Banned Books Week!

So apparently it's Banned Books Week. As you can imagine, dear reader, a vast number of books have been banned in China through the ages, ranging from the dangerously sexy to dangerously political. Here are a tiny selection of things that have in fact been stricken off shelves at some point (though of course, thanks to long-rooted traditions of piracy and under-the-table trade, the texts still managed to survive in many cases).

1. Plum in the Golden Vase 金瓶梅 [1617， 1627-40]
Considered a great literary classic on par with Journey to the West 西游记 and A Dream of Red Mansions/Story of the Stone 红楼梦/石头记. Plum (and a host of other erotic novels, ranging from the 14th-century New Tales of Cutting the Lamp-wick, with relatively tame and allusive depictions of man-ghost liaisons, to far more "hardcore" works like The Carnal Prayer Mat) was banned constantly almost from its first printing. Indeed, it's still none too easy to find an uncensored edition today, though a vogue among those who can afford it for "banned and destroyed" (销毁 ) books may be changing that.

Awesomely, this influential work is actually a fan-novel of another great novel, Outlaws of the Marsh/The Water Margin 水浒传*, which was also banned (by an Establishment concerned bythe glorification of criminals and less-than-lawful activities). Mao's supposed preference for this book becomes ironic in the light of his own, er, unenthusiastic response to potential "deviants" or questioners of his power.

2. Tombstone: A Record Of the Great Famine of China in the 60s [2008]
This book is terrifying. In two volumes, Yang Jisheng describes the horrors of the so-called "Three Years of Natural Disasters" from 1959-61. Gruesome death by starvation and dropsy are only the start; cannibalism--sometimes of one's own children and other kin--is also recorded with unrelenting detail and gravity.
Of course this was immediately suppressed. If you have to ask why, all that talk about how the response to the milk scandal really marks positive growth and change has turned your head too much. The copy I saw came from Hong Kong, but perhaps somewhere out there in the back room of a shady little bookstore one may purchase a copy. There are a host of websites in Chinese discussing the book, but who knows what people inside the coziness of the Great Firewall can get.

3. Death Note [2003-06]
Yes, I mean the comic series. Apparently schoolkids began writing disfavored teachers' and classmates' names in "Death Notes" in imitation of the protagonist of the manga, whose magical notebook could kill the people whose names were written in it. So instead of thinking about why students would 1) hate their instructors and peers so heartily 2) be unable or unwilling to express such sentiments in less puerile ways, the authorities banned the books--only on the Mainland, though. Hong Kong and Taiwanese kiddies can handle the "poison," so no bans there.**

*Call me immature, but I can't help giggling when I see Pearl Buck's title, All Men are Brothers. Smacks of a whole other arena of fanwork.
**A couple of articles I skimmed about this mention the possibility that bans were enforced because of rampant piracy of the DN series. But banning things doesn't usually resolve violations of corporate licensing. Plus, no legal editions were permitted, either.

17th-century sex education

I got a very pretty edition of Bian er chai (弁而钗)from the library, thinking I'd need it for my thesis, but all I ended up doing was reading two of the four standalone sections, namely "Chaste Love"(情贞) and "Chivalrous Love"(情侠), for fun. [The edition in question is part of a series of erotic xiaoshuo, Si wu xie hui bao, published by a joint Taiwanese-French venture, btw.]

What really tickled me were the frequent interjections from the commentator, which are to me best described as those of a "seventeenth-century literatus fanboy." I'm sure this, er, epithet will strike about zero of the people who actually work with Bian er chai as serious or even accurate, but...well, I should probably let others decide. Starting today I'll post some translated bits of the text with commentary here, and if anyone ever reads them they can sort out the fanboy-or-not question hirself. [NB: no translations of the text into English exist, as far as I'm aware. All the better because my rendition can't get compared to real professionals'!]

To assure you, dear hypothetical reader, that I'm not in this for prurient ends (alone), I should add some FYI about BEC first. Its author is known only as "West Lake-Drunk Master Moon Heart" (醉西湖心月主人); he put out another erotic anthology called the Yi chun xiang zhi (宜春香质, "Fragrance from the Court of Spring"). BEC's full name is Bi geng shan fang bian er chai (笔耕山房弁而钗), "Cap and Hairpin of the Bigeng Mountain Room," and was published late in the Ming dynasty, during the reign of Emperor Chongzhen (r. 1627-1644). The commentator called himself "Resisting Heaven is Futile Daoist Ha-ha " (奈何天呵呵道人--I know the translation sounds like Babelfish, but it's the best I could do). Master Moon-Heart wrote in baihua, or vernacular Chinese.

Now that I've gotten some kind of gesture toward edification out of the way, let me begin the first installment:

Chapter the First: The Interested Hanlin Scholar Disguises Himself to Seek a Friend; The Charming Student Shows Himself a Hero.

The tale goes that there was a student in Yangzhou prefecture, Jiangdu county, who was named Zhao Wangsun, with the courtesy name Zijian. He was fifteen, with delicate, long eyebrows and bright, quick eyes. (Daoist Ha-ha: Nice portrait.) His hair was black as if painted and hung to his shoulders. His face was pale as if powdered, and his lips red as if rouged. His teeth were white and his flesh glowing. Even an immortal would probably be not much better than this. All who saw him were bewitched.

But student Zhao was also a diligent student who had all the classics at his command, and was ambitious, so he never interacted with devious people. (Daoist Ha-ha: Good means of self-preservation.) ...[cold young master Zhao goes to attend a private school headed by one Master Qin, and is assigned a room.] After meeting his Master and hearing the strict rules of the school, student Zhao returned to his room, which was quite tidy and pleasing. Satisfied, he murmured to himself, "Now I'll be free of those lewd companions for good." (Daoist Ha-ha: Not necessarily.) ...

[Enter one hotshot Hanlin scholar, Mr. Feng, who happens to also "love the man-route." Cute Wangsun bumps into his procession one day, and there's some mutual glancing.] That Hanlin sitting on the sedan-chair was not more than twenty years old, in black-satin cap, white-soled boots, blue robe and silver belt, his face as jade and his gaze as autumn water. (Daoist Ha-ha: Like a picture.) Suddenly catching sight of student Zhao, who sparkled blindingly, the Hanlin's soul quickly vacated his flesh. He thought, "What kind of old crone gave birth to a pleasing little piece like this?"
...
[As the Hanlin and his servant-boy "Fragrance" engage in the first sex scene of the book:]
Fragrance cried out, "Sir, harder. Inside it doesn't hurt, doesn't itch, isn't sore, isn't numb--I don't know what it is, but it's uncomfortable." (Daoist Ha-ha: The Western Nirvana-paradise has appeared.) ... The lewd fluids" burst from Fragrance. (Daoist Ha-ha: Marvelous.)

Okay, I think that makes the point pretty well.

Next time, I will bring you the Joys of the "Rear Courtyard." Stay tuned!