itiJ tlllll,\!itlltt'J ht'tlrt 
Slu· (rit's rcpt't�tcdly: 
"U�lltlr tlllt.' Dllt'S ,myhtldy set' us?" This Sung pot'ln portrays a wonun's exquisite postcoital list­
lessness: Extreme pleasure 
Britl,l?S basl �filluess aml lm r.l?rwr. Jade s�ftens, 
Bi<>ssmns droop. A1y hair pin haii,(!S tm my slt·el'e. A1y hair_llml'S d(>ll'll my tlrms. A1ercilessly the slat�t iu,l? lamp stan·s at me. I am damp with perspir·,,ticm, 
And my eyes are dim 14'ith ill tt>xic,lfitlll. I am slc£·py, 
I am sleepy, 
Oh, my lo11e, I am sleepy. The renowned Ming scholar, painter, and poet Tang Po-hu is 
known for his voluptuous poems and erotic paintings. He uses 
metaphors of nature to suggest intercourse: 
She sheds her clothes coyly, 
A peony cringing in the autumnal wind. Crimson dampne ss seeps through and through, 
Peach blossoms scattered on the stream, 
Red leavesjloating iu the jeweled gulch. Who could eudure this momeut of wild passiou! Peach blossoms and fallen petals suggest the stains left by clouds 
and rain. Another poem of his, about remembrance of delights past, is 
much more explicit: 
I have t�ot seeu her after our parting. Whnz can her slippers cross with mine again, 
Her feet hugging my waist, 
Raising to my shoulders, 
Her hands gripping my back? A RISQUE NOVELETTE 
Chinese erotic poetry gradually evolved into erotic prose. Several 
short novels combining prose and poetry appeared during the Fir•r Thor4Satrd Year. ( C!f Erotica 
59 THE SE NSUAL LAND SCAPE 
6o Tang dynasty. A delightful erotic novelette of the seventh cen­
tury, A Visit to an Immortal Grotto (Hi Hsieu Ku), cotnbines witty 
prose and ribald poetry. This work, long lost in China and later 
discovered in japan, was written by Chang Wen-cheng, whose lit­
erary works were highly valued in both China and Japan. A Visit 
is a fantasy about the author as a young scholar traveling in the 
foothills of mountains in northwest China. He comes upon a 
great 1nansion, actually the cave of a female immortal, Shih Niang, 
and her female aide, Wu Sao. Chang enjoys an evening with the 
two women, sipping wine and composing elegant but racy po­
ems in a mirthful exchange with the immortal. Finally, he spends 
the night in Shih Niang's bed. The dialogue is full of double entendre and sexual innuendo. At dinner Shih Niang wants to play a wine game. Chang says: 
"l'n 1 not good at drinking, so I can't play the wine game. I prefer 
to play the sleeping game." Asked how, he explains: "We play 
slzuang-lo [a card game]. If I lose, I must sleep with you for the 
night. If you lose, you must sleep with me for the night." Wu Sao 
adds drily: "You don't have to play the game. Even if Shih Niang 
doesn't play, tonight she won't be able to get out of this." Much of the story is told in poetry , at tin1es ribald. When 
Chang is pouring wine into Shih Niang's goblet, he con1poscs 
this ditty: 
Its tail must not wohhle, 
Its head must not dip low. Hold your.�obletjirm ly, 
Slzallvw or deep as you desire. The fernalc itnn1ortal's skills arc equal to her guest's. When 
they arc playing a gan1c of tossing arrows into a vase, Shih Niang 
versifies : 
Dr,w• 1>,1ck the sht!/f, 
A11d }'tlll miss it. Raise the 1l1Ttlll' Ilfeld, 
A11d you Ol'ashoot it. Aim hdt,U' the"'"'('/, 
And you enter it. LatL'r, Chang and Shih Niang sit facing each other. In an in­
creasingly rornantic exc hang e of irnprontptu verses. he proposi­
tions her and she replies coquettishly. Their flirtations progress 
fron1 the poetic to the physical. and fron1 kissing to fondling and 
beyond. When he touches her at a certain spot, she rhapsodizes: 
/11 d,tys pctst I played it mysc!f 
T<m ('!h t ,mtl fhcr plays itJlr me. While the two have flirted throughout the story, using titillat­
ing dialogue and suggestive verse, their lovetnaking is described 
only cursorily . The eroticisn1 of this novelette, the ronuntic rnood 
that rnay be inspired in the reader, lies in verbal foreplay rather 
than physical union. THE SuP REME joY oF SExuAL UNI ON 
Not all Chinese erotic writing, it should be noted, is as sensually 
elegant as the voluptuous poetry or as humorously risque as the 
novelette described above. One forn1erly unknown piece of Tang 
erotica was discovered by French Sinologist Paul Pclliot in 1907 in 
the Tun Huang grottoes, in an oasis at the edge of the Gobi Des­
crt. This fascinating item, dating from the ninth century, is The 
Poetical Essay 011 the Supreme Joy of the Pleasurable Uniou of Hea t'etl 
a11d Earth, and Yin a11d Yall,{!, by Po Hsing-chicn, younger brother 
of the famous poet Po Chu-i. The n1anuscript has numerous 
copying errors and the last section is n1issing. An unabashed rhap­
sody of sexual union and eroticism, it is written in elegant but ex­
plicit classical language. Its preface underlines the Yin-Yang cosmological outlook for 
sexual union, which it considers natural and fundamental to hu­
nlan beings. Nothing brings greater joy to men and women than 
sexual union-hence the title. This passage describes a wedding 
night: 
The groom takes out his crimson bird. He pulls down the bride 's 
red trous ers, raises her naked feet, and fondles her fleshy port al. She grasps his stalk, her heart palpit ating. He sucks at her tongue 
with his mou th, his mind in a whirl. When the fluids arc plenti ­
ful, they rub against each other and receiv e their pleasu re with Fit'r Th(ltHaud }cars (lf Er(ltica THE SEN SUAL LAND SCAPE 
affection. Her cleft is slightly open, but at first he refrains from 
dashing forward. Only when his stalk is greatly swollen docs he 
pierce her. He looks down at her virgin gate and sees her crim­
son drops mixed with his rivulets of semen. Then they wipe 
themsel ves with a piece of cloth and put it in a basket. From 
now on they are husband and wife, according to the princip les 
of Yin and Yang. This is followed by a more detailed description of the joy of 
subsequent marital unions: 
After this union, they will always open to each other. Some­
times high in a moonlit pavilion, sometimes behind closed 
windows in early spring, together they read The Classic of the 
Elemental Maid. The beauteous woman lies on a reclining cush­
ion behind a circular screen. She takes off her gauze skirt and 
loosens her embroider ed trousers. Her eyebrows are like a bou­
quet of flowers; her waist is like a roll of silk. With tender pas­
sion she stretches out furtively, and she gazes coyly at her own 
body. They first pat and knead their flexed bodies, and caress 
each other from head to toe. Sometimes her legs are raised 
above his shoulders. Sometimes her blouse is pushed above her 
navel. The sobbing mouth seeks the tongue; snowy hau nches 
are raised up high. The jade stalk rears its head in violent anger; 
the golden gulch opens its lips in tremulous fear. The lone peak 
rises by the chasm; the hidden valley quivers by the chicken ter­
race. Secretions flow; lascivious juices surge. The woman pushes her face into the pillow, bending her 
waist. The man leans against the bed with sloping knees. His 
jade stalk moves to and fro, up and down, left and right. The 
Yang stem thrusts straight ahead or stabs oblique ly. It loiters by 
the lute string or grinds erratically against the grain seed, scrap­
ing upwar d or p iercing downwar d. They pull at the shoulders 
and rub buttocks. They rock and shake. It is warm, slippery, 
