Hans-Jürgen Döpp - Forbidden Asia

The aim of Taoist art and culture was to reach a state of harmony that would lead Man, confronted by a chaotic universe, towards a new serenity. In this spiritual context, love represented for the Chinese a force which was supposed to unite sky and earth in balance and maintain the reproductive cycle of nature.

Illustrations from Qinglou Duoying, published
as Selected Scenes from Verduous Towers

Colour woodcuts from an album, late Ming period

(first half of the 17 th century), 26 x 25 cm

The Muban Foundation Collection

Verduous Towers is the veiled Ming term for a brothel

Eroticism thus became an art of living and formed an integral part of religion (to the extent that such western notions can be applied to philosophical thought of this kind).

Taoist religion assumes that pleasure and love are pure.

Anonymous Master of the Kangxi period

(1662-1722)

Painting on silk from an 8-page album, 39.5 x 55.5 cm

In order to gain some understanding of Chinese eroticism, writes Etiemble, a great connoisseur of Chinese art, we need to distance ourselves from the notion of sin and the duality between the corrupt body and the holy spirit. This ideology lies at the very base of Christianity. Erotic Chinese art reflects the extent to which we are morally corrupt and full of prejudices.

Painting on Silk from
an 8-page album, Kangxi period

Xu Mei , (1662-1722)

Silk, 42.5 x 74.5 cm

Courtesy: Collection Guy & Myriam

Ullens Foundation, Switzerland

The Yin-Yang pairing introduces us directly into the world of Chinese eroticism: The path of Yin and Yang signifies nothing less than the sexual act itself. One of the best-known sayings of ancient Chinese philosophy, Yi yin yi yang cheh we tao (On the one side yin, on the other yang, this is the essence of Tao)

Anonymous Master of the Kangxi period

(1662-1722)

Painting on silk from an 8-page album, 39.5 x 55.5 cm

indicates the fact that sex between a man and a woman expresses the same harmony as the changes between day and night, or summer and winter. Sex symbolises the order of the world, the moral order, while our culture stigmatises it as evil.

In this sense, master Tung-huan wrote in his Art of Love , Man is the most sublime creature under the skies.

Scene from Rouputuan,
The Prayer Mat of Flesh

th century

Painting on paper, 37.5 x 37.5 cm

Nothing which he enjoys can be compared to the act of sexual union. Formulated according to the harmony between the sky and the earth, it rules Yin and dominates Yang. Those who understand the sense of these words can preserve their essence and prolong their life. Those who do not grasp their true significance are heading towards their doom.

Chinese Wedding Tablet

th century

Painting on silk and appliqu relief mosaic pictures

made from different coloured jade, mother-of-pearl, and ivory

They serve to instruct newly married couples

The split in the Universe between Yin and Yang is all the more important because these two inseparable principles mutually influence each other.

We know of a great many Chinese manuals whose purpose was to provide an education in the art of love-making for young couples;

Painting on Porcelain Vase (detail)

th century, 11.3 x 13 cm

this education would cover desire, morality, and religion. In these texts, the sexual act is always referred to metaphorically, with terms such as the war of flowers, lighting the great candle, or games of cloud and rain.