See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/361426664

Chapter 22. The sexual body techniques of early and medieval China –
underlying emic theories and basic methods of a non-reproductive sexual
scenario for non-same-sex partners

Chapter · June 2022

DOI: 10.4324/9780203740262-26

CITATIONS READS

0 135

1 author:

Rudolf Pfister
Research Institute for the History of Afroeurasian Life Sciences (RIHAELS)
50 PUBLICATIONS   32 CITATIONS   

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

Modular Sourcebook of Early and Medieval Chinese Medicine—History of the Body, Consciousness and Healing View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Rudolf Pfister on 20 June 2022.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 22
THE SEXUAL BODY
TECHNIQUES OF EARLY
AND MEDIEVAL CHINA –
UNDERLYING EMIC THEORIES
AND BASIC METHODS OF A
NON-REPRODUCTIVE SEXUAL
SCENARIO FOR NON-SAME-SEX
PARTNERS
Rodo Pfster

The sexual body techniques of early and medieval China are treated heuristically to form
a sexual scenario for non-same-sex partners that is discussed in (1) textual sources dating
from approximately 200 BCE to 1000 CE. These texts were transmitted and reformulated
throughout this period as part of the wider sexual knowledge culture of imperial China
(Wells and Yao Ping 2015; Yao Ping 2018). Minimal referential series of short extracts taken
from such primary sources will be presented in a historical order to illustrate some fairly
consistent basic ideas, concepts, theories and practical advice documented therein.
This concise review discusses (2) general aspects of the sexual scenario of early and me-
dieval China in which gender-specifc roles during the sexual encounter must be empha-
sised. As ‘essence’ is considered to be the most precious generative fuid in the human body,
men are advised to (3) deal with male essence as a scarce good, and thus learn to avoid
emission and ejaculation during a sexual encounter. In stark contrast to this male preoc-
cupation with containment, women are thought to be a superior source of nourishment.
(4) Repeated female ejaculation provides the ‘female essence’ that can be absorbed by the
man. (5) Performing a sexual encounter means mutual stimulation to this end during fore-
play and onset phase, followed by a series of penetrative ‘advances’ with ‘intermissions’, and
culminating in a ‘grand fnale’.

Textual sources to a sexual knowledge culture, 200 BCE to 1000 CE

Tangible textual evidence for sexual body techniques comes early in China – about fve hun-
dred years before the Indian K āmasūtra, which is considered to date from circa 300 CE

DOI: 10.4324/9780203740262-26 337

 Rodo Pfster

(transl. Doniger and Kakar 2002) – in the bamboo and silk manuscripts excavated from
Tomb 3 at Mawangdui 馬王堆 (near Changsha, in today’s Hunan province) that date to the
late third, or the early second century BCE. (See the archaeological reports of Fu Juyou and
Chen Songchang 1992, and He Jiejun ed. 2004. For source texts, see Mawangdui Hanmu
Boshu Zhengli Xiaozu 1985; Ma Jixing 1992; Qiu Xigui ed. 2014; Ōgata 2015; Chapter 3
in this volume).
Two of the recovered bamboo manuscripts – Uniting Yin and Yang (*He yinyang 合陰陽)1
and Discussion of the Utmost Method Under the Sky (Tianxia zhidao tan 天下至道談) – treat exclu-
sively a sexual scenario for non-same-sex partners. A third – Ten Interviews (*Shiwen 十問) –
includes additional advice for general health, breathing techniques and wellness. The frst
two manuscripts mentioned are made up of small modular text sequences that are organised
as a hypertext whose links the reader mentally constructs by jumping from module to mod-
ule (Pfster 2013). The third text consists of ten dialogues in a question-and-answer format.
These early sources are written in a concise, often metrically regulated language. They use
lists and rhymes to facilitate memorisation, and develop a special technical vocabulary that
now needs to be reconstructed and interpreted as its terminology became obsolete early
on, or underwent considerable changes in transmission. (See the translations in Wile 1992;
Harper 1998; Pfster 2003; Ōgata 2015; compare Harper 1987; Li Ling and McMahon 1992;
Li Ling 2006.)
The sexual scenario falls within the overall topic of nurturing life techniques (yangsheng),
which receive further treatment in silk manuscripts. Recipes for Nurturing Life (*Yangsheng fang
養生方) includes prescriptions to cure various sex-related health issues, to increase arousal
and to stimulate sexual performance, as well as a line drawing of the vulva labelled with
the names of outer aspects of the genital area and locations inside the vagina (Pfster 2016;
Chapters 25, 26, 30 and 49 in this volume).
During the Later Han dynasty (25–220 CE), ‘arts of the bedchamber’ ( fangzhong shu 房中術,
in Japanese bōnaijutsu) became a bibliographic label for various sexual body techniques,
which was set apart from medical and nurturing life writings, but this distinction was not
followed in later Sui dynasty (581–618 CE) listings (Chen Guofu 1963: 365–9; Okanishi
2010, vol. 2: 1183–8; Lin Fu-shih 2008: 335–7; Li Ling 2011a: 207–10).
In 984 CE Tamba no Yasuyori 丹波康賴 (912–995 CE) presented a monumental work
to the Japanese Emperor Eny ū 円融: The Core Prescriptions of Medicine (Ishinp ō 醫心方). This
work comprised a large compilation of thirty scrolls, and gives a comprehensive view of
Chinese medicine as understood in the 10th century CE (Tamba [1955]2000; Liu Xiuqiao
ed. 1976; Gao Wenzhu et al. 1996; compare Ōta Tenrei 1976; Society for the Commemora-
tion of the One Thousandth Anniversary of the ‘Ishimpo’ 1984; Triplett 2014).
Tamba excerpted mainly medical texts brought to Japan from China, and meticulously
noted the title of each fragment throughout. Many of the titles mentioned were subsequently
lost in part or entirely in China. Scroll 28 is entitled ‘On the Chamber-Intern’ (bōnei 房內 in
Japanese, or fangnei in Chinese). Nei 內 means both the ‘inner quarter’ reserved for women
in a major household, and the women themselves thereby addressed as ‘inmates’. Thus, the
chapter title politely points to the sexual encounters of a patriarch with his several women in
their closed sphere; however, the process of them ‘being brought in (the household)’ (na 納)
is not discussed. Issues of reproduction are treated separately in Scroll 24 (Chapters 23, 24
and 30 in this volume).
Scroll 28 contains thirty subchapters or rubrics that deal with various aspects of sexual
body techniques (Table 22.1; Pfster 2013). This topical categorisation allows us to assess the
relative importance of the sources quoted therein. Most prominent is Secret Decisions in the

338
 The sexual body techniques

Jade Chamber (Yufang mijue 玉房祕决), as its passages are quoted in most rubrics before any
other source text, and several rubric titles are probably derived from it (Table 22.1). It is fol-
lowed by Master Dong Xuan (Dongxuan zi 洞玄子), Essentials of the Jade Chamber (Yufang zhiyao
玉房指要), The Book of the Dark Woman (Xuannü jing 玄女經) and several others. (Transla-
tions include Van Gulik [1951]2003, [1961]2004; Umayahara Shigeo et al. 1967; Ishihara and
Levy 1969; Hsia et al. 1989; Wile 1992. For critical reviews of Van Gulik, see Furth 1994;
2005, and Hinsch 2005.)
Even though The Book of the Plain Woman (Sunü jing 素女經) is quoted only twice in
Ishinp ō 28.1 and 28.5, and despite Tamba no Yasuyori’s explicit titling of all citations, Ye
Dehui 葉德輝 (1903: 1a–11b) assembled all the Ishinp ō passages mentioning the interlocutor
‘Su nü 素女’ (‘Plain Woman’) into a composite work of his own making. By assigning those
passages a single title, this made-up ‘Sunü jing’ confates several sources, including cases when
passages contradict each other, or otherwise do not ft. Yet, Ye’s rifacimento Sunü jing of 1903
was received as the major work on sexual techniques in the twentieth century (trans. Mussat
1978; Wile 1992: 84; 85–94, The Classic of Su nü (sic); compare Rocha 2015).
Tapping into the same early medieval texts as the Ishinpō, the famous medical writer Sun
Simiao 孫思邈 (581–682) includes in his voluminous work of 652 CE – titled the Essential
Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold for Urgent Cases (Beiji qianjin yaofang 備急千金要方
27.8: 488–91) – a chapter on ‘Replenishing and Beneftting in the Bedchamber’ (Fangzhong
buyi 房中補益; trans. Wile 1992: 114–1, and Wouters 2010: 73–8). This chapter shares its
composite character, its intertextual relationship with predecessors and the combination of
health-related and Daoist religious concerns with ‘Losses and Benefts in Steering Women’
(Yunü sunyi 御女損益), Chapter 6 in the Records on Nourishing the Disposition and Prolonging the
Mandate of Life (Yangxing yanming lu 養性延命錄) of unknown date and origin (trans. Wile
1992: 119–22; textual history, Stanley-Baker 2006).
The sexual rites of Celestial Master (Tianshi 天師) Daoism – ‘merging the pneumas’ (he
qi 合炁) – were distinguished from the arts of the bedchamber by this religious commu-
nity itself, which criticised the latter, and they appear to have been socially oriented rites de

Table 22.1 The Thirty Rubrics of Scroll 28 On the Chamber-Intern in Ishinp ō

1 Culminant Principles 16 Eight Increases [of Qi]b

2 Nourishing Yang 17 Seven Decreases [of Qi]b
3 Nourishing Yin b 18 Reverting the Essence
4 Harmonise Strivings 19 [Male] Emission and Ejaculation
5 Approaching the Ride 20 Treating Damagesb
6 Five Constantsb 21 Seeking Ofspring
7 Five Proofsb 22 Attractive Women
8 Five Desiresb 23 Repulsive Women
9 Ten Stimulationsb 24 Interdictions and Avoidances
10 Four Optima [of male erection]a 25 Interception of Ghost Intercourseb
11 Nine Qi [of the woman]a 26 Use of Herbs and Minerals
12 Nine Proceduresa 27 Small Jade Stalk [Penis]
13 Thirty Proceduresa 28 Wide Jade Gate [Vagina]a
14 Nine Statesa 29 Pains of Young Women
15 Six Positionsa 30 Injuries of Grown-up Women

a Rubrics that do not quote the Secret Decisions in the Jade Chamber.
b Rubrics quoting exclusively the Secret Decisions in the Jade Chamber.