wet, and dewy . Sometimes the jadt' stalk adv ances leisurely and 
dips shallowly, like a nip ple in an infant's mouth . Sometimes it 
thrusts dt·eply, like a chilkd snak e entering its nest. Toying and 
winn owing, she half swal lows the fruit pit; rushin g and strik ­
ing, he buries himself to the root. Suddenly shallow, suddenly 
deep . Floating again, sinking again. Her tongue thrusts into his 
mouth as his stalk stabs at her flower heart. Som etimes seizing, 
sometimes pressing down. Som etimes staying imm ersed, some­
times rapidly slipping away. He wip t'S their parts with a towel and again puts the stalk into her. The or chid hags, now dried, sway confusedly. Thl' 
stalk, now inside the ramparts, assaults dl'l'ply. He is diciting 
from h«. 'r thl' S«. 'vcn sounds of the int:mt, mixed with gasps. Hl' 
raises her tr«.·mbling teet, pausing to regain l'n('rgy whik letting 
her lasciviousness ovt·rflow. Then, using the..· Art of thl' Bed­
chamha, hl' moVl'S in the style of ninc..·-shallow, c..mc-dl'l'P· He 
pauses and alt«. 'ntatl'S sudden rapidity with suddl·n k·isurdiness, 
while looking down at the exiting and entering. Now thl' woman's rountl'llalKl' is transfigmTd and her voice 
trcmbks. Her hairpins hav l' t:11lcn and her hair is in disarray. Her eyes arc cover«.·d by ll�osc hair and her comb has slipped like 
a half:.moon on her should«. 'r. His eyes are misty and his tive 
limbs arc drooping. His semen has seeped into her womb; their 
secretions have soaked the cinnabar grotto. Quite an encounter! Next the essay tells how a woman and 
her husband disrobe in the moonlight and carry on playful sexual 
gan1es, and descr ibes the joys of sexual union in each of the four 
seasons, in boudoir and secluded garden. It details sexual seduc­
tions, with sportive characterizations of stolen love: how a man 
and a woman meet unexpectedly and make impromptu love by a 
wall, on a meadow, or deep in some flowering bushes, spreading 
their clothes on the grass or crouching against a pillar. Such a hur­
ried, clandestine tryst, the author says, is a hundred times more 
exciting than one in a safe bed. AMOROUS BALLADS 
Around the middle of the thirteenth century, the Mongols in­
vaded China; in 1 280, Kublai Khan was on the Chinese throne, 
beginning the Mongolian Yuan dynasty. (It was at this time that 
Marco Polo visited the Celestial Empire.) Under the oppressive 
Mongolian rule, and encouraged by neo-Confucianist prudery, 
the Chinese began to seclude their women and send their sex life 
underground. Afraid to spark the ire of their Mongolian con­
querors, Chinese scholars turned from serious classical essays and 
poetry to more frivolous forms of literature. Tzu poetry, for one, 
was transformed, into cllU, chanted verse or ballads. This sung po­
etry retained some classical terms but used mostly colloquial ex­
pressions. Its popularity zoomed, and its description of sexual THE SEN SUAl LANDSCAPE 
Jove became more realistic and revealing than in classical poetry. The following conjures a nighttime encounter between two lovers: 
Light, light sighs, 
Lou� low murmu rs. Playin g pull and tug, pinch and press. Unused to such games , 
The maiden is confused and uncerta in. Through the sheer gauze 
Her breasts loom like white ivory; 
My hand in her bosom, 
Holding tight. Smooth, resilient, atld protruding, 
Arch ing, quivering in my grasp. My hand still tingles. The most remarkable literary development during the Yuan 
dynasty was the rise of Chinese drama, in the form of dialogue 
and elm. Ballads were sung by a single actor with musical accom­
paniment, while the dialogue was spoken by various actors. Most 
of the dramas were about romantic love, often of the stolen vari­
ety. In a sense they were like Western operas, but with few epi­
sodic and melodramatic qualities. The singing parts might be 
likened to a hybrid of today's light opera and American country 
nlUSlC. The growth of Chinese dra1na in the Yuan and Ming dynas­
ties was remarkable. All other varieties of dra1na and folk opera in 
China grew fr01n the Yuan dran1a. The chanted verse in n1ost of 
these dran1as was of the voluptuous variety and expressed pas­
sionate love among youths who defied the conventions of nco­
Confucian society. The playw rights were usually producers as 
well, who organized their own traveling troupes. A LovERs ' TRYST IN A MoNASTERY CHAMB ER 
The best-known of the early dranus is The Story of the �Vestertl 
Chmu/Jcr (Hsi HsimlJ! Chi), by Wang Shih-fu. Its plot involves a young scholar, Chang Chun-shui, who rents a cell in a tnonastcry 
after he sees a lovely dan1scl staying in the sante ntonastcry. She. her ntothcr, and a n1aid arc accotnpanying the coftin of hl·r father . a fonncr printc n1inister, to its burial place. Because of unrest in 
the countryside, they have sought tctnporary safety in the nlon­
astery. One day several thousand bandits surround the n1onastcry, 
threatening to kill everyone inside unless the nuidcn, a fan1ous 
beauty, consents to tnarry the bandit leader. Ht ·r frantic n1othcr 
pron1ises her daughte r's hand to anyone who can end the siege. As 
it happens, the garrison cotnmander in the area is a former class­
mate and good friend of the scholar, and he responds to the schol­
ar's plea for help with his troops. After the siege has been lifted, 
however, the n1other goes back on her word. With the help of the 
syn1pathetic n1aidservant, the lovesick scholar has a passionate 
tryst with the young won1an. The complicated plot eventually 
has the two marrying each other. The following describes, in bal­
lad form, a rendezvous of the two lovers: 
Her embroidered slippers are lusciously tiny, 
Her willow waist fits a delicious han�ful. Bashful, she will not raise her head, 
But leans it against the pillow. Her hairpins are fallen, 
Her hair is awry. He undoes her buttons, 
Unties her silken waistband . Orchid scent wafts through the secluded chamber. 11Dearrascal, would you hurt me?" "Hey! Why won't you turn your face to me?" . Slowly, slowly, she sways her willow waist. Tenderly, tenderly, he splits the flower heart. Dew drips into the opening peony. Dipping for a touch of rapture! .. The tender pistil shivers with delicate scent, 
The butterfly sips without restraiut. Fil'r TlttHHand Years Cl.f Erotica Ha[frcsistin�, ha[f yieldi11�, 
As �fin fright, as �fin love, 
The red mout h brushe s the scented cheek. These dramas, once published and staged, became the rage of 
old China. One work, The Peo11y Pavilio n (Mou Tau Ting), by the 
sixteenth-century Ming scholar Tang Hsien-tsu, tells of a ro­
mance between a young man and a young woman. They are 
strangers but have met already in a dream, making love in a peony 
garden pavilion. The woman, who actually lives in such a garden, 
dies and is buried near a plum tree in the garden. On a journey 
the young man comes upon the site of his dream and a portrait 
of the dead woman. Her ghost appears and makes love with him 
for many nights. Eventually, she is resurrected and marries the 
young man . When this drama was published, sentimental youths avidly 
read and reread it. A woman who saw her own life reflected in the 
dranu was said to have died of a broken heart after reading it. An 
actress who had had an unhappy love affair killed herself after 
playing the young woman. The most famous incident involved 
Chin Feng-tien, an accomplished calligrapher and poet. She vowed 
