15 TheRelationshipbetweenChineseEroticArtandtheArtoftheBedchamber: APreliminarySurvey Sumiyo Umekawa 梅川純代 and David Dear This article will investigate the links between yangsheng Mimes).4 Besides exercise and breath control practices, 養生 (Nourishing Life) culture dating back to the Western yangsheng includes rules and principles for most aspects Han dynasty (202 bce–9 ce) and the Ming/Qing era sex of daily life with particular concern for food, dietetics illustrations (late 14th to early 20th century), as transmitted and sexology. Yangsheng in a broad sense still exerts a through the discourse of fangzhong shu 房中術 (the Art powerful influence on the way ordinary people think of the Bedchamber). From the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) about and manage their health to this day. However at onwards, we see an efflorescence of Chinese erotic art, the time of its emergence as a distinct philosophy of life such as that collected by Robert van Gulik in his 1951 book in the late Warring States era (4th and 3rd centuries bce), Erotic Colour Prints of the Ming. Comparisons will be drawn it was, in the eyes of many, clearly connected with the between the Japanese tradition of erotic art known as search for transcendence and immortality as practised shunga 春畫 and the Chinese erotic art of chungong hua by the xian 仙 cults which flourished in practice until 春宮畫.1 The difference between these two genres high- the late Tang (618–907) – and in legend and literature ever lights the latter’s continuing reference to the formulas of since. However from their inception, the philosophies and the ancient sexology texts, while the former expresses a purposes of yangsheng, medicine and immortality cults more directly pornographic2 approach to erotic imagery, were the subject of broad dispute. Works attributed to the notwithstanding the availability in Japanese culture of the philosopher Zhuangzi 莊子 (4th century bce), have equiv- same philosophy of sexual regimen as transmitted through ocal attitudes to the pursuit of immortality, both speaking the Ishimpō 醫心方 (Formulas of the Heart of Medicine).3 of transcendence and mocking those who just stretch and shake their bodies, while the Eastern Han sceptic, Wang Chong 王 充（ 27 ce–?100 ce), both mocked and criticised DefinitionsandBackground the xian immortality cults while acknowledging the value of straightforward yangsheng.5 Yangsheng 養生 (Nourishing Life) Yangsheng consists of a group of practices and literature Fangzhong Shu (The Art of the Bedchamber) and aimed at enhancing the well-being of the practitioner. It Yangsheng (Nourishing Life) does so through the operation of Qi 氣 within and without While the early yangsheng texts concerning sex and sex- the body of the practitioner(s), and with particular refer- ual relations form a core part of the fangzhong shu, other ence to Yin Yang philosophy. In the earliest known texts types of fangzhong shu texts also show the influence of the dating from the Western Han, the discourse of yangsheng immortality cults, early Daoist rituals, spiritual alchemy,6 merges seamlessly with the then emerging themes of and in early modern empire (Song dynasty, 960–1279 on- Chinese medicine. The earliest recorded forms of yangsheng wards), the impact of works published simply to titillate physical exercises, called daoyin 導引 (Guiding and Pulling and entertain as the printing and publishing industries [of Qi]), are the forerunners of modern Qigong and Taiji grew and flourished. Thus while yangsheng concerns itself quan, together with a number of other longstanding exer- with many things besides sexology, fangzhong shu covers cise practices like the wuqin xi 五禽戲 (The Five Animal a wider range of sexual practices than those prescribed by yangsheng. The various sexual theories from the realms of medicine, yangsheng, fangzhong shu, Daoism and other 1 春畫 shunga lit. = ‘Spring pictures’. 春宮 chungong (lit. ‘Spring religio-spiritual cults all operated over the centuries in a palace’) in Chinese can refer to a prince’s palace – and is also a climate of mutual influence around a common vocabulary term for erotica. of Qi and its defining operational philosophies. However, as 2 The term ‘pornography’ is a problematic one in relation to Asian sexual culture since it is essentially a reflection of Western sexu- al taboos, or alternatively a way of critiquing the ‘morality’ of the 4 For more on wuqin xi, see Wang and Barrett 2006. ‘other’. Here it is simply used as shorthand to denote the most 5 Wang Chong (27–97 ce) Lun heng 16. directly explicit sexual imagery. See Screech 1999, pp. 13–38. 6 Both waidan 外丹 (External, chemical, alchemy) and neidan 內 3 The great 10th-century Japanese compendium of Chinese medi- 丹 (Internal, spiritual, alchemy). cal texts. See detailed discussion below. 