339
 Rodo Pfster

passage rather than focussing on the sexual encounters of couples (see Maspero 1937: 401–13;
Kalinowski 1985; Raz 2008, 2012; Kleeman 2014; Mollier 2016). The relationship of the
sexual body techniques with various Daoist religious movements awaits further clarifcation
(on the latter, see Maspero 1937; Needham 1983; Hidemi 1991; Zhu Yueli 2002; Lin Fu-shih
2001, 2008; De Meyer 2006: 345–74; Hudson 2007; Chapter 27 in this volume).
Literary treatments that use the vocabulary of sexual body techniques, like the Rhapsody
on the Great Pleasure in the Mutual Joys of Heaven and Earth, Yin and Yang (Tiandi yinyang jiao-
huan dale fu 天地陰陽交歡大樂賦, trans. Idema 1983; see Umekawa 2005a; Harper 2010;
Yao Ping 2013; McMahon 2019), the art of charming (Li Jianmin 1996; Zhang Hanmo
2013), aphrodisiacs (Harper 2005; Umekawa 2005b; Lo and Re’em 2018) and treatment
strategies for sexual disorders or sexual medicine (Liu Jie 1995; Fan Youping et al. eds 2007),
as well as later developments of the art of the bedchamber (see Van Gulik [1951]2003, [1961]
2004; Kobzev 1993; Li Ling 2006; Sakade and Umekawa 2003; Marié 2007; Tsuchiya Eimei
2008; Chen Hsiu-fen 2009: 83–128; Yao Ping 2015; Wells and Yao Ping 2015; Umekawa
and Dear 2018), lie outside the topical or temporal focus of the present entry (Chapters 23,
24, 30 and 49 in this volume).
A note of caution and critique is due regarding the twentieth-century reception of the
textual sources of the arts of the bedchamber: not only did translation of this ancient knowl-
edge culture pose exceptional difculties (as amply documented by Wile 1992 in his notes,
albeit not without adding Verschlimmbesserungen), but also the conceptional frameworks used
did not attempt to recover or reconstruct emic perspectives on body, consciousness and dis-
ease concepts of their times. (On the emic-etic distinction, see Headland, Pike, Harris eds
1990; de Sardan 1998.) Instead, various kinds of then new, normative approaches to sexolog-
ical issues were anachronistically inserted without discussion of their being etical terminol-
ogy. ‘Orgasm’ may serve as an example: it was considered as being synonymous with male
ejaculation or used to translate a medieval Chinese term for male and female ‘satisfaction’ or
‘jouissance’ (kuai 快, see Pfster 2012), but came without refection on the shifting technical
meaning and conceptual development ‘orgasm’ underwent in modern sexology. (For critical
remarks on orgasm paradigm, and its development, see Walter 1999; Lewandowski 2001;
Janssen 2007.) Some terms like ‘injaculation’ and ‘sexual energy’ are applied to translate
terms or to paraphrase concepts. But while this might appeal to a fashionable Zeitgeist, it
does not faithfully render the Chinese wording and emic perspective. (General overviews of
the feld include Wile 2018, Wells and Yao Ping 2015 and Yao Ping 2015, 2018. For insights
into the reception process and hybrid popularisations, see Rocha 2011, 2012; Chapters 25
and 26 in this volume.)

General aspects of the sexual scenario

The sexual scenario of the arts of the bedchamber does not discuss same-sex relations, and it
is necessarily based on a two-sex model, wherein men are classifed as yang and male, and
women as yin and female. This applies also to haptic pleasures during sexual acts: ‘What is
categorised as male, rubs the outside; what is categorised as female, rubs the inside. This is
called the skill of yin and yang’ (Tianxia zhidao tan, slip 65). During non-same-sex encounters,
the superior female potency (Sherfey 1966) wins out against male impotence and weakness:
‘If the woman defeats the man, it is like water extinguishing fre’ (Yufang mijue, Ishinp ō 28.1:
2a). In most texts, male fragility is emphasised and foregrounded; it receives a phantasmatic
treatment in the sexual techniques and is medicalised prominently in the recipe literature. In
contrast, female strength and capacity for nourishment forms an implicit background against

340
 The sexual body techniques

which the sexual techniques seek to address men’s health issues, especially those of men past
forty (Beiji qianjin yaofang 27.8: 488b). Thus, yin and yang are used to describe a fundamental
and dynamic asymmetry in female and male sexual responses, and each gender is advised
to adopt a specifc kind of learned behaviour – or sexual body technique – to play out the
basic programme that unites yang with yin (on the concept of body techniques, see Mauss
1935, and Crossley 2005). The yin-yang language obscures to a certain extent hierarchies
and asymmetric conceptual features as applied to ‘sexual intercourse’ – or jiaojie 交接, an
‘exchange’ ( jiao 交) (of bodily fuids) and ‘contact’ ( jie 接) (by touch).
To create norms for sexual behaviour is conceptually naturalised: ‘When humans are
born only two things are not to be learned: the frst is breathing, the second is eating. Besides
these two, there is nothing that has not to be learned and practised. Because what reproduces
life is eating and what diminishes life is sensuality (se 色), sages must have standards (ze 則)
for uniting men and women’ (Tianxia zhidao tan, slips 40–41). Such teaching ofers guidance
in potentially life-threatening situations. As humans leak, the ‘nine openings’ of the body –
the two of the lower body, anus and urethral meatus, and the seven of the sense organs – are
problematic spheres of in- and outfows. They are inroads for diseases, and the generative
fuid or ‘essence’ ( jing 精) escapes during ejaculatory coitus. The learnt practice is meant to
overcome men’s most serious problem of losing a scarce good necessary for life-maintenance.
From an outsider perspective and psychologically speaking, sexual body techniques open
detailed standardised ways for phantasmatic self-afection (Lohmar 2008), but emically and
androcentrically these are seen as a self-reproductive process: ‘The Daoist considers essence
( jing) as a treasure. If spent, it engenders others; if retained, it engenders oneself ’ (Yangxing
yanming lu 6: 8b; a similar formulation is found in Wangwu zhenren koushou yindan mijue ling-
pian, Yunji qiqian 64: 19a).
What may be considered as non-reproductive sexual behaviour (Wundram 1979) between
non-same-sex partners in early and medieval Chinese texts is indeed more than recreational
sex – one of its twentieth-century interpretations (Rocha 2012). Earlier thought communi-
ties held that sexual intercourse should nourish men in need for essence, and thereby ‘heal
humans with humans’ (Beiji qianjin yaofang 27.8: 488b). The sexual arts are presented as a
healing method, and were assumed to have an enormous therapeutic value for needy men.
Androcentric self-reproduction – viewed as a therapeutic process – serves to resolve the
considerable male feeding envy. Grafting – a widespread metaphor for sexual intercourse
(Taiz and Taiz 2017: 299–301) – is used to express linguistically this idea of nourishment. In
*Shiwen, several interviews describe methods titled with the phrase ‘to graft the privates’ ( jie
yin 椄陰), implying a form of intimate contact in which the man – conceived as scion – draws
up the sap from the woman’s slit – forming the rootstock, and thereby ‘feeds his spiritual
fow’ (shi shenqi 食神氣). The eighth-century text Numinous Tablets of the Secret Instructions
on the Yin Elixir Orally Transmitted by the Perfected Person of Wangwu (Wangwu zhenren koushou
yindan mijue lingpian 王屋真人口授陰丹祕訣靈篇) takes up the idea as follows: ‘The arts of
prolonging life are similar to the grafting of trees ( jie shu 接樹), as one develops one life
mandate with another life. (...) As one begins to open the jade gate, it should have the signs
of blood [xue hou 血候]; the initally stopped up embankment veins (chengli 塍理) start to
become permeable [i.e. the vasocongestion of the labia minora and suburethral region sets in
like the mud ridges or “embankments” are opened when felds are watered]. When yin and
yang stimulate another, it is the time when conception is going to occur. Whether one acts
in such a way as to let the life mandate of descendants ripen [i.e. one begets children], or
develops the life mandate of us forebears [i.e. one engenders oneself], are matters of one and
the same category. The principle is clear as daylight, too. In this moment it is only important