never to marry any other man except the author of The Peony Pa­
l'ilion. She wrote him a fan letter, which was ignored. Her second 
letter moved him so n1uch that he traveled by canal boat to her dis­
tant city. Upon his arrival he learned she had died a n1onth earlier. Buried with her, he was told, was a copy of his dran1a. EROTIC NovELS 
The Yuan dran1as of the fourteenth century , \Vith their ronuntic 
plots and melodious ballads, developed into novels. In their ear­
liest t<..lrnl these novcls were rneant to be recited by storytellers 
rather than read silently. They were written in vernacular lan­
guage, usually wit h classical poetry interspersed. Most of the 
major novds have a hundred chapt ers or n1ore, and their long, in­
volved plots and subplots ntatch those of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky. <.Jf the five most t:unous Chinese novels, two arc erotic: Gold 
I ;,st' Plum (Chin Pi11.1! !\lei) and The Dn·,w, t�f tht' Red CJ,,zmba 
(Hull.\! Lou Aft·n.\!). Each is a novd of rnanners involving a big household, and each appears to be a ronun a clef; both arc consid­
ered great literary works, and arc the subject of nun1erous schol­
arly books and critical essays. But here thei r sirnilar ities end. (;old 
ldsc Plum is a blatantly realistic story about a carnal nouveau riche 
and his n1any wornen. The Drc,wr t�f tlu· Red Clwm /Jcr is a phan­
tasnugoric ron1ance about a sentirnental youth and his nuny 
fcnulc relatives and tnaidservants sharing an enonnous genteel 
estate with picturesque pavilions and gardens. The fonner novel's 
sexual explicitness borders on pornography, while the latter's 
eroticisn1 is delicate and hauntingly suggestive. WILD LOV E UN DER THE GRAPE ARBOR 
Written by an anonyn1ous author during the second half of the 
sixteenth century, Gold Hue Plum tells of the lecherous playboy 
Hsi-men Chin, who is affluent but uncultured, and Pan Chin-lien 
(Golden Lotus), his nytnphomaniacal concubine. The novel de­
picts Hsi-men as a gauche, malevolent man without lo ve, affec­
tion, or even passion. He vents his carnal lust not only on his 
spouses but indiscriminately on maidservants, wet nurses, shop­
keepers' wives, and prostitutes. He has sex with forty-six women 
and two page boys, and dies from an overdose of aphrodisiac. The 
hundred chapters of the novel employ vernacular prose and ele­
gant classical poetry to describe Hsi-men's sexual exploits. The 
sketches of the physical environment and the rendering of social 
mores are superb, and the dialogue brings out the individuality of 
each major character. Because of its graphic passages, the novel was banned during 
the reign of the eighteenth-century Ching emperor Chien Lung. Later editions were published with the juicy parts expurgated, but 
each deletion was accompanied by a note saying exactly how 
many characters were deleted. Enterprising stud ents have counted 
a total of I 3, I 23 such characters. The longest censored passage 
numbers 633 characters, and the shortest, four. Below I have translated two expurgated passages, about a 
wanton romp of Hsi-men and Golden Lotus under the grape ar­
bor in their secluded garden. On a sultry tnidsummer afternoon 
Golden Lotus strips herself naked, leaving only foot ribbons and 
slippers on her feet. She reclines languidly on a mat, fanning her-THE SE NSUAL LAND SCAP E 
self with a white muslin fan. The sight arouses Hsi-men, who 
disr obes and sits on a porcelain garden stool. He wriggles his big toe into her flower heart, making lubricious 
juices ooze out of her like the mucus of a snail. He takes off her 
embroidered slippers, toys with them, unwinds her foot rib­
bons, and then uses them to tic her feet so they hang from the 
grape arbor. Now her legs are like the outstretched claws of a 
golden dragon. Her widely opened vulva shows a pair of full 
red lips with a chicken tongue in between. He crouches down above her, holding his duster handle 
with one hand to aim at the Yin gate. Then, using the other 
hand to steady himself on a pillow, he penetr ates her with his 
inverted tasseled spear. He strokes energe tically into her abun­
dant fluids, an eel moving in slippery mud. The woman under­
neath him keeps on exclaiming , "Dada!" Their activity is interrupted by the arrival of the maid Spring 
Plum. When she sees the two, she puts down the wine flask she 
has brought and runs toward a pavilion, ignoring Hsi-men's call 
for her to return. He disengages himself and chases after her. Once he has caught her, he carries her giggling back to the arbor. He seats himself on the porcelain stool, places Spring Plum on his 
lap, and refreshes himself and her from a wine cup. Golden Lotus pleads for him to untie her, but he doesn't lis­
ten. Instead, he plays a dart game with plums, her gaping grotto as 
the target. He hits the bull's-eye three tin1es, and each time re­
wards himself with a cup of wine. When he tires of this, he in­
serts a plum into the grotto of the protesting wotnan and returns 
to his wine cup, as the maid fans him. Finally he falls asleep, and 
Spring Plum skitters away. The tale unfolds: 
When Hsi-men wakes up an hour later, he sees Spring Plum has 
disapp eared. But Golden Lotus's two white legs still hang from 
the arbor. His lust is rekindled. "Little Wanton," he says, ''I'm 
going to spend mysel f inside you." Hl· plucks the plum from 
her vagina and puts it in her mouth ... . Now he begins to work on her. At tirst he moves his jade 
stalk only at the entr anc e of ha grotto, refusing to go deeper . The woman raises her hips, exclaiming "Da da, get in quick! You arl' making the Little Wanton frantic! .. . " Laugh ingly, he says, "Little Wanton ! Now that you realize 
this, we can set things right." He Sllll'ars boudoir mewl powder on thl· frog mouth of his 
stem and inserts its tip into her Yin g�He. He moVl'S slightly a 
few tillll'S whik looking down at the stalk. Soon it raises itself 
angrily and expands \Vith bulging veins. As he thrusts in and 
pulls out, the woman rubs her misty, half-dosed eyes on the pil­
low and moans. "You big-tooled Da da!" she babbles. "What 
tricks arc you playing on me? Why don't you go lkcpcr? This 
Little Wanton's flower heart is itching, down to the marrow of 
her bones. Have pity on me! Kill me!" While lewd words continue to bubble out of the woman, 
Hsi-mcn thrusts into hl·r rdentlessly. some tour hundred times. With his hands on the mat, he raises and lowers his loins, with­
drawing his stalk to its tip. then penetr ating to its root. He docs 
this vigorously for another hundr ed thrusts. The woman wipes 
her juices with a handkcrchicC but once they arc wiped away, 
mor e seep out again. Soon the mat is drenched . For all its lurid passages, Gold Vase Plum is, as has been men­
tioned, considered a major literary work. Its coarse sexual narra­
tives are jocular, aln1ost Rabelaisian. Its characters engage in a 
wide variety of sexual activities, including frequent "playing the 
flute" by women, "drinking at the jade fountain" by men, anal 
intercourse, and some homosexual and lesbian practices. The pop­
ularity of this novel resulted in at least three sequels, also by anon­
ymous authors. There was a brief but spirited appearance of pornographic 
novels in the early seventee nth century, the later years of the 
