Sexual culture theory

Reading Bibliography: China Ancient Indoor Examination.

Author: Gao Luopei, a Dutch diplomat, is familiar with all kinds of China classics and has a profound understanding of the ancient culture of China. In the process of collecting ancient erotic pictures, he became interested in the sexual culture of ancient China society and began to study it deeply. Gao Luopei said in his book that although China's works avoided talking about sex, the West was very interested in this cultural content, but many books in the West at that time had great misunderstandings about China's sexual culture, so he hoped that this book could help Westerners correct their cognition.

Golden sentence:

1. The public's attitude towards sex is very contradictory: on the one hand, people are instinctively curious about it, on the other hand, social environment and moral standards are very contradictory to it.

2. In order to complete the ideological rule, the Qing government banned all books and materials related to sex. This kind of spiritual castration makes people start to hide and pretend to be pretentious about sex, but at the same time, they try their best to suppress their inner desires.

3. In other words, the men who set foot in brothels at that time were actually eager to establish an equal and free emotional relationship with women. Their ultimate goal is not to share a bed with geisha, but to enjoy an elegant and free pursuit process.

4. We can regard a large number of erotic novels in the late Ming Dynasty as the last carnival of China people in sexual culture. With the collapse of the Ming Dynasty, China people's thoughts were also under the strictest control.

5. This period of ideological control has caused indelible trauma to China's sexual culture. This kind of trauma has been affecting China people's sexual concept, and until now, it can't be completely cured by time.

Records and Perceptions: Before the Qing Dynasty, people held an open attitude towards sex, when some literature related to sex could circulate freely. In this ancient indoor examination in China, "sex" not only has physiological and biological meanings, but also includes love, marriage, social relations and ways of getting along with men and women. Author Gao Luopei believes that only by putting "sex" in an era background and linking it with the politics, economy, culture, art and social structure of ancient China can we fully understand the sex culture of ancient China society.

First, the role and position of women in ancient sexual culture.

Through the textual research on the cultural relics of the Yin Dynasty, it can be inferred that the Yin Dynasty was once a matriarchal society dominated by women. In the ancient mythology of that period, women always held special magic power, and they were often the guardians of certain occult arts and mysterious metaphysics in the boudoir. At the same time, Yin people think that women are the mother of all things. So we can find that in the oldest China society, the status of women is very high.

People in ancient China believed that everything in the universe was controlled by positive and negative forces, which were called Yin and Yang respectively in the famous ancient book The Book of Changes. The Book of Changes believes that sexual behavior between men and women is the origin of all life, so in the Book of Changes, "one yin" is generally used to refer to women, and "one yang" is used to refer to men. In the word "yin and yang", women rank ahead of men, which also shows that women rank in a very important position in ancient religious beliefs and have a higher position in sex than men.

Taoism advocates the unity of man and nature and wins by doing nothing. Under the influence of Taoism, some people even gave up the mortal life and hoped to communicate with nature through meditation. This kind of person worships women very much. They think that women are closer to the original forces of nature. Others who advocate Taoism hope to achieve immortality through practice. Such people also worship women. They believe that women contain indispensable elements for practicing elixir. Although these two kinds of people have different starting points, their worship of women is the same.

Taoism is a doctrine with a strong matriarchal color, while Confucianism is just the opposite. Confucius' Confucianism is a practical philosophy based on patriarchal society. In Confucianism, women's status is very low, and men are the heads of families. The first duty of a woman is to serve her husband, do housework and raise healthy boys. Confucianism believes that women should first give full play to their physiological functions, and then consider their emotional life and spiritual needs.

Second, the situation of prostitutes in different historical periods and the social significance of this profession.

The career of prostitutes began in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. During this period, princes and nobles not only had wives, but also raised other women, which was called "female music". Women's music clubs perform songs and dances and promiscuous with their hosts and guests. These female musicians are the predecessors of official prostitutes.

There were still geisha music groups in the court of Han Dynasty. Moreover, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty also set up a women's camp in the army to let women follow the soldiers. These women are called "camp prostitutes". At the same time, due to the development of social economy, brothels began to appear among the people. These private commercial brothels are called "Loupromotion", which is later "brothel".