341
 Rodo Pfster

to not let [the essence] leak out (wu xie 勿洩)’ (Yunji qiqian 64: 19a; reject emendation cheng
塍 to cou 腠!). The late imperial Exposition of Cultivating the True by the Great Immortal of the
Purple Gold Splendour (Zijin guangyao daxian xiuzhen yanyi 紫金光耀大仙修真演義, hereaf-
ter Exposition of Cultivating the True, fol. 111, transl. Wile 1992: 144) gives a slightly more
eloquent description of the matter in section 18 ‘Renewed Blossoming by Grafting on the
Decayed (Rootstock)’, including the motto: ‘Worldly people who do not know the principle
of prolonging life merely have to look at the grafted pear in the mulberry’.
Conceptually speaking, this phantasmatic absorption theory is not presented as a nega-
tively connoted ‘sexual vampirism’ (revamped by Goldin 2006), but rather as a men-centred
optimisation process of self-growth whose possible adverse efects on women do not enter
the picture. The subjective phantasmatic experiencer perspective visualises textually the
permeable, excited bodies, and assumes that as soon as their body images merge, the female
essences can be transported from the female to the male system.
However, a concrete guide to literally drawing up female fuids by the penis could not be
found in our Chinese sources. This kind of exploration of the humanly possible has appar-
ently only been executed by Bengal yogins in Tār āpīṭh applying the vajrolī mudrā (lightning
seal) for seminal retention and absorption of female fuids during sexual intercourse. They
use rubber or silver catheters to train their uro-genital musculature in order to develop
urethral suction (Roşu 2002; Darmon 2002; Mallinson 2018). It remains unclear what emic
perspective then explains what should happen with the fuids once they arrive in the urinary
bladder.
Taken at face value, one might conceive of the rubric 3 ‘Nourishing Yin’ as the female
counterpart to rubric 2 ‘Nourishing Yang’ (Table 22.1), where the Secret Decisions in the Jade
Chamber advises menfolk to change partners frequently in order to beneft more (from the
female partner’s fuids), to choose, preferably, young women – not under fourteen and up to
thirty years old – who have not given birth, and to keep the sexual arts secret from them.
Despeux and Kohn (2003: 36–40) claimed that three passages of the Secret Decisions in the
Jade Chamber promote the ‘power of yin’ by embracing the woman’s female sexuality, ‘giving
encouragement to all women who follow her’. However, their partial translations omitted all
those passages wherein female adepts are judged negatively. We read that the Queen Mother
of the West ‘copulates once with a man, and this establishes damaging diseases’; and that
she likes to have intercourse with young men, which is said ‘not to be admissible to teach
to the world; why was the Queen Mother like that?’ The explicit call is for moderation and
restriction; we read that an early exhaustion of a woman’s ‘yin essence’ (yin jing 陰精) should
be ‘adequately restrained and observed’ (specifcally when, on hearing that the man has
had sex with others, she becomes jealous and agitated, so that her ‘essence juices’ fow out
by themselves), and we are told that a woman who ‘knows the art of nourishing yin’ might
‘transform into a man’. Clearly, theories of equal beneft were secondarily emerging, derived
theories that did not even attempt to smooth out the theoretical inconsistencies with their
forerunners. An early example for such an equal beneft scenario can be found in the Biogra-
phy of Lord Pei, the Realised Person of Pure Refnement (Qing Ling zhen ren Pei jun zhuan 清靈真
人裴君傳; see Raz 2012: 185–6).

Dealing with male essence: on male ejaculation and how to avoid it

‘Essences’ ( jing 精) are fatty, whitish and slimy fuids in the body that get dispersed inside the
body and into the ‘hair-fne vessels’ (mao mai 毛脈). The Secret Decisions in the Jade Chamber
contrasts the healthy ‘manifest essence’ (yang jing 陽精) – which is thick and coagulates –

342
 The sexual body techniques

with fve kinds of spoilt ejaculated fuids, and their respective damaged body constituents,
all of which are results of hectic intercourse, leading to abrupt and violent emissions (Ishinp ō
28.20: 25a). Compare also the seven afictions and seven injuries to the male uro-genital
system as given by Marquis of White Waters in the Wuwei medical tablets 85A–85B (trans.
in Yang and Brown 2017: 293–5), and in Bei ji qian jin yao fang (19.8: 354a).
‘Essence’ as such constitutes a scarce good. In 1335 CE, Master Shang Yang calculates in
his Great Essentials on the Golden Elixir by Master Shang Yang (Shangyangzi jindan dayao 上陽
子金丹大要 3: 1a–2b) that at age sixteen, the ‘essence’ in the body only amounts to about
1,520 ml (1 sheng 升 6 ge 合) of liquid volume, which according to the text weighs 633 g
(1 jin 斤). By a continent lifestyle, it can be continuously augmented up to about 2,850 ml
(3 sheng) at best. But each ejaculation results in a loss of about 47.5 ml (half a ge), which is of
great concern!
Li Shizhen 李時珍 (1518–1593) cites the calculation without mentioning the source in his
Materia Medica Arranged According to Monographs and Technical Criteria (Bencao gangmu 本草綱目,
juan 52; vol. 2: 1932). By his time, the total volume of essence in the body would vary from
about one at sixteen years of age to about three litres in a continent life, and the ejaculation
would amount to 50 ml. However, if Master Shang Yang had used earlier standards of mea-
surement, all these volumes would have been slightly lower than indicated above.
Using the voice of the Selected Woman (Cai nü 采女), the everyman’s question ‘wherein
lies the fun of preventing ejaculation?’ is answered by Ancestor Peng: ‘If the essence is emit-
ted, trunk and body parts become sluggish and limp, the ears are bitterly (painfully) buzzing,
the eyes can hardly be kept open, the throat dries out, and the bones and articulations loosen
and decay. Even though there is occasionally a short-term satisfaction, in the end it is not
pleasurable. If one stimulates and does not ejaculate, the force of the qi has a surplus, trunk
and body parts can be at ease, ears and eyes are sharp and bright. Even though one restrains
and calms oneself, imagination and (loving) care are emphasised even more. It is constantly
as if it were not enough, how can this not be pleasurable?’ (Yufang mijue, Ishinp ō 28.18: 22a;
see Pfster 2012: 52–3).
Thus, ejaculation – the ‘short-term satisfaction’ (zan kuai 暫快) – is contrasted with an
intermediate state of bliss, echoing prepubescent boys’ orgasmic experiences. (On the princi-
pal and experiential separation of ejaculation and orgasm, see Marcuse 1922; Haeberle 1985:
266–8; Kothari 1990.) Several texts elaborate on the proftable health outcome of a series of
prolonged sexual intercourse performed without ejaculation: from improved sight and hear-
ing to a glowing skin, to strengthened spine and bones, to free-fowing waterways (of the
uro-genital system), to a hard and strong erection; and as one’s strivings become untameable
(a feeling of boldness) (see Tianxia zhidao tan, slips 22–4; *He yinyang, slips 112–15; *Shiwen,
slips 19–22). This culminates in an altered state of consciousness, during which subjective
light experiences emerge as he ‘follows the heavenly blossom’, or his ‘spirit brightens up’.
Clearly, the sexually stimulated inner transports of the ‘essences’ beneft overall ftness and
well-being – at least from the experiencer’s perspective – and contribute to agreeable psy-
chological states, and a feeling of bodily lightness. (See Pfster 2006a on spirit brightening;
Pfster 2012 on phosphenes and Hsu 2012 on the feeling of lightness. On altered states of
consciousness during sexual encounters, see Swartz 1994; Cohen and Lévy 1996; Meston
et al. 2004; Safron 2016.)
The basic methods to avoid emission and ejaculation are (a) the free-handed method, (b)
the urethral pressure method and (c) combinations thereof with visualisations. Ejaculation is
not completely avoided, but simply decreases with age (Maspero 1937; Needham 1983; Wile
1992; Pfster 1995; Karamanou et al. 2010).

343
 Rodo Pfster

Rubric 18 of the Ishinpō 28 is named ‘reverting the essence’ (huan jing 還精), a term that
denotes internal dispersion of the essence after high excitation during sexual intercourse and
avoiding emission and ejaculation. However, the meditative texts of the Shangqing tradition
use the term in solo practices that move around visualised contents and circle coloured qi inside
the adept’s body (Maspero 1937: 379–80; Robinet 1984, I: 175 n. 1; Hudson 2008: 413–30).

a The Mawangdui texts report a free-handed method closely linked with an altered state
of consciousness: ‘The matter of the spirit brightening consists in what is locked away;
cautiously handle the jade lock (yu bi 玉閉), and spirit brightening will arrive’ (Tianxia
zhidao tan, slips 18–19). While maintaining a light and regular breathing pattern
throughout and avoiding vocalisations, the man reduces thrusting movement and ‘con-
tracts the ring’ (xi zhou 翕州, i.e. the anal sphincter) to maintain the ‘jade lock’ (and
thus avoid emission and ejaculation), that is, by locking away his own ‘essence’, which is
made one whole (yi 壹) that will be shifted (qian 遷) upwards in his body (Ibid., slip 22).
The use of anal sphincters and genital musculature is in no way tabooed or restricted
(on anal pleasures, see Lo and Barrett 2012). Insight into pelvic muscle function might
have been furthered by squatting behaviour, and sitting on mats, which trains relevant
musculature on the go (Paciornik 1985).

Before each ‘intermission’ (yi 已), he stops moving, sucks air in and presses the penis
downwards, waiting for some time in order to ‘retain the surplus’, or washes the penis with
an aphrodisiac lotion, so that it begins to erect itself anew; this action is called ‘stabilising
the tilting’ (Ibid., slips 31, 33–6). In all, there are eight ways to ‘increase (bodily) fow
constellations’ (yi qi 益氣) and overall stamina of the man (compare Pfster 2006b: 90–7).
Yufang zhiyao (Ishinp ō 28.18: 22b) adds some elements to guide the man’s attention away,
stating: ‘When the essence is strongly aroused, you quickly raise the head, open your
eyes wide and look to the left and to the right, upwards and downwards; you contract
the lower body, hold the breath, and the essence is stopped by itself ’.

b The urethral pressure method is considered by some a beginner’s practice, which should,
after some training, be replaced by the free-handed procedure. ‘The method to revert
the essence and to replenish the brain (marrow) (huanjing bunao zhi dao 還精補腦之道):
as the essence is greatly aroused during sexual intercourse, and about to be emitted, press
quickly to drive it back with the two middle fngers of the left hand behind the privates’
bag [scrotum] and in front of the great opening [anus]. Press it during its bristling activ-
ity, prolongedly eject the breath while clapping the teeth ten times. Do not block of the
breath, as in that case your essence will be released. Whereas if the essence is not allowed
to be emitted, it returns and reverts in the jade stalk [penis], and moves upwards into
the brain (marrow)’ (Yufang zhiyao Ishinp ō 28.18: 22b).

More than a thousand years later, the method was integrated without further ado into
planned parenthood tracts of the twentieth century, but now called the ‘urethral pres-
sure method to prevent conception’ (niaodao yapo fa 尿道壓迫法, or yapo niaodao biyunfa
壓迫尿道避孕法; see Yang Geng 1964; Han Xiangyang 1972; Edwards 1976).