Ming dynasty. A cult of elegant living had flourished in China 
throughout the period. The exquisite, translucent delicacy of 
Ming porcelain and simple, elegant lines of Ming furniture be­
canle world-famous. Architecture reached its zenith, as the mag­
nificent palaces still standing in Beijing today attest. The art of 
landscaping transformed Chinese gardens into secluded havens 
edged with bamboo groves and dotted with jasmine and peony 
bushes and bizarre-shaped rocks. Freeform lotus ponds arched 
over by narrow vermilion bridges, and pavilions and swings were 
mainstays of these gardens. By the late Ming period, however , the saturation point had 
been reached. The prevailing n1ood was typically fin-de -sieclc. World-weary scholars and artists wer e disenchanted with politics 
and tired of the pursuit of elegance. Out of fashionable despair , THE SE NSUAL LAN DSCAPE 
some took thcn1sclves to Buddhist and Taoist monasteries in re­
mote mountains. Others turned to writing outrageously obscene 
novels, characterized by coarse slang and sometimes scatological 
details. Many of China's pornographic novels were written at this 
tin1e, but most disappear ed under the puritanica l censorship of an 
emperor of the next dynasty. A few were preserved in Japan or by 
private Chinese collectors. These are of scant literary value, al­
though the voluptuous poems intersper sed in them arc as good 
as any. The best-known of this genre with some literary value is The 
Prayer Cushion of Flesh (Jou Pu Tuan). The Sinologist Franz Kuhn, 
who translated Jou Pu Tuan and several other Chinese works into 
German, called it an "erotic moral novel" and praised it as supe­
rior in literary value to Gold Vase Plum. Chinese scholars strongly 
dispute such an evaluation. Reading the original Chinese texts of both novels gives the 
unmistakable impression that whatever literary value Prayer Cush­
ion has cannot be con1pared with that of Gold Vase Plum. The plot 
of the former revolves around a scholar who, tired of his wedded 
life, leaves his wife in search of greener pastures. To improve his 
sexual prowess, he has an itinerant surgeon tr ansplant slices of a 
dog's penis onto his own. Armed with this unique weapon, the 
scholar begins a carnal spree, seducing several women. The 
husband of one of them exacts his vengeance by seducing the 
scholar's wife and eventually selling her to a brothel, where she 
becomes famous tor her erotic skill. The scholar, seeking ever 
new thrills, visits the renowned prostitute without realizing she is 
his wife. At the sight of her prodigal husband, she hangs herself 
Humiliated and ren1orseful, the scholar castrates hitnsclf and be­
cotnes a Buddhist tnonk. The purported then1e of the novel is 
that a nun attains ultitnate Enlightcnn1ent through carnal indul­
gence. While the sex scenes of J>raya Cushiou arc as explicit as those 
of Gol d l·iuc Plu 111, they constitute ahnost all the story; one has the 
sense that the author's only purpose was to portray sexual en­
counters. Unlike Ctl/d I ;lSc Plu m, the novel has no character devd­
opn ll'nt and no descript ion of social or physical background. Seduction scenes arc unrealistic, with every seduced won1an act­
ing front the beginning like a brazen whore. Pra yer Cushiou docs 
show son1e insight into sexual psychology, but it is evident that the author knew nothing of the Art of the Bedchatnber. In spite 
of the raw and at titnes obscene narrative, the book has no sadistic 
or degrading elctnents. A I)REAM or: EROTICISM 
The Dream (�( the Red Chtlmbcr, which together with Cold J,;1sc 
Plum is one of the two n1ost celebrated erotic novels in Chinese 
literature, was published in the tnid-1 700s. Its author, Tsao Hsueh­
chin was the scion of a protninent fatnily that had gone bankrupt. As has been tnentioned, Gold l ;ue Plum and Dream differ conl­
plctcly in their approach and presentation. Dream describes life in 
an enorn1ous, affluent household of more than three hundred 
who live in a rambling complex of mansions and elegant gardens. The protagonist, Chia Pao-yu, is a brooding, sentimental young­
ster pan1pered by a large flock of female relatives-aunts, nieces, 
cousins-and nun1erous maidservants. The author alludes and al­
legorizes, without explicating things. There is not a single lewd 
word in the book, and it is pervaded with a delicate, elusive, croti­
cisnl. Although the book touches on such subjects as homosex­
uality, lesbianism, and incest, these arc only discreetly hinted at. Dream has been rendered into English and German in con­
densed form. But even the best translation cannot do justice to 
such a dreamlike work. I have translated some excerpts here, to 
give a taste of the work. Chia Pao-yu, visiting a part of the family 
complex not his usual haunts, feels drowsy and \Vants to take a 
nap. The wife of a nephew of his, Chin Ko-ching, by clan hier­
archy his niece but by age a mature woman, suggests that he nap 
in her room. As they ente r Madam e Chin 's bedroom, they arc greeted by a 
delicate, swee t fragrance. Pao-y u's eyes grow dim and his bones 
turn soft. He says with a smile: "So fragrant! ... This place is 
good ! This place is good!" Madame Chin says: "This room of 
mine is good enough for an imm ortal." ... As soon as Pao-yu 
closes his eyes, he falls willy -nilly into slee p. In his dream he 
wal ks beh ind Madam e Chi n. 
In this shimnll�ring, ethereal drean1 world, he is greeted by a 
beautiful fcnulc in1n1ortal who lets hin1 glance-but only fleet-T H E S E N S U A I. L A N D S C: A p E 
72 ingly-into celestial books with enigmatic poetry and paintings. The immortal gives him food and wine, and tells him she wants 
to make her younger sister Ko-ching (namesak e of Madame 
Chin ) his spouse. And this very night is to be the wedding night. Having instructed him in the secrets of clouds and rain, she 
pushes him into the bridal chamber , closes the door, and leaves. Pao-yu dreamily follows the immortal's instructions and makes 
love to Ko-ching. The next day the two become hopelessly 
entang led with each other with tender words and loving ca­
resses .... 
Pao-yu wakes from his dream and sits up in bewilderment , 
as if he has just lost somethi ng. When the chambermaid Hsi-jen 
helps him to adjust his trousers, her hand accidentally touches 
his crotch, and she feels something cold, wet, and sticky. She 
hastily withdr aws her hand, saying: "What happened? " Pao-yu 
blushes profusely and lightly pinches her hand. Hsi-jen is a 
bright girl and two years older than Pao-yu. She is beginning to 
understand some of the things between the sexes. When Pao-yu 
behaves like this, she half understands what has happened . Her 
powdered face sudden ly flushes a bright crimson .... 
Bashful1y Pao-yu begs her: "My good girl, don 't yo u tell 
anyone !" Hsi-jen smiles shyly and asks in a low voice: "How 
did you-" She stops, looks around, then asks: "Where did the 
liquid come from?" Pao-yu, red-faced, refuses to answer. Hsi­
jen stares at him and keeps smiling. Pao-yu then tells her all the 
details of his dream. When he recounts the passionat e episode 
of clouds and rain, Hsi-jen covers her face with her hands and 
crouches down, giggling. Pao-yu has always liked Hsi-jen's coy 
and bewitching charms, and he tugs and pulls her so that they will 
enjoy themselv es according to the immortal's instructions .... 