216 sumiyo umekawa 梅川純代 and dear with yangsheng practices and the xian immortality cults, detailed prescriptions are given for the types, sequences while there is a substantial overlap between yangsheng and numbers of penetrations the man should make and the and fangzhong shu, the two categories are nonetheless various positions in which they can be achieved. Ejaculation separate and distinguishable, the more so as time goes on.7 control is the key technique that the male needs to apply to his own body. Basic Principles of Yangsheng Sexology But as Donald Harper makes clear in a discussion of the Yangsheng sexual techniques have a series of interlinked aphrodisiac recipes and philtres found at Mawangdui 馬 and clearly defined objectives: 王堆, Dunhuang 敦煌 and in the Ishimpō,11 the case for to sexually satisfy the female partner by bringing her to a pure tradition of esoteric sexual cultivation, completely orgasm one or more times; divorced from normal human sexual desire and lust, is to preserve the physical wellbeing of the male partner; hard to evidence. In later fangzhong shu works, the idea to augment the physical and psychological health of the of augmenting male health becomes a ‘battle’ in which male partner by absorbing female Yin Qi 陰氣; males seek to garner as much Yin energy from as many to maximise the opportunities for the conception of partners as possible while not losing any of their own Yang healthy male heirs; Qi. In this way, men can achieve immortality. This idea is to allow the male partner to control conception; present in the Han dynasty in the legend of Peng Zu 彭祖, to cure female ailments; the original master of fangzhong shu, who is supposed to to establish and maintain social and domestic harmony have lived to 800 or 900 years through his skill in sexual between a couple. cultivation. The legend is a clear expression of the influ- The key concept is that the female partner is a potentially ence of the immortality cults. In other legends, and their inexhaustible8 source of Yin Qi. Males by contrast are later corresponding popular stories, females are able to always in danger of exhausting their supply of Yang Qi 陽 attain immortality through the seduction of multiple male 氣 by careless or wanton sexual behaviour, while their partners.12 Similarly in later Daoist practice, the principle vital Yin Qi is constantly under threat of natural depletion. of non-ejaculation becomes huanjing bunao 還精補腦 Women are therefore inherently sexually stronger than (returning the sperm to nourish the brain) – the idea that men. The highest form of female Yin Qi is released by a not only did the man not ejaculate, but that he was able to woman at orgasm. This Yin Qi can be absorbed by the male conserve his jing 精 (essence) and guide it up to his brain. to benefit his own health because his own inner organs This was in some cases regarded as a physical practice, in require Yin Qi to nourish them, a process called gubai 固 others as a purely meditative one. In both cases, the aim 白 (consolidating white).9 was the achievement of spiritual immortality. Both the The early yangsheng texts place the emphasis on the idea of ‘stealing’ Yin and that of an absolute prohibition male partner’s ability to bring his companion to orgasm on ejaculation (as opposed to an enjoinder to restrict it to through close observation of her behaviour and an ap- the minimum possible) can be considered as deviations propriate response in his foreplay to take her to a higher from yangsheng, and in the eyes of the 5th-century ce level of excitement.10 Once the woman is ready for coitus, Daoist physician and Patriarch Tao Hongjing 陶弘景, the latter not only offends against true Daoism but also against the Confucian ideal of xiao 孝 (f iliality), in that one 7 Furth in Gilmartin et al. (eds) 1994, p. 133, notes the increasing would thereby be depriving one’s parents and ancestors criticism in yangsheng texts of ‘non yangsheng’ fangzhong shu of descendants. practices in the later empire. 8 Ibid. p. 134. Furth objects to this ‘inexhaustible’ idea, however inexhaustibility does seem to be consistent with the ideas in the Ishimpō early yangsheng texts, though they do also stress the need not to During the Tang dynasty (618–907), Japanese scholar monks damage female health and/or Qi through mis-practice. travelled extensively in China, absorbing and recording all 9 The term gubai 固白 (consolidating white) appears in the fourth they could of Chinese culture. One product of this was the and 10th dialogues of the text excavated from Mawangdui Tomb Ishimpō, compiled by Tamba no Yasuyori 丹波康頼 in 984 3 given the modern title of Shiwen (Ten Questions). Especially, ce. It provides us with the most complete record of Chinese the 10th dialogue explains the condition indicated by this term in relation to the accumulation of Qi in the five internal organs: Shiwen.