Retrograde ejaculation of semen into the bladder is an undesired outcome of cases when emis-
sion was already on its way, and urethral pressure applied a trife too late. It would become
apparent as cloudy urine in the lacquerware urinals in the form of a tiger (huzi 虎子) that

344
 The sexual body techniques

were used by men in well-to-do households in early China (Huang Gangzheng 1986). An-
cestor Peng explains it to the Selected Woman: ‘One forcefully presses [the essence in the
urethra], and closes it of tightly; it being difcult to hold and easily lost, this causes one’s
essence to leak and the urine to be turbid’ (Yangxing yanming lu B.6: 9a; Beiji qianjin yaofang
27.8: 490a; Maspero 1937: 382). The late imperial Exposition of Cultivating the True (fol. 104,
section 12) describes the difculties encountered by beginners who want to ‘lock and bar the
mysterious trigger’, and quantifes the occurrence of refux: ‘Wanting to forcibly close it of
(qiǎng bi 強閉), the wasted essence (bai jing 敗精) necessarily silts up (ni 泥) and enters the uri-
nary bladder and the kidney bags. (...) Out of a number of fve thousand (sexual) excitations
(sh ān gu 肩<扇>皷), one only about once emits wasted essence’ (Revising Wile 1992: 140,
265 n. 3). By this estimation, retrograde ejaculation is considered an occasional and relatively
rare event, which can be avoided by using a more gentle approach to prevent emission, the
texts’ own elaborate free-handed method.

Female ejaculation and female essence

At the end of the nineteenth century, female ejaculation became a controversial topic in the
then new research feld of sexual science (Sexualwissenschaft, sexology), and it remains con-
troversial to this day (Stifter 1988; Korda et al. 2010). However, the topic was prominently
present in several ancient cultural spheres of Afroeurasia, e.g. in circum-Mediterranean
cultures of antiquity (Andò 2009), ancient India (Syed 1999) and China (Pfster 2006b,
2007). Ancient and medieval Chinese texts on sexual body techniques integrate female
potency and ejaculation into the body image of all women. A woman is capable of ejacu-
lation, actively provoked by herself, solo or in combination with adequate stimulation by
a partner or a sex toy.
The sixth of the Nine Procedures in Xuannü jing is called ‘phoenixes soaring’: the man
kneels between the raised legs of the woman, supporting himself with his hands on the mat,
thereby reducing physical contact with the genital area; he penetrates hard and hot, piercing
the deepest vaginal portion of her cervix or ‘descendant’s pebble’ (kun shi 昆石), and then
drags out the penis along the upper vaginal wall. ‘Let the woman move herself and perform
the technique of three times eight: [three times] pressing her buttocks tightly against each
other, and [eight times] opening and relaxing the female privates so as to drive out herself
the essence juices ( jing ye 精液)’.
This position maximises friction for both. The woman is able to provoke ejaculation by
repeatedly frmly pushing outwards (as if to force urination) for some time, and then relaxing
her pubococcygeal musculature (Sundahl 2003: 86–7, 102–3, 121–4).
Sex training tools both for women and for men have been archaeologically recovered in
tombs of elite households from early China: bronze dildoes to cover the man’s penis, stone
eggs to train the vaginal musculature, as well as bronze dildoes with bony rubbing devices
aimed at maximal stimulation of the clitoral complex and upper vaginal wall (Eggebrecht
1994: Cat. 95; Chen Hai 2004; Khayutina ed. 2013: 291, fg. 198; Li Ling 2006: 343–70; Li
Ling 2011b).
The *He yinyang module eloquently describes, in ‘proofs of the ten intermissions’, the
consistency and smell of the female emission as being variable, ranging from being emitted
clear and fresh, like groats, smelling like cooked bones, smelling fshy or like grain, being
creamy, slippery, viscous, tallowy, sticky, clotty; ‘having clotted, it becomes slippery again,
is again emitted clear and fresh; and that is called the ‘grand fnale’ (da zu 大卒) [that in-
cludes carpopedal spasms, elevating the buttocks from the mat, pale lips, and a sweaty nose].’

345
 Rodo Pfster

(Slips 129–32; the parallel passage of Tianxia zhidao tan, slips 56–8, ends with ‘foodlike fow
constellations are only now emitted’; see Pfster 2006b: 98).
*He yinyang is unique in claiming a debit by postulating that a women owes the man her
ejaculate: ‘In the evening the essences of the man are provided for ( jiang 將) [by prolonged
sexual intercourse without emission and ejaculation], in the morning the essences of the
woman are demanded (ze 責) [i.e. emitted and ejaculated], and thereby my essence will be
nourished by your essence’ (slip 127). At the time of the ‘grand fnale’, body boundaries are
lost during the experience (Meston et al. 2004: 177), and this allows for the phantasmatic
transport of essence from woman to man (slips 128, 133; Pfster 2006b: 97–100).

Performing a sexual encounter

The scenario of sexual performance is developed in text modules. Such a presentation strat-
egy parallels the breaking down of the apparent tumult of a sexual encounter into modular
units, which, in turn, are cognitively manageable by the aspiring male participant and ob-
server. The modules facilitate the learning of a specifc descriptive and technical description
language, and guide attention to observing and interpreting specifc female bodily signs and
kinetic reactions. He receives advice for adequate interaction, which in each case must be
adapted to a variety of situational constellations.

a Foreplay, or the ‘playful ways’ (xi dao 戲道), sees the partners breathing upon each oth-
er’s bodies, embracing, snuggling, touching and arousing each other in a leisurely way.
The man learns the fve proofs of her fvefold desire, which are rising bodily fows and a
heated face, hardened nipples and a sweating nose, descent of bodily saps and wet thighs,
a dry throat and swallowing saliva. Only after all the proofs are seen, he is allowed to
mount. A rich vocabulary is used to describe the caressing of her erogenous zones from
the wrist, over neck, to ‘mount constancy’ (chang shan 常山), massaging her by breath,
touch and body weight (*He yinyang, slips 102–11; see Harper 1987; Li and McMahon
1992; Middendorf 2007).
b The onset phase, called ‘approaching the matter’ (lin shi 臨事), or ‘approaching the ride’
(lin yu 臨御) – despite being a regular rubric in the literature (Ishinp ō 28.5) – has so far
been overlooked by virtually all modern commentators. Onset is diferentiated from
foreplay – when fngers and tongue arouse the couple – by its use of the penis in order to
promote frictional pleasure and to further tumescence of the erectile tissues of both par-
ties. Here, the distinction between ‘outer’ (wai 外) and ‘inner’ (nei 內) aspects of the fe-
male genitals is technically important. It is paralleled by the male actions of ‘mounting’
(shang 上) the vulva and mons veneris, and ‘entering’ (ru 入, na 內 or 納) the vaginal canal
itself, where thrusting can be directed to both areas, varied and alternated in either a
vulval or ‘shallow’ (qian 淺), or a vaginal or ‘deep’ (shen 深) fashion. During onset – that
is, before any ‘deep’ penetration occurs – special attention is given for some time to the
clitoral complex. (On the conception of the clito-urethro-vaginal complex, see O’Con-
nell et al. 2008; Foldès and Buisson 2009; Jannini et al. 2014; Mazloomdoost and Pauls
2015; Levin 2018.) In *He yinyang, he takes the penis or ‘jade whip’ to ‘hit upwards’
(shang zhen 上揕) without penetration in order to cause her bodily fows to arrive (zhi qi
致氣), producing ‘warmth’ (slips 108–9). In Sunü jing, the woman reclines, and the man
positions himself between her legs; he uses his lips on the ‘mouth’ and sucks the ‘tongue’
(clitoris) of her genitals, and by holding his ‘jade stalk’ then ‘beats’ ( ji 擊) both sides of
her ‘jade gate’ (aiming at the clitoral bulbs) for about the ‘time of a meal’ (shi qing 食頃;

346
 The sexual body techniques

Ishinp ō 28.5: 11b). Even more detailed is the description in Dongxuan zi: ‘The jade stalk
drags at the mouth of the jade gate. (...) He then attacks and hits with the yang blade
to and fro, or storms downwards to the jade streaks (yu li 玉理) [fourchette], or rams
upwards to the golden ditch ( jin gou 金溝) [pudendal cleft]; he hits and pierces the sides
of the ring wall (bi yong 辟㢕, read 璧廱) [the side areas around the urethral meatus, or
periurethral glans (Levin 1991)], or rests at the right of the reddish jade platform (xuan
tai 璿臺) [elevation of glans clitoridis]’. An added interlinear commentary specifes:
‘The above is wandering outside, and not yet copulation inside’. To stimulate the cli-
toris, the clitoral bulbs and the area around the urethral meatus for quite some time by
hitting with the penis guided by the hand are known in Rwanda as gukubita rugongo, ‘hit
the clit’, and on the Chuuk Islands and the Ulithi Atoll, it’s called wechewechen Chuuk,
‘Trukese striking or prodding’ (see Vincke 1991: 175; Bizimana 2005: 64; 2008: 60–64;
Swartz 1958: 477–8, 481–3; Lessa 1966: 87). All three cultures prefer wet sex, and thus
our last text concludes the passage with: ‘The woman’s lustful juices must spill from the
cinnabar grotto, thereafter you throw your yang blade into the children’s palace [i.e. the
vagina]’ (Ishinp ō 28.5: 11a). The onset activity mimicks ways of same-sex and solo stim-
ulation that further erection and tumescence. The deliberate insertion of such an onset
phase, which specifcally stimulates the clitoral complex, modifes the infuential, but
often criticised four-phase model of the sexual response cycle – consisting of excitation,
plateau, orgasm and resolution phases – established by the modern sexologists Masters
and Johnson (1966) (see also Haeberle 1985: 65–7; for criticisms, see Tiefer 1991; Levin
2001, 2008). It is a research desideratum to analyse ancient Chinese recipes to tighten
the vagina and other vaginal practices regarding the question if they further lubrication
(wet sex preference), or rather dry up the vagina (dry sex preference) (Levin 2005).
c The linking passage in Tianxia zhidao tan elucidates what should be at one’s disposi-
tion during the encounter: ‘Hold ready the ten embellishments, arrange conveniently
the ten positions, and vary the eight ways [of thrusting]’ (slip 47). Purposefully using
some adapted military terms, the sexual interplay is cadenced by ten ‘advances’ (dong
動), each followed by an ‘intermission’ (yi 已). (On metaphors of fghting and warfare,
see Van Gulik [1951]2004: 68, 158–9; [1961]2003: 76, 157, 278–80, 320; Wile 1992:
35.) The scenario thus relinquishes the one-climax-structure for a ten-fold, longer and
thoroughly modulated one. The ten positions have animal names; one needs to know
in what position toads or dragonfies copulate to get the point of the list. Later texts list
in dense description up to thirty variations (Dongxuan zi, Ishinp ō 28.13: 16a–18a). Some
positions are considered therapeutic, especially those to increase the man’s weakened qi,
where the woman straddles over the reclined man and provokes the emission of her ‘es-
sence juices’ that ‘overfow to the outside’, coming ‘like rain’ or a ‘spring’ (Xuannü jing,
Ishinp ō 28.12: 14b–15b). The sources transmit several partonymic sets of vulvo-vaginal
locations, which allow insights into the prototypical cognitive representation of the
female genitals (Pfster 2007, 2016; Middendorf 2007). The observance of the distinc-
tion between shallow and deep thrusting addresses stimulation to both vulval (clitoral)
and vaginal locations in changing rhythms, which are organised into a series of thrust-
ing, punctuated by intermissions (on the role of rhythmic stimulation, see Safron 2016;
Levin 2018).

