SERIES: Books to better understand China
Part 6 : The dark times of Yuan dynasty (1279-1367)
Even if mentalities have changed a little among young Chinese, there is still a certain discretion, reservations about talking about the subject. And so much the better. In the West, the subject goes beyond the private sphere and sprawls back and forth in all the media … But where would come from what we wrongly call taboos, and which are cultural codes that are simply different from ours? A long time ago, but the book remains a benchmark, a great lover of China, great novelist and essayist, Robert van Gulik, tackled the complex question of the history of sexuality in China. Here is the 3rd part of the presentation of this essential book.
We have seen the sexuality of the early periods of China, first from the angle of a mythical and matriarchal background; then, according to Yi Jing’s book; then, according to the sometimes contradictory sometimes unified visions of Confucianism and Taoism.
Military occupation
The great Dutch writer, diplomat and historian Robert Van Gulik does not have enough harsh words to describe the early part of the invasion and therefore, the Mongolian military occupation of China.
He speaks of “iron rule,” the rejection of Chinese culture and the insatiable theft of Chinese wealth at the time.
Starting from a concrete example, Van Gulik will show us the emergence of a real prudishness on the subject of Chinese sexuality from the end of the 13th century.
Concretely therefore, the Mongolian soldiers had “accommodation tickets”. What’s this ?
“The accommodation ticket is an administrative act, issued by the mayor of a municipality, which orders an inhabitant of this municipality to accommodate visiting soldiers, and sometimes their horses. It can also force them to feed and maintain them. ”, the dictionary tells us.
So the Mongolian soldiers could live in the houses of the Chinese. It was then necessary to protect their wives!
The Confucianist rules regarding the isolation of women in the home therefore resumed.
Military occupation but also cooling of social relations, mistrust, etc., gave birth to very moral manuals of social control of “mores”. It gave marks for “merits and demerits” concerning behavior towards women, concubines and prostitutes.
But these books also delighted Taoist or Buddhist bigots who chased away all traces of debauched sexuality, that is to say “for the sole purpose of carnal pleasure”.
Difficult to calculate for each case. Especially in the event of “acquaintance in a previous life” which could have justified relations quickly decided upon.
But nuns, virgins and widows will be particularly protected from any attempt at debauchery.
The live of wives at home are going to be harshly codified by ancient Confucianist rules. But hard… for the master of the house. Each gesture, each word will be analyzed and the good or bad points distributed.
For men, in general, it will no longer be a question of bragging about their relationship with this or that prostitute. It will be one of the most serious faults.
But on the side of women at home, no compliment on their charm or beauty can be formulated explicitly.
“If a woman has no talent, that is her finest virtue,” a Confucianist proverb of the time would have said according to Van Gulik (which we read here, this is his point of view)
Invention of true Chinese theater and Qu by young scholars
“Many Song officials, loath to serve illiterate Mongolian or foreign superiors, resigned from their posts,” the author writes.
In addition, end of the imperial exams for the career of Chinese scholars (from 1284 to 1313). How many school dropouts …
Young people gifted for literature will then turn to lighter intellectual entertainment. Because they did not have a “normal” professional situation.
“Theater, until then considered a vulgar attraction, good for an ignorant crowd, they made their favorite pastime.”
Then appear the song or Qu 曲 stanzas with gallant themes and old love stories.
Let’s move on to the descriptions of plays. It should be noted that it is the courtesans who, again, will demonstrate their artistic talents because it is they who will be chosen to interpret the roles of women. “They learned to use the dramatic art brilliantly,” says Van Gulik.
Creation of the roots of the Chinese novel
But more interesting is the origin of the term “XIAO SHUO” 小说, used to speak of the novel in Chinese. The story is amazing. Because the popular and simplified Chinese language will have more reach during the Yuan era. Indeed, Mongolian officials did not want to learn the Chinese language in all its purity and complexity. A “lingua franca” or vehicular language, essentially utilitarian, will gradually emerge in the administration.
And in everyday life. It was Chinese but reduced to the most popular expressions.
Street storytellers will then appear who were at the base of the actors and actresses of this new Chinese theater. These stories told in the street were mostly satires of Mongolian power, barely disguised satire. Some of the Chinese frustration and anger could be expressed there.
This street “literature” made up of “small talk” will become the novel (“xiao shuo”)! The work of the familiar language, used, will be done around popular love themes such as the loyalty of patriotic courtesans, protected by local notables.
Zhao Meng Fu
Zhao Mengfu, 趙孟頫, 1254-1322, was a Chinese scholar, painter and calligrapher during the Yuan Dynasty.
He is a major figure in Chinese art. He belonged to the Imperial Song family. So he let ten years pass after the drama of the end of the Southern Song, then agreed to work for the Mongols. It is possible, given his rank, that he saw himself as a mediator trying to convert the Mongol emperor to Chinese culture. In the early days of the Yuan Dynasty, Zhao Mengfu was a well-known scholar who held high office in administration, especially at the reconstituted Hanlin Academy. On Khubilai’s death (1294), he retired. But a certain number of his friends considered him from then on as a “collaborator” and their condemnation would often be taken up by posterity …
A more literate Mongolian society (1330-1367)
The Mongols, great horsemen in the steppes and northern China, had great difficulty in the southern provinces. Heat, humidity, prevented them from invading Indochina, in particular. Not to mention their nullity in naval combat. The Mongols then had to accept that they had lessons to receive from the Chinese.
They gave more positions to literate Chinese. They also learned more about the culture of their subject. Mongols studied classical Chinese and began writing literary and even medical works. They spoke in their own way about sexuality in the context of Chinese medicine.
But Van Gulik quickly comes to the strange religiosity of Mongolian dignitaries at court. A Buddhism passed from India to Tibet, then from there to Mongolia, made its appearance in the Mongolian nobility. Often for the worse. This was a form of Tantric, Lamaist Buddhism worshiping Female Energy.
Koubilay Khan became a “tantric” monarch, from the word according to court ceremonies.
Strange rites arose as a result of the Lamaists’ habit of worshiping statues of gods entwined with their “female analogues.” The followers of Tantrism themselves reproduced these images in the real world and shocking sexual rites became a habit at court. The Chinese at the time were rightly outraged. But were these objective descriptions? Chinese scholars still held the Mongols. Maybe they have exaggerated?
But the Ming were torn between keeping these entwined statues of “Double Deities” (teaching sexuality?) Or wanting to destroy them.
In any case, studies of sexual mysticism, habits of pleasure and luxury, too much comfort, dulled the strength of the ruthless Mongolian ancient warriors.
This was their end … also thanks to multiple small Chinese revolutions in the empire that drove out Mongolian officials and their allies, then drove away the isolated soldiers weakened by the luxuries of the occupation …