After token resistance from her, they make tender love. The author is nusterly in evoking a subtle eroticisn1. To con­
vey the effect a young wot nan has on son1e elderly male relatives, 
for exan1plc, he describes sin1ply her "sudden joys, sudden frowns, 
her pendant earrings swa ying like garden swings." One of his fa­
vorite sensual n1otifs is fragrance. In one passag e he des cribes a 
languid rnontcnt betwel'n Pao-yu and his cousin Lin Tai-yu, 
a fragik· girl abou t his age. The two arc lying face to face on a 
couch, and she sees a crirnson spot on his left chee k. She asks 
whose tingernail was responsible for it. He deni es it is a scratch, 
but says that he rnay have srnudg ed his check when he was help-ing son1c other housd1old girls n1ix their rougl'. His cousin wipes 
the stain off his chl'l'k, pouting. Then: 
Pao-yu docs not ht·ar \'llhat sht· is saying . He is awart· only of a 
hiddt•n fragrann· issuing from T:.ti-yu's sk·evt·s, intoxicatin g his 
soul and md ting his bont·s. He grabs her slct·vc with his hand, 
trying to sn· what is insi de that is rt•sponsibk for this. T:.ti-yu 
says smilingly: "Thcst• days. who would carry any arom atics ?" Pao-yu replies, also smilingly: "It is so fragrant! Wher e docs 
it come from. anyway?" T:.ti-yu answers: "I don 't kno w this 
mysdf" 
PEASANT LovE SoNGS 
In glaring contrast to the delicately voluptuous style of The Dream 
(�f the Rl'd Clltlmbcr arc brazen, earthy peasant love songs, which 
have been around tor centuries. Educated people have scorned 
them, but during the past century scholars have studied them as a 
living cultural asset. These love songs, some quite openly sexual, 
trace their origins to ancient songs such as those collected in The 
Book o_{Odes and dating back as many as three thousand years ago, 
when young peasants sang and danced at harvest festivals, and 
then paired off for more interesting diversions. Some of these songs are transparently figurativ e. An example 
is this ditty from eastern China: 
Young lass has a little implement, 
It can squeeze sugar cane, thick or thin. If you don't believe this, lad, try it, 
The juice squeezed out is sweet and sticky. Most are explicit, like this song from the same region entitled 
"Harvesting Mulberry Leaves": 
Eight gauze skirts are our bed curtains, 
The field is our bed. The shade of mulberry leaves is our house. Oh, the sight is delicious in the mulberry orchard! Boy faces girl, girl faces boy. Our joy is greater than the wedding uight. Boy holds girl, girl holds boy. Fi I'C Tlrllusaud )'(·ars ,?f Ert>tica 
73 My <(!olden /owses hook my youn� lover. He raises my little feet high, 
As if carrying lotus roots by the yellow pond. My clove/ike ton gue goes inside his mouth. Oh, it is better than licking honey. Our essences are lost, dripping down our thighs. My newly opened peony bud is plucked by my lover. You are tasting it ahead of my future husband. Here is a song of lament: 
When you and I first made love, 
My white damask trousers were dyed red. My godbrother, 
Oh, it hurt! Ah ya, ah ya, 
My godbrother, 
Oh, it hurt! You have plucked the freshj1ower of your little godsister. Now you love someone else, 
You don't come to me anymore. Ah ya, ah ya, you don't come to me anymore. Some of the songs praise the tnale's bedroom prowess: 
I gh'e you, my love, my niutlz tlumks,J1r your great skill. You made nu· die, and you mad e me li11e again. We did all thirty-six positious (�fthe spring palace, 
And made otlc 11ight two 11ights lot�g 
l)ther songs arc n1orc playful: 
The lass sits 011 tht: itllm'd bed, 
The lmi dim bs itl to pluck tlzeJlo wcr. Our skins melt , ourjlesh ti11gles. First ll'f pl•l)' thf golc�tis h.f;·,l/id.�i".'! ;, the u•,ucr, 
Thc11 ll'f pltl)' the bee p/u(kill . '! ,,t thc_tloll'n hc,nt. A song fr01n northern China cnun1cratcs certain peasant ideals: 
Thf best lol't' soii. '!S si11g ,,b,lut stole11 hwe; 
Tlu· best mc,1f ttl /my is tltc rump (Ut; 
The best lm:,lsts to_kcl ,,,.c the lotus hostwts ,�f e�'!htc ctl-ye,lr-olds; 
The best mout h to kiss (<lilies u•ith ttlrr•y cychrmf!s, dc/ic,ltc eyes, 
mtd bright red lips. THE HE YDAY OF EROTIC ART 
The erotic art of China has a n1orc litnited scope than Chinese 
erotic literature. Dubbed "spring palace" art, it flourished briefly 
in the late Ming dynasty, the first half of the seventeenth century. This art was executed tnainly in the form of monochron1c and 
color prints, characterized by delicacy of line, hue, and cotnposi ­
tion. These prints reveal a facet of Chinese eroticism that may in­
trigue sexologists and cultur al anthropologists. The earliest known erotic art of China, found on tiles and 
shells in Han dynasty tombs, dates back two thousand years. La­
ter, when sexology classics became popular during the Tang dy­
nasty, artists embellished them with how-to illustrations. Erotic 
picture scrolls also began to appear during this titne. In the next 
dynasty, the Sung, erotic art was produced even in the imperial art 
academy. The heyday of erotic art, however, did not come until the sec­
ond half of the Ming dynasty, when woodcut prints proliferated. The best erotic prints, in five colors, were produced between 1 6o6 
and 1624. After 1644, when the Ming dynasty gave way to the 
Ching, this art degenerated and soon died out altogether. Between the ninth and the sixteenth centuries, four famous 
painters were known principally for their erotic paintings. Most 
of their creations are lost today. Even though several renowned 
painters dabbled in erotic art, it was never valued highly by Chi­
nese aesthetic standards. The Chinese always have considered cal­
ligraphy, done with the brush -pen, as the highest form of art. Good brush calligraphy has dynan1ics of movement, freedom of T H E S E N S lf A I. t A N [) S C A p E 
contour, and an eloquent balance of space and brushstrokes. Chi­
nese landscape ("rnountain and water") watercolor painting, 
which presents the artist's subjective impression rather than an 
exact, "realistic" view, rates almost as high. Less valued than 
landscapes are paintings of flowers and birds and of people. Lower yet in esteem is illustrative art, which is considered almost 
artisan's work. As early as the eighth century, Chinese painters eliminated 
the rigid outlines of objects in paintings and substitut ed them 
with dynamic brushstrokes. Probably more by design than by ac­
cident, Chinese painters have never used three-dimensional tech­
niques such as perspective and chiaroscuro, which Renaissance 
artists of Europe developed so brilliantly. Photographic likeness 
and pure abstraction have been equally scorned by Chinese artists. The Chinese have produced some magnificent sculpture, for 
instance the thousands of life-size terra-cotta soldiers and horses 
guarding the tomb of the First Emperor, discovered in Xian in the 
1970s. Later, however, Chinese sculpture was almost exclusively 
in the form of Buddhist statues, showing a marked Indian influ­
ence. Sculpture of the hurnan figure as seen in classical Greek and 
Roman works is unknown in China. With its different philoso­
phy and tradition , and view of humankind, Chinese art of the 
human figure-including the erotic variety-differs, understand­
ably, from that of the West. Most of Ming erotic art exists as woodcut prints. Often these 
prints were found in fan-fold albums, usually with a page of art 
facing a page of poetry. The albun1s contained twenty-four or 
thirty-six pictures. Sornetimes the albums were horizontal, pan­
oramic scrolls, which could be displayed inside the n1assive Chi­
nese lattice bed as a connubial inspiration. Erotic pictures also 
adorned vases, wine cups, and snuff bottles. An atnusing type of 
folding fan displayed innocuous landscapes or flowers and birds 
on both sides when opened in the nonnal way, but showed a 
graphic sexual tableau when opened in reverse. Tiny ivory or por­
celain figures of copul ating couples discreetly hidden in boxes 
with sliding lids were Cworitc conversation pieces. Chin ese erotic art is unique in several respects. As it is of il­
lustrative origin, it is tnainly instructional. It is unlike evocative 