The male participant observer interprets her ‘fve sounds’ or vocalisations to guide his ac-
tivity: when her breathing is throaty or she catches her breath – she’s inwardly tight; when
gasping – she reaches delight; when continuously wailing – insert the jade whip and the

347
 Rodo Pfster

nourishing starts; when breathing with a *hmaj sound – pleasant sweetness is extreme; if
she’s grinding her teeth – he should wait for her. By carefully distinguishing the sounds,
he recognises where her ‘heart’ (attention) is located; likewise, he knows by her ‘eight ways
of [involuntary] movement’ where pleasure passes through. Four examples out of ‘eight
observations’ may serve: if she reaches out for him with her hands, the bellies should draw
close; if she extends her elbows, the hammering of the upper vaginal wall is wanted, while
he supports himself with his hands on the bed; if she crosses her thighs, the piercing is greatly
overdone; if she’s shivering, it’s excellent (Tianxia zhidao tan, slips 50–53, 63–4; compare *He
yinyang, slips 120–26; see Levin 2006).
Slowing down and lingering without losing persistence is the essential advice given to
men at the end of the Discussion of the Utmost Method Under the Sky, adding a description of
emotional afterglow: ‘For the teasing entertainment it is important to endeavour to linger
on and hold out; if one is capable to linger on and hold out, a woman greatly rejoices. She
will be attached to you as to her younger and older brothers, and take care of you as of her
father and mother. Everyone who can go this way is called a heavenly master’ (slips 66–7).

Note
1 Manuscript titles are starred * when their title was added by modern editors. Translations of titles
and excerpts of source texts are those of the present author throughout.

Bibliography
Primary sources
Beiji qianjin yaofang 備急千金要方 (Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand in Gold for Urgent
Cases), 652 CE, Sun Simiao 孫思邈 1955(1994), Beijing: Renmin weisheng.
Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 (Materia Medica Arranged According to Monographs and Technical Crite-
ria), 1596 CE, Li Shizhen 李時珍 (comp.), Liu Hengru 劉恒如 and Liu Shanyong 劉山永 (coll.,
comm.) (1998) «Bencao gangmu» xinjiao zhuben 《本草綱目》新校注本, shang xia ce 上下冊, Lidai
zhongyi mingzhu wenku 歷代中醫名著文庫, Beijing: Huaxia.
Dongxuan zi 洞玄子 (Master Dong Xuan), unknown collective; 12 fragments in Ishinp ō 28.
*He yinyang 合陰陽 (Uniting Yin and Yang), scroll, slips 102–33. Unknown collective; Mawangdui
bamboo manuscript, title by modern eds, in Mawangdui Hanmu Boshu Zhengli Xiaozu (1985:
99–103 repr., 153–6 transcr.); Qiu Xigui (ed.) (2014, 2: 212–4 col. repr.; 6: 153–8 transcr.).
Ishinp ō • Yixin fang 醫心方 (Core Prescriptions of Medicine), 984 CE, Tamba no Yasuyori 丹波康賴,
1955(2000), Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe; Liu Xiuqiao 1976; Gao Wenzhu et al. 1996.
Qingling zhenren Peijun zhuan 清靈真人裴君傳 (Biography of Lord Pei, the Realised Person of Pure
Refnement), before 5th c. CE (?), in Yunji qiqian 雲笈七籤 105 (Daozang 道藏, fasc. 698, DZ 1032).
Shangyangzi jindan dayao 上陽子金丹大要 (Great Essentials on the Golden Elixir by Master Shang
Yang), preface 1335 CE, by Chen Zhixu 陳致虛 (f. 1289–1335), in Daozang 道藏, fasc. 736–8,
DZ 1067.
*Shiwen 十問 (Ten Interviews), scroll, slips 1–101. Unknown collective; Mawangdui bamboo manu-
script, title by modern eds, in in Mawangdui Hanmu Boshu Zhengli Xiaozu (1985: 87–97 repr.,
143–152(transcr.); Qiu Xigui (ed.) (2014, 2: 203–11 col. repr.; 6: 139–52 transcr.).
Sunü jing 素女經 (The Book of the Plain Woman), unknown collective; 2 fragments in Ishinp ō 28.
Tiandi yinyang dale fu 天地陰陽交歡大樂賦 (Rhapsody on the Great Pleasure in the Mutual Joys of Heaven
and Earth, Yin and Yang), in Wei, Tongxian 魏同賢 (ed.) (2001) Facang Dunhuang xiyu wenxian 法藏
敦煌西域文獻 (Dunhuang and other Central Asian Manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale de
France), Shanghai: Shanghai guji and Faguo guojia tushuguan, vol. 15: 229–233.
Tianxia zhidao tan 天下至道談 (Discussion of the Utmost Method Under the Sky), scroll, slips 12–67.
Unknown collective; Mawangdui bamboo manuscript, in Mawangdui Hanmu Boshu Zhengli

348
 The sexual body techniques

Xiaozu (1985: 109–15 repr., 161–67 transcr.); Qiu Xigui (ed.) (2014, 2: 216–20 col. repr.; 6: 163–72
transcr.).
Wangwu zhenren koushou yindan mijue lingpian 王屋真人口授陰丹祕訣靈篇 (Numinous Tablets of the
Secret Instructions on the Yin Elixir Orally Transmitted by the Perfected Person of Wangwu),
after 780 CE, in Yunji qiqian 雲笈七籤 64: 14a–19a (Daozang 道藏, fasc. 690, DZ 1032).
Xuannü jing 玄女經 (The Book of the Dark Woman), unknown collective; 7 fragments in Ishinp ō 7,
and 28.
*Yangsheng fang 養生方 (Recipes for Nurturing Life), MS III, cols. 1–219, drawing, content list; frag-
ments. Mawangdui bamboo manuscript, title by modern eds, in Mawangdui Hanmu Boshu Zhen-
gli Xiaozu (1985: 53–70 col. repr., 97–119 transcr.); Qiu Xigui (ed.) (2014, 2: 108–27 col. repr.; 6:
35–72 transcr.; 7: 237–55 orig. col. repr.).
Yangxing yanming lu 養性延命錄 (Records on Nourishing the Disposition and Prolonging the Mandate
of Life), in Daozang 道藏, fasc. 572, DZ 838.
Yufang mijue 玉房祕决 (Secret Decisions in the Jade Chamber), unknown collective, Six Dynasties (?);
28 fragments in Ishinp ō 7, 13, 21, 24, and 28.
Yufang zhiyao 玉房指要 (Essentials of the Jade Chamber), unknown collective; 7 fragments in Ishinp ō
28.
Zijin guangyao daxian xiuzhen yanyi 紫金光耀大仙修真演義 (Exposition of Cultivating the True by the
Great Immortal of the Purple Gold Splendor), 1594 CE, preface by Deng Xixian 鄧希賢, in Van
Gulik 1951(2004), vol. II: 105–122.

