Did a Taoist Art of the bedchamber of male Homosexuality Exist?

Did a Taoist Art of the bedchamber of male Homosexuality Exist?

This is the question posed by Zhang Wanrong in an intriguing article published last year in the journal Religions[1].

The Taoist  Art of the bedchamber

For those unfamiliar with the topic, among the techniques for achieving immortality—practices intended to preserve health and attain longevity—was the so-called Taoist sexuality or  Art of the bedchamber. It was based on altering the balance of yang and yin energies in favor of the man. Essentially, Taoists proposed that men could enhance their yang life energy by engaging in intercourse with multiple women, especially young or virgin women, who were believed to possess strong yin or feminine energy. By controlling their ejaculation and not losing their yang essence, they would continuously accumulate yang, ultimately achieving long life and potential immortality.

Some of the classic texts that formed the basis of these theories even recommended group sex and encouraged practitioners to have relations with numerous very young women.

Homosexual Love in 17th-Century China

On the other hand, it is well known that during the late Ming dynasty and the early Qing dynasty—essentially from the 17th to the 19th century—there was a tremendous wave of male homosexual love in China. While there are already records of homoerotic relationships between various emperors and their favorites or eunuchs—indeed, the Book of Han (Hanshu) mentions favorites who would sleep and wake with the emperor—during this period, homosexuality became fashionable among scholars and the upper classes. Many intellectuals sought young boys to satisfy their pleasures, though relationships between equals also existed.

Erotic Novels with Homosexual Themes

According to Mr. Zhang, some writers of erotic novels with homosexual themes may have attempted to provide a sort of health-based justification for these practices by incorporating them into the Taoist  Art of the bedchamber. They claimed that young boys under the age of twenty had not yet developed yang energy and could therefore be grouped with young girls, in whom yin energy predominated. Consequently, sexual relations with them were purportedly just as beneficial for health as relations with women. However, no medical texts support this claim.

As fundamental references, some novels from that period include Yichun Xiangzhi (The Fragrance of Quality of the Good Spring) and Feng Shuangfei (Two Phoenixes Flying Together), as well as descriptions of the life of a famous Taoist, Ma Zhenyi (馬真一), who, interestingly, employed both elderly women and very young boys in his immortality techniques.

A Cultural Justification

As we can see, there is no strong historical foundation for the existence of a homosexual  Art of the bedchamber among Taoists. However, as the author points out, this notion at least provided a culturally and health-based justification (as some narratives traced its origins to alleged homosexual relations between Laozi and Xin Yi, the guardian of the Western Pass for whom he wrote the Daodejing) for those who practiced it.

Regarding the passive partner in these relationships, one novel (Bian’er ChaiCap and Hairpin) even offers a health-related justification, depicting a protagonist who nourishes his yang when having relations with women and his yin when with men.

It is certainly an intriguing and thought-provoking proposition. Future research may confirm or refute it, but in the obscure realm of the history of sexuality in classical China, it remains, at the very least, a bold hypothesis.

[1] Zhang Wanrong. The Daoist Art of the Bedchamber of Male Homosexuality in Ming and Qing Literature. Religions, 15: 841. 2024.

About me: I have spent 30 years in China, much of the time traveling and studying this country’s culture. My most popular research focuses on Chinese characters (Chinese Characters: An Easy Learning Method Based on Their Etymology and Evolution), Matriarchy in China (there is a book with this title), and minority cultures (The Naxi of Southwest China). In my travels, I have specialized in Yunnan, Tibet, the Silk Road, and other lesser-known places. Feel free to write to me if you’re planning a trip to China. The agency I collaborate with offers excellent service at an unbeatable price. You’ll find my email below.

jinuo book

Last posts

The goat in the Chinese horoscope

The goat in the Chinese horoscope

The Goat in the Chinese horoscope The goat and the sheep are confused in the symbolism of Chinese culture, as both are written with the Yang character 羊, specifying that the sheep gives wool (绵羊) and the goat lives in the mountain (山羊), in general, both have an...

The Pig in the Chinese horoscope

The Pig in the Chinese horoscope

The Pig in the Chinese horoscope The pig in Chinese culture is an ambiguous character. It is seen as fat and ugly, feeding on the dirtiest things, but at the same time, its meat is the most appetizing for the Chinese. His meat is "meat" in general, as an archetype of...

The Dragon in the Chinese Horoscope

The Dragon in the Chinese Horoscope

The Dragon in the Chinese Horoscope The dragon is the only animal in the Chinese horoscope that has only an imaginary existence, and in fact, in the horoscope of other indigenous peoples of China, it is replaced by another animal. Although the dragon is an imaginary...

The Rooster in the Chinese horoscope

The Rooster in the Chinese horoscope

The Rooster in the Chinese horoscope In Chinese culture, as in many others, the rooster is closely associated with the sun. In some myths it is only in charge of calling the sun to rise every morning, a task in which other animals have failed, in others the rooster is...

The Monkey in the Chinese Horoscope

The Monkey in the Chinese Horoscope

The Monkey in the Chinese Horoscope  In the Chinese culture the monkey has a role similar to the one that Darwin gives him in the evolutionary scale. As man's younger brother, he participates in many of his qualities, in addition, in many occasions he enjoys the...

Dog in Chinese horoscope

Dog in Chinese horoscope

Dog in the Chinese horoscope  The dog is one of the most important animals in Chinese culture and is the first of the domestic animals that accompanied the ancestors of the Chinese in their activities on earth. From very early on it played a decisive role in the...