Geckos and the “Mark of Chastity” in Imperial China: History, Symbolism, and Cultural Context

Across the long span of imperial Chinese history, the gecko occupied a surprisingly prominent place in discussions of female chastity, bodily integrity, and the regulation of sexuality. For over two millennia, texts from diverse genres—medical treatises, anecdotal literature, local histories, and ritual manuals—refer to a substance made from geckos that could, in theory, record or even guarantee the virginity of young women. This substance was known as the shougong (守宫), often glossed as the “guardian of the palace.”

The Term Shougong: From Zoological Label to Moral Technology

In premodern Chinese literature, one of the most common names for the gecko was shougong, literally “guardian of the palace.” The “palace” in this context did not denote an architectural space but the female body—specifically the condition of sexual untouchedness.

The term thus carried both a zoological and a moral dimension. The creature itself became embedded in a symbolic system that linked reptilian physiology, alchemical substances, and social expectations regarding women’s behavior.

The Formula for the Mark of Chastity

A well-known description—summarized by Wolfram Eberhard in The Local Cultures of South and East China—explains the procedure as follows:

1. A gecko was raised and fed large quantities of cinnabar (mercuric sulfide).
2. Once thoroughly saturated with the mineral, the animal was killed and reduced to a fine powder.
3. This powder, when applied to the skin of a young woman, produced a red mark.
4. According to the belief, the mark would remain so long as she remained sexually abstinent.

The result was a material artifact that, for those who accepted its efficacy, functioned as both a physical and moral indicator.

Early Evidence: The Mawangdui Medical Manuscript

Olivia Milburn, in her fascinating study, points one that one of the earliest attestations comes from the medical manuscript found in Tomb 3 at Mawangdui, sealed shortly after 200 BCE. The formula preserved there confirms that the association between geckos, cinnabar, and the monitoring of female sexuality dates back to at least the late Warring States or early Han period.

This early evidence also indicates that the practice did not emerge suddenly but was incorporated into a broader repertoire of pharmacological and magical techniques.

The Canonical Version: The Bowu zhi

The most influential description appears in Zhang Hua’s (232–300) Bowu zhi, a wide-ranging compendium of curiosities and natural lore. The text outlines the method in characteristic detail:

“If one keeps the creature in a container and feeds it cinnabar, its body will turn entirely red.
After it consumes seven jin, melt it down and grind it ten thousand times.
Apply the resulting powder to a young woman’s body.
It will not disappear throughout her life, unless she engages in sexual activity.”

From the Song period onward, many sources refer to gecko blood as an alternative to the powdered substance, though the symbolic logic remained unchanged.

Chastity, the Imperial Harem, and the Semiotics of the Mark

From the Tang dynasty onward, numerous biographies of palace women mention the shougong mark. In these narratives, the endurance or fading of the mark acquired strong interpretive force:

• If the mark disappeared prematurely, it was taken as a sign of desire for marriage or conjugal union.
• If it remained, it was read as emblematic of a woman’s constrained life within the harem, where many were never summoned by the emperor.

Such stories generated centuries of speculation about the chastity or sexual histories of specific historical figures, revealing how deeply the mark became entwined with elite moral discourse.

Why the Gecko? Intersections of Zoology and Imperial Symbolism

Neither Eberhard nor Milburn proposes a definitive origin for the gecko’s connection to chastity, but one plausible line of interpretation points to its association with the dragon. In various Chinese contexts, the gecko was conceptualized as a minor or diminutive dragon, a creature capable of influencing rain and weather patterns.

Given the emperor’s status as the Son of the Dragon, the use of a “dragon-like” creature to mark women destined for or associated with the palace aligns with the symbolic grammar of imperial ideology.

This linkage between reptilian potency, cinnabar (a mineral central to Daoist alchemy), and state-regulated sexuality likely contributed to the longevity of the belief.

From Elite Practice to Popular Belief

Although the practice probably originated in elite or palace settings, its diffusion into local cultures meant that it eventually operated as a form of symbolic and social control. Young women, convinced that the mark recorded their virtue, avoided both sexual experimentation and the removal of the stain. Over generations, this belief stabilized as self-reinforcing custom.

Thus, the shougong became not merely a medicinal preparation but a technology of discipline, sustained by the interplay of ritual, pharmacology, and moral expectation.

Selected Further Reading

• Wolfram Eberhard, The Local Cultures of South and East China (Brill, 1968).
• Olivia Milburn, The Imagery of House Geckos and Tokay Geckos in Imperial Era Chinese Literature (Sino-Platonic Papers, No. 346, 2024).