Ebook: Chinese erotic art

Chinese erotic art. Translated from the French by Diana Imber
28 color plates
103 black-and-white illustrations
By
Michel Beurdeley, expert in Far Eastern art.
Kristofer Schipper, sinologist and member of the Ecole Francaise d'Extreme-Orient.
Chang Fu-Jui graduate of the French/Chinese University of Peking, Dr. es Lettres of the University of Paris, Diplome of the Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, lecturer in Chinese at the Sorbonne.
Jacques Pimpaneau, professor at the Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientates, Paris, at present professor at the University of Hong Kong.
Love is no less important in China than elsewhere, and this book presents the art of love as described by Chinese writers. An abundant erotic literature proves that the Chinese were masters in this, the first of the arts, the art of the “alcove” or “bed-chamber,” as it is described by Chinese encyclopedists. In the East and Far East this art constitutes supreme joy. pleasure without remorse: those who practice it are only seeking paradise on earth.
The first chapter, “Science, Magic and the Mystery of the Body: Notes on Taoism and Sexuality,” is the work of Kristofer Schipper. This sinologist spent several months in temples in southern Formosa doing research on ancient Taoist ritual.
Chang Fu-Jui chose and translated the Chinese poems linking the different essays. The scabrous subject of sadism is handled with knowledge and subtlety by Jacques Pimpaneau. Franklin Chow adapted Li Yu's novel The Tsui Ya Pavilion. Michel Beurdeley, author of Chinese Trade Porcelain and The Chinese Collector Through the Centuries, has combined these elements into a whole and contributed the Preface and the chapters entitled “Cut Sleeves,” “Love for the Perfumed Companion,” and “Foot Fetishism.” He is also responsible for the illustrations, which comprise paintings by the great masters and rare prints taken from novels published in the Ming dynasty. Also included are several gouaches—some rather naive —from scrolls and albums of the 18th and 19th centuries.
The publishers hold the opinion that this delicate subject is handled here with a real concern for knowledge. All documents are reproduced in toto without hypocrisy or censure.