Secondary references
Andò, V. (2009) ‘Sogni erotici e seme femminile nella antica medicina greca’, Medicina nei secoli, 21.2:
663–91.
Bizimana, N. (2005) Weiblicher Orgasmus und Weibliche Ejakulation Dank Afrikanischer Liebeskunst, Nor-
derstedt: Books on Demand.
———— (2008) Le Secret De L’amour à L’africaine. La Caresse Magique Que Chaque Homme Devrait Con-
naître, Paris: Leduc.S Editions.
Chen Guofu 陳國符 (1963) Daozang yuanliu kao 道藏源流考 (Original Sources of the Daoist Canon),
Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
Chen Hai 陳海 (2004) ‘G-dian yu Xihan nüyong xingwanju kao G點與西漢女用性玩具考 – Re-
search on G-spot and female sexual toys of Western Han dynasty’, Kaogu yu wenwu, 3: 62–7, fgs.
1–4 (back cover).
Chen Hsiu-fen 陳秀芬 (2009) ‘Yangsheng yu xiushen 養生與修身: wan Ming wenren de shenti
shuxie yu shesheng jishu 晚明文人的身體書寫與攝生技術 (Nourishing Life and Cultivating the
Body: writing the literati’s body and techniques for preserving health in the late Ming), Taipei:
Dawhsiang.
Cohen, H. and Lévy, J. (1996) ‘L’orgasme comme état de conscience modifé’, Sexologies, 5.21: 5–8.
Crossley N. (2005) ‘Mapping refexive body techniques: on body modifcation and maintenance’, Body
and Society, 11.1: 1–35.
Darmon, R.A. (2002) ‘Vajrolī Mudrā: La rétention séminale chez les yogis vām āc āri’, in V. Boullier and
G. Tarabout (eds) Images du corps dans le monde hindou (Monde Indiens – Sciences sociales 15e–20e
siècle), Paris: CNRS éditions, pp. 213–240.
De Meyer, J. (2006) Wu Yun’s Way: life and works of an eighth-century Daoist master, Leiden: Brill.
De Sardan, J.-P.O. (1998) ‘Émique’, L’Homme, 38.147: 151–66.
Despeux C. and Kohn L. (2003) Women in Daoism, Cambridge, MA: Three Pines Press.
Doniger, W. and Kakar, S. (trans.), Vatsyayana Mallanaga (comp.) (2002) Kamasutra, Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Edwards, J.W. (1976) ‘The concern for health in sexual matters in the “old society” and “new society”
in China’, Journal of Sex Research, 12.2: 88–103.
Eggebrecht, A. (ed.) (1994) China, eine Wiege der Weltkultur: 5000 Jahre Erfndungen und Entdeckungen,
Mainz: Verlag Philipp von Zabern.
Fan Youping 樊友平, Zhu Jiaqing 朱佳卿, Li Jiarong 李佳蓉 and Gong Xiaoying 公曉穎 (eds) (2007)
Zhonghua miniao nankexue gudian jicheng 中華泌尿男科學古典集成 (Collection of Ancient Texts on
Chinese Urologic Andrology), Beijing: Zhongyi guji.

349
 Rodo Pfster

Foldès, P. and Buisson, O. (2009) ‘The clitoral complex: a dynamic sonographic study’, Journal of Sex-
ual Medicine, 6: 1223–31.
Fu Juyou 傅舉有 and Chen Songchang 陳松長 (1992) Mawangdui Hanmu wenwu 馬王堆漢墓文物 (The
Cultural Relics Unearthed from the Han Tombs at Mawangdui), Changsha: Hunan Publishing
House.
Furth, C. (1994) ‘Rethinking Van Gulik: sexuality and reproduction in traditional Chinese medicine’,
in C.K. Gilmartin, G. Hershatter, L. Rofel and T. White (eds) Engendering China: women, culture and
the state, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, pp. 125–46.
———— (2005) ‘Rethinking van Gulik again’, Nan Nü, 7.1: 71–8.
Gao Wenzhu 高文鑄 (1996) ‘«Yixin fang» yinyong wenxian kaolüe 《醫心方》引用文獻考略’ (Brief
study of the works cited in Ishinp ō), in Gao Wenzhu 高文鑄 et al. (1996) «Yixin fang» jiaozhu
yanjiu《醫心方》校注研究, Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe, pp. 725–806.
Gao Wenzhu 高文鑄 et al. (1996) «Yixin fang» jiaozhu yanjiu 《醫心方》校注研究 (Annotation and
Study of the Ishinp ō), Beijing: Huaxia chubanshe.
Goldin, P.R. (2006) ‘The cultural and religious background of sexual vampirism in ancient China’,
Theology and Sexuality, 12.3: 285–307.
Haeberle, E.J. (1985) Die Sexualität des Menschen, Berlin: De Gruyter.
Han Xiangyang 韓向陽 (ed.) (1972, 1973) Jihua shengyu zhishi wenda 計劃生育知識問答 (Questions and
Answers on Family Planning Knowledge), Beijing: renmin weisheng chubanshe.
Harper, D. (1987) ‘The sexual arts of ancient China as described in a manuscript of the second century
B.C.’, Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies, 47.2: 539–93.
———— (1998) Early Chinese Medical Literature: the Mawangdui medical manuscripts, London; New York:
Kegan Paul International.
———— (2005) ‘Ancient and medieval Chinese recipes for aphrodisiacs and philters’, Asian Medicine,
1.1: 91–100.
———— (2010) ‘La littérature sur la sexualité à Dunhuang’, in C. Despeux (ed.) Médecine, Religion et
Société Dans la Chine Médiévale: Étude de manuscrits chinois de Dunhuang et de Turfan, Paris: Collège de
France, Institut des Hautes Études Chinoises, pp. 871–98.
He Jiejun 何介鈞 (ed.) (2004) Changsha Mawangdui er, san hao Hanmu 長沙馬王堆二三號漢墓, di yi
juan 第一卷: tianye kaogu fajue baogao 田野考古發掘報告 (Tombs 2 and 3 of the Han Dynasty at
Mawangdui, Changsha Report on Excavation, volume 1: with abstracts in English and Japanese),
Beijing: Wenwu.
Headland, Th., Pike K. and Harris M. (eds) (1990) Emics and Etics: the insider/outsider debate, Newsbury
Park; London; New Delhi: Sage.
Hinsch, B. (2005) ‘Van Gulik’s sexual life in ancient China and the matter of homosexuality’, Nan
Nü, 7.1: 79–91.
Hsia, E.C.H., Veith, I. and Geertsma, R.H. (trans.) (1986) The Essentials of Medicine in Ancient China
and Japan. Yasuyori Tamba’s Ishimp ō 醫心方, Leiden: Brill.
Hsu, E. (2012) ‘“Feeling lighter”: why the patient’s treatment evaluation matters to the health scien-
tist’, Integrative Medicine Research, 1.1: 5–12.
Huang Gangzheng 黃綱正 (1986) ‘Changsha chutu de Zhanguo huzi ji youguan wenti 長沙出土的
戰國虎子及有關問題 (The Warring States urinals excavated in Changsha, and related questions)’,
Wenwu, 9: 86–91.
Hudson, W.C. (2007) ‘Daoism (Taoism)’, in F. Malti-Douglas (ed.) (2007) Encyclopedia of Sex and Gen-
der, New York: Macmillan, pp. 373–6.
———— (2008) Spreading the Dao, Managing Mastership, and Performing Salvation: the life and alchemical
teachings of Chen Zhixu, PhD thesis, Indiana University.
Idema, W.L. (1983) Bai Xingjian (775–826): Het hoogste genot, Leiden: Uitgeverij De Lantaarn.
Ishida, Hidemi 石田秀實 (1991) ‘Shoki no bōchū yō sei shisō to sensetsu 初期の房中養生思想と僊說
(On the Notion of Nurturing Life through Sexual Practice – with special reference to the early
hsien cult), Tōh ō sh ūkyō, 77: 1–21.
Ishihara A. and Levy H.S. (transl.) (1968, 1969, 1973) (Tamba Yasuyori) The Tao of Sex. An Annotated
Translation of the 28th Section of the Essence of Medical Prescriptions (Ishimpō). Yokahama ( Japan): Shi-
bundō; 1969 Yokohama: General Printing Co.; 1973 New York: Harper and Row.
Jannini E.A., Buisson O. and Rubio-Casillas A. (2014) ‘Beyond the G-spot: clitourethrovaginal com-
plex anatomy in female orgasm’, Nature Reviews Urology, 11: 531–8.

350
 The sexual body techniques

Janssen, D.F. (2007) ‘First stirrings: cultural notes on orgasm, ejaculation, and wet dreams’, Journal of
Sex Research, 44.2: 122–34.
Kalinowski, M. (1985) ‘La transmission du dispositif des Neuf Palais sous des six dynasties’, in M.
Strickmann (ed.) Tantric and Taoist Studies, Vol. 3, Bruxelles: Institut Belge des Hautes Études Chi-
noises, pp. 773–811.
Karamanou, M., Demetriou, T., Liappas, I. and Androutsos, G. (2010) ‘Techniques de contrôle de
l’éjaculation dans l’ancienne Chine – ejaculation control techniques in ancient China’, Andrologie,
20: 266–72.
Khayutina, M. (ed.) (2013) Qin. The Eternal Emperor and His Terracotta Warriors, Zurich: NZZ Libro.
Kleeman, T.F. (2014) ‘The performance and signifcance of the merging the pneumas (heqi) rite in
early Daoism’, Daoism: Religion, History and Society, 6: 85–112.
Kobzev, A.I. (ed.) (1993) Kitajskij Ėros: nau čno-chudožestvennyj sbornik, Moskva: SP Kvadrat.
Korda, J.B., Goldstein, S.W. and Sommer, F. (2010) ‘The history of female ejaculation’, Journal of Sex-
ual Medicine, 7: 1965–75.
Kothari, P. (1990) ‘Orgasmic disturbances: a new classifcation’, in F.J. Bianco and R.H. Serrano (eds)
Sexology: an independent feld, Amsterdam: Excerpta Medica, Elsevier, pp. 193–206.
Lessa, W.A. (1966) Ulithi: a micronesian design for living, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Levin, R.J. (1991) ‘VIP, vagina, clitoral and periurethral glans: an update on human female genital
arousal’, Experimental and Clinical Endocrinology and Diabetes, 98.2: 61–9.
———— (2001) ‘Sexual desire and the deconstruction and reconstruction of the female sexual re-
sponse model of Masters and Johnson’, in W. Everaerd, E. Laan and S. Both (eds) Sexual Appetite,
Desire and Motivation: energetics of the sexual system, Amsterdam: Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts
and Sciences, pp. 63–93.
———— (2005) ‘Wet and dry sex – the impact of cultural infuence in modifying vaginal function’,
Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 20.4: 465–74.
———— (2006) ‘Vocalised sounds and human sex’, Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 21.1: 99–107.
———— (2008) ‘Critically revisiting aspects of the human sexual response cycle of Masters and John-
son: correcting errors and suggesting modifcations’, Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 23: 393–9.
———— (2018) ‘The clitoral activation paradox – claimed outcomes from diferent methods of its
stimulation’, Clinical Anatomy, 31.5: 650–60.
Lewandowski, S. (2001) ‘Über Persistenz und soziale Funktionen des Orgasmus (paradigmas)’, Zeitschrift
für Sexualforschung, 14: 193–213.
Li Jianmin 李建民 (1996) ‘Furen meidao’ kao – zhuantong jiating de chongtu yu huajie fangshu 「婦人
媚道」考 – 傳統家庭的衝突與化解方術 (The art of charming in Han China), Xin shixue, 7.4: 1–32.
Li Ling 李零 (2006) Zhongguo fangshu zhengkao 中國方術正考 (Corrected Study of the Chinese Divi-
natory and Medical Arts), Beijing: Zhonghua shuju.
———— (2011a) Lan tai wan juan 蘭臺萬卷. Du «Han shu • yi wen zhi» 讀《漢書・藝文志》 (The Ten
Thousand Scrolls of the Orchid Platform: Reading the ‘Treatise on Skills and Literature’ in the
‘History of Han Dynasty’), Beijing: Sheng huo, dushu, xinzhi sanlian shudian.
———— (2011b) ‘Jiao mao kao – kaogu faxian yu Ming-Qing faxian xiaoshuo de bijiao yanjiu 角帽
考 – 考古發現與明清小說的比較研究 (Study of the horn hat: comparing archaeological fnds and
Ming–Qing fction)’, Qinshi huangdi ling bowuguan, 2011: 213–28.
Li Ling and McMahon, K. (1992) ‘The contents and terminology of the Mawangdui texts on the arts
of the bedchamber’, Early China, 17: 145–85.
Lin Fu-shih 林富士 (2001) ‘Lüelun zaoqi daojiao yu fangzhongshu de guanxi 略論早期道教與房中術
的關係 (Taoism and Sexual Arts in Medieval China), Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology,
Academia Sinica, 72.2: 233–300.
———— (2008) ‘Lüelun zaoqi daojiao yu fangzhongshu de guanxi 略論早期道教與房中術的關係
(Taoism and Sexual Arts in Medieval China), in Lin Fu-shih (ed.) Zhongguo zhonggu shiqi de zongjiao
yu yiliao 中國中古時期的宗教與醫療 (Religion and Medicine in Middle Period China), Taipei:
Lianjing 聯經, pp. 333–402.
Liu Jie 劉杰 (1995) Zhongguo xingyixue 中國性醫學 (Chinese Sexual Medicine), Beijing: Zhongguo
renkou.
Liu Xiuqiao 劉修橋 (ed.) (1976) Yixin fang ( fu Zhong Ri wen jieshuo yi ce) 醫心方 (附中日文解說一冊)
(Ishinp ō [With one Volume of Chinese and Japanese Explanations]), Taipei: Xinwenfeng chuban
gongsi.