landscape painting, which is filtered through the artist's percep­
tion. Hunun figures arc not well proportioned; the torso and upper limbs are often disproportionately large. There is no delib­
erate exaggeration of genitals as in Japanese erotic art. Facial 
expressions show little passion. The erotic scenes depicted arc al­
nlost all static tableaux, but they show faithfully the postures of 
the participants, inc luding the position of torsos and litnbs, and 
even the orientation of the jade stalk. While the scenes depicted 
tnay be neither passionat e nor dynamic, they suggest serenity and 
harn1ony, often laced with whin1sy and playfulness. Many of the 
sexual encounters are presented as outdoor scenes, and even most 
indoor scenes have a backdrop of foliage and rocks through a win­
dow or pavilion door. This is perhaps due partly to the Taoist 
fondness for nature, and partly to the fact that Chinese gardens are 
always secluded from prying eyes. Freedom from prying eyes 
does not mean absence of the voyeur. Indeed, many amusing 
scenes show a couple copulating and a young woman peeping, 
sometimes while playing with herself Not a single piece of Chi­
nese erotic art shows sexual violence or what modern psycholo­
gists would consider pathological behavior. The great variety of coital positions and situations in Chinese 
pictorial erotica indicates an intent to dispel bor edom in the mari­
tal act. Most of the positions prescribed by sexology classics can 
be found depicted in Chinese erotic paintings and prints. Both 
erotic literature and art tend to encourage positions in which the 
female legs are raised or flexed, so that the woman can enjoy 
keener sensations. A number of positions tend to stimulate 
various out-of-the-way spots, including the flower heart, some­
times neg lected in orthodox positions. This en1phasis on female 
satisfaction is the cornerstone of the ancient Chinese Art of the 
Bedchamber. Fi11c Tlwusm1d Years of Erotica Part Two 
TH E ART 
OF TH E 
BEDCH AM BER 
THE ART OF THE BEDCHAMBER-the sexology of ancient China­
is more than two thousand years old. In recent centuries it was 
little-known, shrouded in mists after the core of sexology classics 
had disappear ed. Several rediscovered sexology classics, however, 
tell us that this ancient art oflovemaking is a fascinating mixture 
of mysticism and scientific prescience. A study of the once lost classics, as has been noted, reveals this 
theme of ancient Chinese sexology: Sexuality is a natural human 
urge which, if satisfied regularly in moderation, and enjoyed with 
pleasure, not only will give people greater sexual potency but will 
make them live healthier and longer. To enhance a happy sex life, 
79 the classics offer various means of boosting sexual energy, refin­
ing love-play, and mastering erotic techniques. While the male essence is limited, according to these classics, 
the female essence is inexhaustible. Around this premise, the clas­
sics devised elaborate means to boost the male's sexual stamina 
and thereby to prolong the sexual union. One happy consequence of the Art of the Bedcham ber is as­
sured female satisfaction in bed. It is uncertain whether this ap­
proach had anything to do with the fact that the three earliest, 
most renowned, and most quoted sexologists of ancient China 
were female. 6 
Lady Doctors of Love 
Sex Therapists in the First Century 
The Yellow Em peror asks the Elemental Mai d : "M y spirit is 
weak and disharm onious. My heart is without joy, and my body 
is filled with appr ehensions. What should I do?" The Elemental Maid repl ies: "The debil ity of men is cause d 
by faulty way s in the mating of Yin and Yang. Wo men prevail 
over men , just as water prevails ove r fire. They that kno w the 
way are like a good cook, who can blend the five flavors into a 
tasty soup; they that kno w the Tao of Yin and Yang can blend 
the five pleasur es. But they that know not may die an untim ely 
death. How could they eve r en jo y sexual pleasur es?" THE OPE NING PASSAGE from The Classic of the Elemental Maid (Su 
Nu Ching) epitomizes the ancient Chinese art of lovemaking by 
suggesting that good health comes from good sex, and good sex 
comes from good health. Written in the first century A. D., the Ele­
mental Maid predates all known sexology classics of other cul­
tures: India's Kama Sutra (third-fourth century A. D.) and Rati 
Rahasya (eleventh century); the Arabian The Perfumed Garden 
(fourteenth -fifteenth centuries); and the Muslim Ananga Ranga 
(fifteenth century). Although written probably around the same 
time, Ovid's Art of Love is about courtship and seduction , not sex. Actually, the Elemental Maid is predated by at least a dozen 
other Chinese sexology classics. In Hunan province, in 1973, four 
manuscripts from the second century B. c. were unearthed in a 
81 THE ART OF THE BED CHAM BEn 
82 roya l tomb of the Han dynas ty. These arc the oldest extant sexol­
ogy classi cs, althoug h their conte nts arc not as well-known and 
significant as those of the Elcmentall\tfaid. Addition ally, the bibli­
ography of the dynastic history of the Han dyna sty lists books 
from the entire spectrutn of Chinese learning at the time. In the 
section on medicine, under the heading "Inside the lledchan1bcr," 
are mentioned eight sexology books, among the oldest known 
such texts in the world. All of them disappear ed many centuries 
ago. However, the Han tomb discovery suggests that one day 
some of these may be unearthed in another tomb. A note from the compiler of the Han bibliography advises: "If 
a person regulates his sexual pleasure, he will enjoy tranquility 
and attain longevity. If he indulges in this pleasure and ignores the 
tenets set down in these treatises [the sexology classics], he will 
damage his health and even harm his very life." This reveals the 
quintessence of ancient China's Art of the Bedchamber: the inti­
mate relationship between sex on one hand, and health and lon­
gevity on the other. Good health through good sex was a branch 
of legitimate medicine in ancient China. For centuries, sex man­
uals were listed in the bibliographies of Chinese dynastic histories 
in the category of medicine. THE EARLIE ST SEx THERAPISTS 
The three women who arc the earliest known sexologists of an­
cient China were the Elemental Maid, Su Nu, who was the most 
widely quoted; the Arcane Maid, Hsuan Nu; and the Iridescent 
Maid, Tsai Nu. Th eir central theme, like that of their successors, 
was that health, youthfulness, and longevity can be attained dur­
ing happy hours in the jade chan1ber-the boudoir. The classics named for each of these women, like other major 
works of the genre, arc in the form of dialogues. In these three 
classics, the legendary Yellow En1pcror, Huang Ti, who ascended 
to the throne in 2697 B. c., converses with his three female consul­
tants in the Tao of Yin and Yang. The Yello\v Emperor served as 
interlocutor because reputedly he pursued health and long life in 
bed with a total of no fewer than twelve hundred women. This 
feat, according to Chinese legends, tnade him an immortal and 
enabled him to ascend into heaven in broad daylight. CLASSICS LosT-AND CLASSics RE GAINED 
Today \Ve can count at least three dozen Chinese sexolog y classics 
written frotn the second century B. c. to the ninth century of the 
Christian era. This rich lode is no surprise; for centuries China 
was the tnost bookish nation on earth. Its enonnous bulk of writ­
ing, on every conceivable subject, retnains only slightly tapped, 
even to this day. The sexology classics have had their ups and downs. At tin1es 
this nornully autho r -\vorshipping etnpire would go through epi­
leptic periods of book-burn ing and literary purges. Nutnerous 
classics, especially those explicitly on erotic techniques, disap­
peared fron1 China during the past nine centuries, among then1 
the books by the three \Votnen sex therapists. Their existence has been known all along, since they are not 
only listed in the bibliographies of the several official dynastic 
histories, but widely cited in Chinese literature. Although the 
