New book by Ge Fei looks past the sex in classic Chinese erotic novel

Cover for Hidden Egret behind Snow Photo: Courtesy of Yilin Press

Although its sexual nature has prevented a complete edition of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) erotic novel The Golden Lotus from being published in its entirety in the Chinese mainland, whenever people talk about the most important books in the history of Chinese literature its name is sure to come up.

The significance of this work is underscored by the various books aimed at analyzing and interpreting the novel's story and symbology. In fact, so many critical works examining the novel have appeared in recent years that academics have come up with the term "Golden-ology" to group these studies together, much in the same way the study of another important literature classic, Dream of Red Mansions, is referred to as "Red-ology."

Written by famous writer Ge Fei, winner of this year's Lu Xun Literature Prize, Hidden Egret behind Snow is the newest book to tackle Lotus. Although already out for a month now, the book has ignited considerable enthusiasm among readers for the broad vision Ge uses when approaching the study of the classic novel.

Placing the sexual depictions portrayed in the book against the global background of the 16th century, a time when different philosophies and thought were emerging in different corners of the world, Ge examines the book from multiple viewpoints, to include economic, religious, ethical and philosophical perspectives, in order to show that Lotus is far from a simple work of erotica, and in fact has no less literary value than Dream.

Window to the past

Having read Lotus repeatedly over the past 20 years, the results of Ge's two decades of research are all contained within his new book. Here Ge reveals that he actually began approaching this "forbidden" book in the 1990s, after being irritated by an article by a famous literature critic who claimed that Lotus was much better than Dream.

A long time fan of the latter work, Ge wasn't willing to take this opinion sitting down. However, now after years of research, Ge believes that both books are works of great literature value, and that in fact, in some areas, Lotus is the more pioneering work. In a sense, this opinion corresponds with the long popular view that Dream was actually influenced by the earlier Ming novel.

Written 200 years earlier than Dream, according to Ge, one of the biggest sources of Lotus' value lies in its depictions of society at the time. Ge takes special note of the novel's naturalistic writing style in his notes. Differing from other literature classics like Water Margin or Dream, this naturalistic style makes it very possible that the novel is highly reflective of Ming society, hence offering later generations the perfect literary window to look into this historic time period.

The fact that later literature works failed to inherit this type of naturalistic writing style is also one reason Lotus is so treasured by researchers today.

Moral relativism

On equal footing to the notoriety of the sex scenes in the book are the infamous reputations of its characters. It truly seems that there is no single ethical or righteous person throughout the novel. It seems no one is ethical or righteous in the novel. The two most representative figures, Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian, are morally corrupted adulterers. However, under Ge's magnifying glass it becomes more difficult to judge these characters. Despite that many readers have traditionally seen these people as utterly evil, according to Ge the book is not that cut and dry.

Take the depiction of Pan Jinlian, China's quintessential adulteress. Over the years, experts in "Golden-ology" have taken a much more neutral stance towards this figure, pointing out that she isn't just some promiscuous and frivolous woman. While admitting that many of Pan's actions are unethical in nature, they also point out that she is a very smart and frank character under the pen of Lotus' anonymous writer, and that each time she appears the language instantly comes alive.

In an interview Ge once explained that Pan is actually a very complicated character, and that the author of Lotus poured a lot of his or her own thoughts and feelings into this character.

The complexity of these figures is directly connected to the author's values and philosophy about life and the world. Unlike many previous studies about Lotus, Ge isn't obsessed with finding out the real identity of the author behind this great work, instead, he looks at this question from a larger perspective, looking at the time and cultural in which the author lived, and seeks to answer from where the relativism that penetrates the whole novel originated.

Comparing East and West

Ge's deep interpretative study of the book, has convinced many readers of Lotus' importance. Looking at the book as one of many written towards the end and after the 16th century, Ge discovered that the novel has much in common with the works of French philosopher and writer Marquis de Sade (1740-1814), an author widely known for his erotic novels.

Living during the troubled period of the French Revolution, according to Ge, the French writer created his characters based on an anti-morale philosophy. In many ways his characters share many similarities to Lotus' Ximen Qing, the merchant who murders Pan Jilian's husband and takes her as one of his wives.

Noticing the similarities between characters from different works, Ge takes a closer look at the emerging philosophical and religious examinations about moral relativism in China and the West during and after the 17th century.

Citing important Western philosophical works by philosophers such as Nietzsche, Ge believes the great changes (such as the French Revolution) and philosophy of the West during the 18th century were based on the discovery of the Nature, which gave rise to anti-Christianity, anti-morality and anti-rational thought.

A similar situation can be seen a few hundred years earlier in China, when the philosophy of one of China's great philosophers, Wang Yangming (1472-1529), was changing people's thoughts and ideas during the Ming Dynasty.

An emphasis on "human nature" was an important part of Wang's philosophy. And this, according to Ge, is the root behind the philosophy embodied in Lotus, which explicitly shows every possible side of human nature, to include humanity's uglier side. This, Ge points out, is another reason why Lotus is such an important work for today's society. Although culture and society has changed over the years, the basic nature of human beings has not.