351
 Rodo Pfster

Lo, V. and Barrett P. (2012) ‘Other pleasures? Anal sex and medical discourse in pre-modern China’,
in R.A.G. Reyes and W.G. Clarence-Smith (eds) Sexual Diversity in Asia, c. 600–1950, London;
New York: Routledge, pp. 25–46.
Lo, V. and Re’em E. (2018) ‘Recipes for love in the ancient world’, in G.E.R. Lloyd and J.J. Zhao (eds)
Ancient Greece and China Compared, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 326–52.
Lohmar, D. (2008) Phänomenologie der schwachen Phantasie. Untersuchungen der Psychologie, Cognitive
Science, Neurologie und Phänomenologie zur Funktion der Phantasie in der Wahrnehmung, Dordrecht:
Springer.
Ma Jixing 馬繼興 (1992) Mawangdui gu yishu kaoshi 馬王堆古醫書考釋 (Examination and Explanation
of the Ancient Mawangdui Medical Texts), Changsha: Hunan kexue jishu chubanshe.
Mallinson, J. (2018) ‘Yoga and sex: what is the purpose of vajrol ī mudr ā?’ in K. Baier, Ph.A. Maas and
K. Preisendanz (eds) Yoga in Transformation: historical and contemporary perspectives, Vienna: Vienna
University Press, pp. 181–222.
Marcuse, M. (1922) ‘Orgasmus ohne Ejakulation’, Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, 48.35: 1171–3.
Marié, É. (2007) ‘L’art de la chambre à coucher dans la Chine ancienne’, Revue d’études japonaises du
CEEJA, Benkyô-kai, II: 33–60.
Maspero, H. (1937) ‘Les procédés de ‘nourrir le principe vital’ dans la religion taoïste ancienne’, Journal
asiatique, 229 (avril–juin): 177–252; ( juillet–septembre): 353–430.
Masters, W.H. and Johnson, V.E. (1966) Human Sexual Response, Boston, MA: Little, Brown.
Mauss, M. (1935) ‘Les techniques du corps’, Journal de psychologie normale et pathologique, 32.3–4: 271–93.
Mawangdui Hanmu Boshu Zhengli Xiaozu 馬王堆漢墓帛書整理小組 (ed.) (1985) Mawangdui Hanmu
boshu (si) 馬王堆漢墓帛書 (肆) (The Silk Manuscripts from the Mwangdui Han Tomb [vol. 4]),
Beijing: Wenwu chubanshe.
Mazloomdoost, D. and Pauls, R.N. (2015) ‘A comprehensive review of the clitoris and its role in fe-
male sexual function’, Sexual Medicine Reviews, 3.4: 245–63.
McMahon, K. (2019) ‘The art of the bedchamber and Jin Ping Mei’, Nan Nü, 21: 1–37.
Meston, C.M., Levin, R.J., Sipski, M.L., Hull, E.M. and Heiman, J.R. (2004) ‘Women’s orgasm’,
Annual Review of Sex Research, 15.1: 173–257.
Middendorf, U. (2007) Resexualizing the Desexualized: the language of desire and erotic love in the classic of
Odes, Pisa, Roma: Accademia Editoriale.
Mollier, C. (2016) ‘Conceiving the embryo of immortality: “seed-people” and sexual rites in early
Taoism’, in A. Andreeva and D. Steavu (2016) Transforming the Void: embryological discourse and repro-
ductive imagery in East Asian religions, Leiden; Boston, MA: Brill, pp. 87–110.
Mussat, M. (prés.) and Leung, Kwok Po (trad.) (1978) Sou Nü King: La sexualité taoïste de la Chine anci-
enne, Paris: Édition Seghers.
Needham, J. (1983) Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 5, part V: spagyrical discovery and ivention: physi-
ological alchemy, sexuality and the role of theories of generation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
O’Connell H.E., Eizenberg N., Rahman M. and Cleeve J. (2008) ‘The anatomy of the distal vagina:
towards unity’, Journal of Sexual Medicine, 5: 1883–1891.
Ōgata, Tōru 大形徹 (2015) Taisansho • Zakkinh ō • Tenka shid ōdan • G ōin’yōh ō • J ūmon 胎産書 • 雑禁
方 • 天下至道談 • 合陰陽方 • 十問 (Book of the Generation of the Fetus • Recipes for Various
Charms • Discussion of the Utmost Method Under the Sky • Uniting Yin and Yang • Ten Inter-
views), Tōkyō -to Chiyoda-ku: Tōhō Shoten.
Ō ta, Tenrei 太田典礼 (1976) ‘Guanyu yixin fang 關於醫心方 (On the Ishinp ō)’, in Liu Xiuqiao 劉修橋
(ed.) (1976) Yixin fang 醫心方 (Fu zhongriwen jieshuo yice 附中日文解說一冊), Taipei: Xinwenfeng
chuban gongsi, pp. 1–270.
Okanishi, Tameto 岡西為人 (author), Guo, Xiumei 郭秀梅 (collation) (2010) Song yiqian yiji kao 宋以
前醫籍考 (Research on Medical Works Before the Song Dynasty), Beijing: Xueyuan 學苑.
Paciornik, M. (1985) Come partorire accoccolate: la posizione migliore per madre e bambino, Palermo: I.P.S.A.
editore.
Pfster, R. (1995) ‘Bodies and nature in ancient Chinese sexual body technique: three illustrations’,
in H. Johannessen, S.G. Olesen and J.Ø. Andersen (eds) Studies in Alternative Therapy 2: body and
nature, Gylling (Denmark): Odense University Press and International Network for Research on
Alternative Therapies (INRAT), pp. 82–105.
———— (trans.) (2003) der beste weg unter dem himmel: sexuelle körpertechniken aus dem alten china: zwei
bambustexte aus mawangdui, Zürich: Museum Rietberg Zürich.