n1odern Chinese still consume food and herbs that they believe 
will nurture their sexual vitality and general health, they are only 
dimly aware of the lost Art of the Bedchamber. They arc unaware 
of the specific erotic techniques used joyously by their ancestors 
in the ancient bedchan1ber. Fortunately for posterity, several of the lost classics were re­
covered, in part, a century ago. The trail led back to the late tenth 
century, when Tamba Yasuyori, a distinguished Chinese physi­
cian living in Japan, compiled The Essence of Medical Prescriptions 
(I Shim Po or I Shing Faug). This volumin ous work, which cites 
tnore than two hundred Chinese medical sources from the third 
century through the tenth, is a priceless repository of Chinese 
medical knowledge. Many of the passages quoted would become 
the only versions in existence when the originals disappeared 
in China. Tamba was most scholarly in his citing; he left even 
obvious n1anuscript errors intact, but added warnings of such 
errors. Upon its publication, Tamba's book imn1ediately became 
the most authoritative medical source in and around the Japanese 
imperial palace. After n1any sexology classics disapp eared in China, Chinese 
scholars believed that these literary gems were lost forever. They 
did not know that japan, which fortunately always has been inter­
ested in things Chinese and acted as a great repository of Chinese Lady D(,ctors (�f Lot'l' THE ART OF TH E BEDC HAM BER 
culture, had preserved large fragments of many texts in Tamba's 
enormous medical treatise. A Chinese scholar learned this fact in 1 87�some nine 
hundred years after the book's publication-when he came upon 
Tamba's work in Japan's Imperial Library. Early in this century, 
another Chinese scholar, Yeh Teh-hui, visited the Imperial Li­
brary. Using the more extensive quotations from Tamba's book, 
Yeh reconstructed five of the major sexology classics and pub­
lished them in China. But he was promptly ostracized by his con­
servative nco-Confucian colleagues, and his work was studiously 
ignored. Only in the 19 sos were his reconstructed classics repub­
lished; today they are being noticed. At about the same time that fragments of the lost classics were 
being restored, the French explorer Paul Pelliot discovered an erotic 
classic of major literary and sexological significance, quoted in the 
previous chapter. This document had been sealed for nine cen­
turies in the Tun Huang grottoes. The resurrected classics, includ­
ing those unearthed from the Han tomb, together with the vast 
body of ancient sexology hardly touched by modern researchers, 
give us a fascinating view of ancient Chinese sexuality . A NE W DAZZ LE FOR AN CIENT SEXOLOGY 
Since they are quoted from and analyzed in this book, 1t 1s 
worthwhile to take a brief look at the reconstructed classics indi­
vidually. The best-known of the five books reconstructed by Ych 
Teh-hui, The Classic of the Elem etztal Maid, is probably aln1ost as 
complete as its original. The second book, Prescriptio11s of the Ele­
mental Maid (Su Nu Fang), is incon1plete; very brief� it consists 
mostly of presciptions for sexually exhausted n1ales. The Secret 
Art of the Jade Chamber ( Yu Fan.(! Pi Clweh ), although as long as The 
Classic <.? {the Elemental Maid, is apparently only an eighth of the 
original, according to notes in the bibliography of the history of 
the Sui dynasty. Essefltials l?ftlzcjade Chamber ( Yu Fan .. � Chill Yao) is 
a mere fraction of its original length, while The Mystif Master t�f 
the Grotto ( Timg H.suan Tzu) seen1s virtually con1plete. The latter 
is believed to have been written during the Tang dynasty by the 
Taoist Chang Ting or by Li Tsung-hsuan, the director of the lnl­
perial School of Medi cine. The book features graphic descrip­
tions of passionate foreplay and coitus, and its literary style is sin1ilar to that of The Pot•fi(cll Essc1y ,, the Suprnllt'}oy ,�f rlrc Ph·c�­
sumblc U11i<m <�f Hccli'Cil mrd Ec�rtlr, m1tl ) ·;, cmd \ ;,,\?, n1cntioncd 
carlil'r. Most of the classics on l'rotic techniques were abund antly 
illustrated. undoub tl·dly sh()\Ving thl· various coital positions de­
scribed in the texts. Although son1c illustrations have been recon-... 
structed . thl' originals arc lost forever. Chinese sexology classics t:11I into Sl'Vl'ral rnajor categories. The basic and oldl·st ones arc on the art of coitus. They arc essen­
tially n1anuals and descr ibe erotic techniques in dialogues or quoted 
passagt'S. The originals of rnost of these classics arc lost. Aside 
frorn the five reconstr ucted classics and four discovered in the Han 
tornb. fragn1ents of others arc scattered an1ong rnany old books. Another group con sists of collections of recipes and prescrip­
tions of food and herbs, airncd specifically at invigorating sexual 
vitality and broadly at retarding aging and in1proving health. These 
recipes were con1pilcd by Chinese physicians and immortality­
seeking Taoists over two millennia. Unlike the classics on coital 
art, most of then1 were never lost. One curious group of sexology treatises, written by Taoists 
mostly during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, con­
cerns mystical sexual alchemy. Many of these have disappear ed, 
but some were preserved in both China and Japan. They will be 
discussed in chapter 9. The peripheral categories include such topics as physiognomy , 
acupunctu re, moxibustion (the warming of acupoints with burn­
ing herbs), acupressure massage (shiatsu), and mind-body exer­
cises. While all of these practices are sexually oriented, they also 
aim broadly at general well-being. These classics, though mostly 
Taoist-inspired, are about health and are by no means religious. The ancient Chinese sexology classics differ markedly from 
those of India, the Kama Sutra for instance. The Chinese classics, 
first of all, are health-oriented; the Indian classics are not. The 
former limit themselv es to foreplay, coitus, and sexual health, 
while the latter examine courtship, and even somewhat mildly 
violent sexual activity-beating and biting. The sexual positions 
recommended by the Chinese arc all practicable, while tnany in 
Kama Sutra require the participants to be yogis or contortionists. Most of the classics of the Art of the Bedchan1ber were writ­
ten anonyn1ously or pseudonyrnously. Their literary style and con-THE ART OF 
86 THE BEOCHAM BEH 
tent suggest that these works were written by highly educated 
and sophisticated literary individuals . Indeed, the most respected 
physicians, essayists, poets, alchen1ists, and philosophers wrote, 
edited, con1n1ented on, and quoted from these classics. There was 
no notion of copyright, and some so-called authors were actually 
editors who collected earlier writings and reworked them into 
new tnanuscripts. Some ancient sexology classics, written in the crypt ic, con­
densed style of n1ost ancient Chinese classical works, leave much 
to the interpretation of the reader. Others, principally the man­
uals, arc quite explicit. They appear to ignore deliberately any 
r01nantic or sentimental feeling between partners. In a few in­
stances, and then only briefly, they describe the passionate effects 
on partners during foreplay and coitus, but the descriptions arc 
clinical-aln1ost like a n1odcrn sexologist's report on sexual ac­
tivities observed in the laboratory. Still other texts depict erotic 
passion with poetic fervor. A feature of the classics that is relevant today is their applica­
bility to both sexes, although much of the writing appears to ad­
dress specifically the male reader. One section in The Secret Art <1. the Jade Chamber, however, addresses women, telling them that 
the secret of the legendary Queen Mother of the West's youthful­
ness lies in her practice of sexual "pluck-and-nurture" with nu­
merous n1en. Sin1ilarly, the Elcn1ental Maid says that "women 
prevail over n1en.'' These cotnments indicate the Taoist belief that 
won1cn arc sexually stronger than n1cn. PicTunESQUE NoMENCLA TURE 
The writings of the Art of the Bedcha tnber tend to usc different 
tenninology tor different purposes.
