SERIES: Books to better understand China
Part 3: From the last Han dynasty to the Six Dynasties
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.
Let’s start again from the so-called “later” Han, therefore, roughly speaking, after the symbolic date of the birth of Jesus Christ with us.
A BATTLEFIELD
Robert va Gulik immediately explains sexuality to us as strategically viewed by the Chinese, always with the idea of harmonizing male and female energies. If in Chinese medicine the body is seen as an “empire”, the bed will be seen as a battleground!
Beside this bed were illustrated manuals on the sexual techniques to be practiced, obviously as a couple, or with an official concubine, for the energetic well-being of each.
Many of these textbooks featured a dialogue between the Yellow Emperor and one of these preceptors.
The Taoist philosophy of “coitus reservatus” (without ejaculation) or the latest possible male orgasm in the event of procreation, was explained with the help of drawings illustrating the different postures to be adopted for the best passage of cosmic energies.
The goal being either the satisfaction of the woman or, obviously, the procreation or, the prolongation of the life, primarily for the Taoists. Confucianists, in fact, saw these textbooks only as creating the best conditions for the conception of a vigorous, well-formed, and superior-intelligent male child. One could almost speak of eugenics and longevity for purely biological purposes.
But van Gulik returns again and again to the classic conception of sexuality. He quotes this excerpt from an old textbook: “The Yellow Emperor learned the Bedroom Art from the Girl with the Dark Hair. It involves suppressing ejaculations, while absorbing the female’s fluids and ensuring that the male’s semen turns back, to strengthen the brain for longevity. “
The Taoists, specialists in breathing exercises for health, went so far as to consider intrauterine breathing and the breathing of the embryo in its mother’s womb.
TAOIST ALCHEMY AND SEXUALITY
But this Taoism, imbued with mysticism and magic, did not stop there. He created meaningful parallels between the creation of gold (or mercury, at the time, according to van Gulik) and the sexual act.
The famous Elixir of Life was Jin Dan, or the Pill of Gold and Cinnabar, from the “distillation of Gold”. Sexuality is then “cooking” a mixture of lead and cinnabar, in particular.
More clearly, the Woman was the “crucible” or the Vessel; its ova, Cinnabar; the white semen of the male, Lead; the different techniques of the sexual act, the different “cooking times” of these alchemical ingredients in Woman. Yin and Yang were used to specify the dosages of each of these ingredients.
Other textbooks of the time saw the House as the Vessel; Passion as the Cooking Fire; coitus, cooking time; Male, Lead; Woman, Cinnabar and the Embryo, the end result, Gold or Mercury, in short, the Elixir of Long Life.
The correspondence shows the equality of women and men in their respective roles.
Woman, Green Dragon, Water, ova, East, Yin.
Man, White Tiger, Fire, IQ, West, Yang.
Be careful, van Gulik repeats that for Confucians, women are more the symbol of possible disorder within the house, government or the cosmos! Sometimes they will try to get overly Taoist sexuality textbooks censored.
The author devotes many pages to the Confucianist view of women. It was only necessary to teach him, in the families of the nobility, that the weaving, the embroidery, the sewing, the care of the house. No reading or writing lessons … But “while there was no shortage of young girls trying to learn on their own and somehow, the majority of women were illiterate; curious thing, it was the female singers (Editor’s note: less serious) who learned the basics of reading and writing for professional purposes “.
A “Lady Pan”, who paradoxically will advocate the education of women on a par with men, will teach the most degrading precepts for the condition of the wife of good family.
“Low and humble condition of women… In truth the bond which unites man and woman is destined to last forever. Frolicking in the bedroom only creates lasciviousness; lasciviousness will introduce chatter; gossip will engender moral relaxation and this will cause a woman to contempt for her husband. The root of all these evils is that they will have been unable to learn moderation in their sexual relations … The woman must be gentle and calm, constant and calm, wise, careful in her behavior, to abide by the rules in all her actions: these are the true female knowledge ”.
Were the mores of the troubled Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties so loose? Confucianists constantly insist on the “concentration of the heart” of the woman on one man. The woman must be “a shadow”, “an echo” …
One can also imagine that these textbooks on sexuality, subject to private interpretation, served lower ends such as self-interested pleasure, the social advancement of an official or a merchant thanks to the power of women. Quacks will also seize these techniques to hijack them and make money.
In the 20th century, the Chinese government will dissolve Taoist sects for their shameless practices of a sexuality perverted in its objectives.
On the other hand, more serious theories like that of the “Three Peaks” (saliva of the woman, secretion of the breasts and vaginal fluid) found quasi medical and spiritual applications.
We are not yet talking about Buddhism which had just arrived in China during the later Han years, and which would come close to Taoism in its positive vision of women.
Before turning to the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties (next article), van Gulik writes interesting pages about our prejudices as Western readers on the famous “harems of women and concubines seen as the paradise of males.”
He specifies: “This may be true up to a certain point in more primitive, less refined societies where the man seeks only carnal love where the women of the harem are treated only as animals in cages but this is not the case. is certainly not true of a civilization as evolved as that of China. “
There was customary and written law which attributed to wives and concubines with official status and assigned them individual rights. The householder had to respect these rights and have them respected to show in his social life that he knew how to manage a household! And also that he knew how to manage a sex life full of duties for each of his partners. The Dutch writer here humorously points out the need to seriously read and apply sexuality textbooks, if he is to keep his nerves in good shape in the face of the expectations of the women of his household and their respective psychology. Sexual satisfaction and means of subsistence, of course, but also a personal affection and a capacity for discernment “of the relations of his women among themselves”.
A man incapable of maintaining order in his house was seen as incapable of fulfilling his responsibilities.
Beyond these social and moral precepts, the Chinese sexuality manuals taught a certain attention to the purely feminine sensitivity and therefore opened the way to a reflection on respect for it.