352
 The sexual body techniques

———— (2006a) ‘The production of special mental states within the framework of sexual body tech-
niques – as seen in the Mawangdui medical corpus’, in P. Santangelo, D. Guida (eds) Love, Hatred
and Other Passions: questions and themes on emotion in Chinese civilisation, Leiden: Brill, pp. 180–94.
———— (2006b) ‘The jade spring as a source of pleasure and pain: the prostatic experience in ancient
and medieval medical and Daoist texts’, in H.U. Vogel, C. Moll-Murata and X. Gao (eds) Studies
on Ancient Chinese Scientifc and Technical Texts. Proceedings of the 3rd ISACBRST. March 31–April 3,
2003 Tübingen, Germany, Zhengzhou: Elephant Press, pp. 88–106.
———— (2007) ‘Der Milchbaum und die Physiologie der weiblichen Ejakulation: Bemerkungen
über Papiermaulbeer- und Feigenbäume im Süden Altchinas’, Asiatische Studien Études Asiatiques,
LXI.3: 813–44.
———— (2012) ‘Phosphenes and inner light experiences in medieval Chinese psychophysical tech-
niques: an exploration’, in G. Tamburello (ed.) Concepts and Categories in East Asia, Roma: Carrocci
editore, pp. 38–70.
———— (2013) ‘Gendering sexual pleasures in early and medieval China’, Asian Medicine, 7.1:
34–64.
———— (2016) ‘On the partonymy of female genitals in Chinese manuscripts on sexual body tech-
niques. 28p. Addendum to 2016’ (Shanghai 上海) Chutu Yixue Wenxian Yanjiu Guoji Yantaohui
Lunwenji 出土醫學文獻研究國際研討會論文集, Shanghai: Shanghai University of Traditional
Chinese Medicine.
Qiu Xigui 裘錫圭 (main ed.), Hunansheng bowuguan 湖南省博物館 and Fudan daxue chutu wenx-
ian yu guwenzi yanjiu zhongxin 復旦大學出土文獻与古文字研究中心 (2014) Changsha Mawangdui
Hanmu jianbo jicheng 長沙馬王堆漢墓簡帛集成 (Collection of Bamboo and Silk Manuscripts from
the Mawangdui Han Tombs in Changsha), Beijing: zhonghua shuju.
Raz, G. (2008) ‘The way of the yellow and the red: re-examining the sexual initiation rite of Celestial
Master Daoism’, Nan Nü, 10.1: 86–120.
———— (2012) The Emergence of Daoism: creation of tradition, London; New York: Routledge.
Robinet, I. (1984) La Révélation du Shangqing Dans L’histoire du Taoïsme, 2 vols., Paris: École Française
d’Extrême-Orient.
Rocha, L.A. (2011) ‘Scientia sexualis versus ars erotica: Foucault, van Gulik, Needham’, Studies in
History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical
Sciences, 42.3: 328–43.
———— (2012) ‘The way of sex: Joseph Needham and Jolan Chang’, Studies in History and Philosophy
of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 43.3: 611–26.
———— (2015) ‘Translation and two Chinese “sexologies”: double plum and sex histories’, in H.
Bauer (ed.) Sexology and Translation: cultural and scientifc encounters across the modern world, London:
Temple University Press, pp. 154–73.
Roşu, A. (2002) ‘Pratiques tantriques au regard de l’andrologie médicale’, Journal Asiatique, 290.1:
293–313.
Safron, A. (2016) ‘What is orgasm? A model of sexual trance and climax via rhythmic entrainment’,
Socioafective Neuroscience and Psychology, 6: 31763.
Sakade, Yoshinobu 坂出祥伸 and Umekawa, Sumiyo 梅川純代 (2003, 20062) “Ki” no Shisō kara Miru
D ōkyō no B ōch ūjutsu – Ima ni Ikiru Kodai Ch ūgoku no Seiai Ch ōju H ō 「気」の思想から見る道教の
房中術 – いまに生きる古代中国の性愛長寿法 (Daoist Sexual Techniques from a point of view of
Qi – Chinese ancient sexual techniques which are still available), (Kokoro to Kyōyō Shir ī zu 心と教
養シリーズ, 3), Tokyo: Goyō Shobō 五曜書房.
Sherfey, M.J. (1966, 1972) The Nature and Evolution of Female Sexuality, New York: Vintage; 1972:
Random House.
Society for the Commemoration of the One Thousandth Anniversary of the ‘Ishimpo’ (ed.) (1984)
Dawning of Japanese Medicine – Ishimpo, Kyoto: Tsumura Juntendo.
Stanley-Baker, M. (2006) Cultivating Body, Cultivating Self: a critical translation and history of the Tang dy-
nasty Yangxing yanming lu (records of cultivating nature and extending life), MA thesis, Indiana University,
Bloomington.
Stifter, K.F. (1988) Die Dritte Dimension der Lust. Das Geheimnis der weiblichen Ejakulation, Frankfurt am
Main: Ullstein.
Sundahl, D. (2003) Female Ejaculation and the G-spot, Not Your Mother’s Orgasm Book!, Alameda, CA:
Hunter House.

353
 Rodo Pfster

Swartz, L.H. (1994) ‘Absorbed states play diferent roles in female and male sexual response: hypotheses
for testing’, Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 20.3: 244–53.
Swartz, M.J. (1958) ‘Sexuality and aggression on Romonum, Truk’, American Anthropologist, 60.3:
467–86.
Syed, R. (1999) ‘Zur Kenntnis der “Gräfenberg-Zone” und der weiblichen Ejakulation in der altin-
dischen Sexualwissenschaft’, Sudhofs Archiv, 83: 171–90.
Taiz, Lincoln and Taiz, Lee (2017) Flora Unveiled: the discovery and denial of sex in plants, New York:
Oxford University Press.
Tiefer, L. (1991) ‘Historical, scientifc, clinical and feminist criticisms of “the human sexual response
cycle” model’, Annual Review of Sex Research, 2.1: 1–23.
Triplett, K. (2014) ‘For mothers and sisters: care of the reproductive female body in the medico-ritual
world of early and medieval Japan’, Dynamis, 34.2: 337–56.
Tsuchiya, Eimei 土屋 英明 (2008) Ch ūgoku no seiaijutsu 中国の性愛術 (Erotic Art of China), Tokyo:
Shinchō Shu.
Umekawa, Sumiyo 梅川純代 (2005a) ‘Tiandi yinyang jiaohuang dalefu and the art of the bedcham-
ber’, in V. Lo and C. Cullen (eds) Medieval Chinese Medicine: the Dunhuang medical manuscripts, Lon-
don; New York: Routledge Curzon, pp. 252–77.
———— (2005b) ‘III.8 – Biyaku: Chū goku sei gihō ni okeru shoku 媚薬: 中国性技法における〈食〉
(Aphrodisiacs: Diet in Chinese Sexual Techniques), in Suzuki, Akihito 鈴木晃仁 and Ishizuka,
Hisao 石塚久郎 (eds) Shokuji no gih ō 食餌の技法. (Shintai i bunka ron 身体医文化論, IV) Tōkyō:
Keiō gijuku daigaku shuppankai 慶応義塾大学出版会, pp. 193–216.
Umekawa, Sumiyo 梅川純代 and Dear, D. (2018) ‘The relationship between Chinese erotic art and
the art of the bedchamber: a preliminary survey’, in V. Lo and P. Barrett (eds) Imagining Chinese
Medicine, Leiden; Boston, MA: Brill, pp. 215–26.
Umayahara, Shigeo 馬屋原成男 (kansh ū 監修); Ishihara, Akira 石原明, Takada, Shōjirō 高田正二郎
(kaisetsu 解說) and Iida, Yoshirō 飯田吉郎 (kundoku 訓読) (1967) Ishinp ō: maki dainij ūhachi, b ōnai:
kunaich ō shoryōbu zōhon 醫心方: 卷第廿八, 房內: 宮內庁書陵部蔵本 (Ishinp ō, scroll 28, The Cham-
ber-Intern: Edition of the Imperial Household Agency, Archives and Mausolea Division), Tōkyō:
Shibundō.
Van Gulik, R.H. 1951(2003) Erotic Colour Prints of the Ming Period, with an Essay on Chinese Sex Life from
the Han to the Ch’ing Dynasty, B.C. 206 – A.D. 1644, Leiden: E.J. Brill.
———— 1961(2004) Sexual Life in Ancient China: a preliminary survey of Chinese sex and society from ca.
1500 B.C. till A.D. 1644, with a new introduction and bibliography by Paul R. Goldin, Leiden: Brill.
Vincke, É. (1991) ‘Liquides sexuels féminins et rapports sociaux en Afrique centrale’, Anthropologie et
Sociétés, 15.2–3: 167–88.
Walter, T. (1999) ‘Plädoyer für die Abschafung des Orgasmus: Lust und Sprache am Beginn der Neu-
zeit’, Zeitschrift für Sexualforschung, 12.1: 25–49.
Wells, S. and Yao, Ping (2015) ‘Discourses on gender and sexuality’, in C. Benjamin (ed.) The Cam-
bridge World History, Volume 4: A World with States, Empires and Networks 1200 BCE–900 CE, Cam-
bridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 154–78.
Wile, D. (1992) Art of the Bedchamber: the Chinese sexology classics including women’s solo meditation texts,
Albany: State University of New York Press.
———— (2018) ‘Debaters of the bedchamber: China reexamines ancient sexual practices’, JOMEC
Journal, 12: 5–69.
Wouters, L.C.S. (2010) Sun Simiao’s Qianjinfang 千金方 (Voorschriften Ter Waarde Van Duizend
Goudstukken) Fangzhong buyi di ba 房中補益第八 (Het Herstellende van de Slaapkamer[kunsten]:
deel acht), MA thesis, Universiteit Gent.
Wundram, I.J. (1979) ‘Nonreproductive sexual behavior: ethological and cultural considerations’,
American Anthropologist, n.s. 81.1: 99–103.
Yang Geng 楊耕 (ed.) (1964) Tantan jihua shengyu 談談計劃生育 (Talking about Family Planning),
Tianjin: Tianjin renmin chubanshe.
Yang, Yong and Brown, M. (2017) ‘The Wuwei medical manuscripts: a brief introduction and trans-
lation’, Early China, 40: 241–301.
Yao, P. (2013) ‘Historicizing great bliss: erotic in Tang China (618–907)’, Journal of the History of Sex-
uality, 22.2: 207–29.
———— (2015) ‘Changing views on sexuality in early and medieval China’, Journal of Daoist Studies,
8: 52–68.

354
 The sexual body techniques

———— (2018) ‘Between topics and sources: researching the history of sexuality in imperial China’,
in: H. Chiang (ed.) Sexuality in China: histories of power and pleasure, Seattle: University of Washing-
ton Press, pp. 34–49.
Ye Dehui 葉德輝 (1903) Shuangmei jingan congshu 雙梅景闇叢書 (The Shadow of the Double Plum
Tree Anthology), Changsha: Yeshi kan 葉氏刊.
Zhang, H. (2013) ‘Enchantment, charming, and the notion of the femme fatale in early Chinese his-
toriography’, Asian Medicine, 8.2: 249–94.
Zhu Yueli 朱越利 (2002) ‘Fangxiandao he Huang-Lao dao de fangzhongshu 方仙道和黃老道的房中
術 (The Arts of the Bedchamber of Magic and Immortality Tradition and Huang–Lao Tradition)’,
Zongjiaoxue yanjiu, 1: 1–11.

355

View publication stats