The imperial examination system in the Tang Dynasty has developed very well. Once these candidates take the pilot exam, they must hold a banquet in the brothel area on the southeast side of the palace. Prostitutes in this brothel area have different grades and also need strict vocational skills training. In order to cater to the tastes of young literati, these geisha must be versatile, and many of them are good at writing poems.

The imperial examination system in the Tang Dynasty has developed very well. Once these candidates take the pilot exam, they must hold a banquet in the brothel area on the southeast side of the palace. Prostitutes in this brothel area have different grades and also need strict vocational skills training. In order to cater to the tastes of young literati, these geisha must be versatile, and many of them are good at writing poems. After the Tang Dynasty, the profession of prostitutes was still developing and reached unprecedented prosperity in the Ming Dynasty. Although the capital moved to Beijing at that time, many people were still willing to stay in Jiangnan. At that time, the most famous brothel in Nanjing was called Qinhuai, and many literati would come to visit it. So in Qinhuai, the artistic level of geisha has been greatly improved, and they have even developed many new singing and playing skills, which are very popular even now.

The enduring career of prostitutes is caused by social reasons, and geisha has gradually become an indispensable role in people's social interaction. When people entertain guests, they all need someone to perform songs and dances to enliven the atmosphere. On this occasion, wives and concubines are not allowed to participate, so only geisha can play such a role. On the other hand, at that time, many people interacted with geisha in order to escape sexual life and get rid of sexual relations that had to be fulfilled out of obligations in the family. In other words, the men who set foot in brothels at that time were actually eager to establish an equal and free emotional relationship with women.

Thirdly, the expression of sexual culture in ancient literary works.

People in ancient China did not shy away from discussing sex, so there are many books on ancient sex culture in China. Among so many ancient books, one kind of books played a very important guiding role in the sexual life of ancient society. This kind of book is the book in the room. The ancient books in the room give very detailed guidance on all aspects of human sexual activities. At the same time, the ancient books in the room also tell people that sexual behavior is a part of the natural order. It is under the guidance of this thought that the ancient sexual culture in China presented a healthy state.

In the Book of Songs of the Zhou Dynasty, we can see some descriptions about marriage proposal, love and marriage. In Zuozhuan, a literary classic of the same period, we can also see some short stories about ancient marriage. In the Han Dynasty, the rulers decided to admire Confucianism. Scholars recorded the Confucian system in the Book of Rites, emphasized the Confucian family concept and put forward the principle of gender separation.

The Tang Dynasty was an open and tolerant dynasty. In this historical period, all kinds of literary themes can freely discuss the content related to sex. Some writers in the Tang Dynasty liked to amuse themselves by adding some interesting sexual descriptions to their poems. This kind of literature created the precedent of China's later erotic literature.

China ancient women's foot-binding culture began in Song Dynasty. Since then, women's feet have become a symbol of sexual charm. After that, almost all gender literature began with a man touching his female companion's feet. In the Yuan Dynasty, entertainment literature gradually flourished, and opera became the most enthusiastic activity of literati. Talented scholars will like the foot-binding culture of ancient women in China, which began in the Song Dynasty. Since then, women's feet have become a symbol of sexual charm. After that, almost all gender literature began with a man touching his female companion's feet. In the Yuan Dynasty, entertainment literature gradually flourished, and opera became the most enthusiastic activity of literati. The talented people adapted the love story into a script, which was also mixed with some gorgeous descriptions about sex. At that time, there were two most famous plays, namely The West Chamber and The Pipa.

In the Ming Dynasty, the ideological control of politicians became more serious, especially in the late Ming Dynasty, when the depressed literary atmosphere made many people feel depressed. The last rebellion in the late Ming Dynasty was an erotic novel called Jin Ping Mei. Modern scholars agree that Jin Ping Mei not only has high Wen Xue value, but also has certain sociological significance.

China's traditional culture rarely talks about sex, so ancient sex culture has its own unique personality. The author believes that before the Qing Dynasty, people held an open attitude towards sex, when some literary works related to sex could circulate freely. Personally, I think there is no exact historical data to support it, but under the authoritarian social system, sex is always safer than political topics. Although not liked by Confucian culture, there is no fear of death. The author is not from China, so he seldom observes and discusses it from different angles, although it is not comprehensive.