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:

        The rebel general who unseated the Sui e1nperor Yang, theca­
nal builder, raised his banner of revolution because of a woman. He was having an affair with the cn1pcror's favorite concubine 
when the illicit liaison becan1e known. To save his own neck the 
desperate general had to stage a revolt. He was successful against 
the unpopular tyrant and founded the Tang dynasty. This resplen­
dent dynasty later was weakened and brought to its end because 
of another wo1nan, the in1perial concubine Yang, as recounted 
above. The in1n1ediate cause of the fall of the great Ming dynasty was a beautiful wotnan. In thc sevt'lltt'cnth century tht· Min� line 
was enfeebled by rneddling eunuchs and plagued by revolts. A 
pov1erful rebel. Li Tzu-cheng. capturcd the capi tal of Beijing. wherc the last Ming en1pcror hangcd hitnsd f Ther e Li captur ed 
the fan1ous beauty Chen Yuen-y uen. the beloved con cubine of 
the Ming general Wu San-kuei. who was guar ding the Great Wall 
along China's northern border with Ma nchuria. When he learned 
of the capture of his \Von1an by Li's rebels and realized that the 
Ming troops were powerless to oust thetn. Wu asked the Ma n­
chus for help. He opened the fortress gates of the Great Wall and 
let Manchu troops into China. Once inside. the Manchus did not 
wish to leave. Thus began three centuries of Manchu rule under 
the Ching dynasty. This chapter may have given the in1pression that imperial 
China was ruled by monarchs who did little but seek out mem­
bers of the opposite sex. Certainly, the privileges accorded an ab­
solute monarch were a strong temptation for sexual excess. But 
most of the nearly thousand rulers of ancient China were not sex­
ual activists like those described above--even when they did en­
gage in polygamy. Some monarchs were valiant warriors and 
great conquerors. Others were wise rulers who made the empire 
prosper. Many were highly cultured and enthusiastic patrons of 
art and literature. Still others tried, within the framework of the 
monarchy, to establish contacts with their humble subjects by in­
cognito direct inspections. Quite a few erected what may be 
called a drum of injustice at the palace gate. Any lowly person 
wronged by a high bureaucrat or nobleman could beat the sono­
rous drum, and his grievances would be heard by the emperor. But those monarchs who were especially active sexually made 
their own type of contribution to Chinese culture. Besides 
adding spice to history, they were responsible for nurturing and 
promoting the Art of the Bedchamber. In thr Porbiddar Palace 
53 5 
Five Thousand Years 
of Erotica 
Voluptuous Poems, Bawdy Novels, 
and Spicy Woodcuts 
THE EROTI C LITERATURE and art of the Chinese reflect their par­
ticular style of treating sex as a natural hun1an phenomenon, 
without sensationalistn. One detects little if any guilt associated 
with sex, and finds few if any references to pathological traits or 
practices-child molestation, incest, rape, sadomasochism. However difficult it may be to spell out, there is a distinction 
between pornography and erotica. The stnut peddler, often abet­
ted by the dial ectic ian, clai n1s that even what n1ight be judged as 
obscene is an exer cise in free speech and therefore sacrosanct. The 
stern rnoralist insists that anything depicting sex is dirty, sinful, 
and depraved. Both arc cxtrctnists. Neither knows the ditTerence 
between por nogr aphy and erotic a. The public is pulled back and 
forth in the n1iddle of a tug-o f-wa r, as opinions fly fron1 pulpit 
and wit ness stan d. This book uses the t(Jllowing working definitions: Pornogra­
phy is that which presents sex in a crude and vulgar nunner, and 
the sexual act Js an anitnalistic encounter of raw sexual organs. Soml · porn ography n1ight seen1 sintply coarse, Jnd hJnnlcss to 
thl· mJtur e ntind, but it nuy be lktrintcntJl to Jdolescents, \Vhose 
54 sexuality is still antorphous. Porno graphy that involves degra ­
dation, pathological perversity, and violence is destructive to 
irnrnatur e youths and, \vhen it has an adverse inthtL'nce on the 
psychol ogic ally unbala nced, espe cially the rri 111 in ally insJn e, di­
sastrous to society in general. Much of porn ogr aphy is actually 
anti-erotic in eftt. ·ct. Erotica, on the other hand, depicts sex as part of life. in ntodes 
ranging frorn the delicately subtle to the brazenly explicit. It usu­
ally portrays the sexual act \Vithin a fratnework of en1otions or a 
socialrnilieu, and the ernphasis is rnore on sensuality than sensa­
tions, n1orc on sexuality than sex. It is son1etirnes impossible to 
draw a clear line between the erotic and the por nograp hic, as they 
rnay n1erge into each other. On the basis of this rough distinction, much of the sexual lit­
erature and art of China can be categorized as erotica. This is es­
pecially true of poetry, which always has played a significant role 
in Chinese literary life. Partly because of the nature of the classical 
language, perhaps, descriptions of the most passionate lo ve scenes 
are couched in cryptic, elegant imagery that subtly suggests, rather 
than explicitly narrates. As has been mentioned before, the Chinese language is ex­
tremely condensed, and the context in which words are placed 
decides their function. Its richness of imagery enables Chinese to 
offer a thousand shades of emotion. When translated into En­
glish, it may appear even more florid than in the original Chinese. The purity of diction and vividness of images characterizing Chi­
nese classical poetry were well suited to erotic suggestiv eness. EARLY ERoTIC PoE MS 
Much of the oldest classical Chinese poetry is found in The Book 
o_{Odes (Shih Chill�). a collection of 305 poems, ceremonial chants, 
religious hymns, and folk songs dating from the twelfth to the 
sixth centuries B. c. When nco-Confucian puritanisn1 ruled su­
preme, scholars arbitrarily interpreted the odes to be about pro­
priety, morals, and chastity. Modern Chinese scholars, however, 
rebelled against this literary dogrnatisrn and read rnany of the 
odes as love songs. Such a reading is und erstan dable: they may be 
laden with arcane symbolism, but these songs explicitly concern 
love and sexual seduction. Fil'c Tlwrucmd Years of Erotica 
55 THE SE NSUAL LAN DSCA PE 
The oldest and best-known sexual ode tells of a young hunter 
encountering a maiden in the woods and seducing her: 
In the wilderness lies a dead roebuck; 
It is wrapped with white ramie. In the woods walks a desirous maide n; 
She is lured by a lucky y01mg man. The fallen dwarf oaks in the woods, 
The dead roebuck in the wilder ness 
Are wrapped and bound with white ramie. The maiden is/ike fine jade. ooh, be slow. Oh, begentle. Pull not at my loincloth. Make not the sleeping dogs bark. " Although quite a few odes in this classic depict sex between lov­
ers-sometimes between strangers, as in this poem-they are too 
esoteric to qualify as genuine erotic literature. Since antiquity, the Yin-Yang cosmology of the Chinese has 
brought them to interpret natural phenomena in terms of sex, 
and sexual phenomena in terms of nature. Among the most fre­
quently used literary allusions, as we have seen, are clouds, which 
symbolize female sexual secretions, and rain, symbolizing male 
semen. These allusions were set forth in the poetic essay "Kao­
tang Fu," attributed to Sung Yu, a well-known poet of the third 
century B.
The text does not mention the name of the rebel general who overthrew the Sui emperor Yang.
Who was the rebel general who overthrew the Sui emperor Yang?