Li Yinhe talks about sex

Chapter 3 Comparison of Eastern and Western Ideas of Sexuality (2)
Any behavior is acceptable, as long as it is not an excessive waste of life and energy.In Chinese culture, sex is neither a terrible thing nor a sinful thing, it is a natural thing that is beneficial to health and human relations.

The existing multiple sexual concepts in the world can be roughly divided into two categories: one kind has a basically affirmative attitude towards sex; the other kind has a basically negative attitude towards sex.The sexual concepts in ancient China belonged to the former category, that is, they held a basically positive view on sex.But later, this kind of sexual concept changed and developed towards the latter category, that is, a negative attitude towards sex. Until the end of the 20th century, a process of negation of negation began to take place and gradually improved.We can say that this process is a return to our ancient Chinese sexual culture, and we can also think that it is a spiral upward trend pointing to the concept of modernity with Chinese cultural characteristics.

In a nutshell, ancient Chinese sexual concepts emphasized the following two values: one is the harmony of yin and yang; the other is restraint of desire.

The harmony of yin and yang occupies an important position in ancient Chinese sexual concepts, and has a profound relationship with Chinese people's ideology.According to the concept of Chinese culture, the microscopic relationship between men and women is similar to the macroscopic relationship between heaven and earth, and the intercourse between men and women is like the intercourse between heaven and earth.The result of the union of clouds and rain, the union of heaven and earth, and the union of men and women is the birth of life.Therefore, the harmony of yin and yang is the way of life, the way of survival, and it is crucial to human life.

The idea of ​​yin and yang is the most characteristic of Chinese culture. One yin and one yang, one man and one woman;The two complement each other and are indispensable.The advantage of this concept is that, in this cultural context, sex is regarded as a good thing, not a sin; it is a thing that conforms to nature, not against it.Secondly, a by-product of this concept of sex is that yin and yang are of equal value, and one cannot lightly say which is more important.Harvesting yin can nourish yang, and harvesting yang can nourish yin. Both methods can also prolong life.

The theory of picking and supplementing may be accumulated experience, but there is no anatomical basis.It should be said that this is a hypothesis that has no scientific basis at all, but because many people believe it to be true and put it into practice, it has formed a culture, a belief, or a code of conduct over time.The importance of understanding Chinese sexuality cannot be ignored.

In addition to the idea of ​​yin and yang complementarity, the concept of restraint of desire also occupies an important position in the Chinese concept of human nature.Foucault once noticed that in ancient Greece, people also attached great importance to the abstinence of sexual activities, but did not pay attention to which behavior was right and which behavior was wrong.So strictly speaking, China and ancient Greece belong to the same type of sexual concept; the modern Western sexual concept belongs to another type of sexual concept.

There are a lot of discussions about restraining desires in ancient Chinese books.In the Chinese people's views on sex, the idea of ​​abstinence is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Sometimes, this kind of thinking even has a bit of mysterious and apocalyptic color.For example, Zhuangzi said: Those who have deep desires have shallow secrets.Both ancient books and folks have a large number of horror stories of indulgence and injury.The idea of ​​temperance is deeply rooted in the Chinese way of keeping in good health.The traditional Chinese concept of sex holds that although sex is a good thing, if you indulge too much, you will lose the balance of yin and yang.

Some foreign researchers describe ancient Chinese sexual concepts in this way: Chinese people can enjoy sexual pleasure naturally without feeling guilty like Westerners.The Chinese believe that all kinds of sexual positions are feasible and acceptable, and none of them is unnatural.In short, the Chinese have a very open and positive attitude towards sex. Although since the Qing Dynasty (one said it was the Song Dynasty), the public attitude has increasingly regarded sex as a private matter, and never talked about sex in public places, but for China For humans, sex is an activity that can make people happy physically and mentally, and prolong life.Generally speaking, according to the traditional Chinese concept of sex, in the field of sex, any behavior is acceptable, as long as it is not an excessive waste of life energy.In Chinese culture, sex is neither a terrible thing nor a sinful thing, it is a natural thing that is beneficial to health and human relations.

Since the ancient Chinese concept of sex was so devoid of guilt and regarded as a natural thing, why is it that in contemporary China, sex falls into a kind of morbid repression?Why is this society that has no prejudice against sex almost to the point of "disgusting when talking about sex"?Why is there an unprecedented intensity of inspection and self-examination of all publications?Could it be that sex in contemporary China has become a different thing from ancient China, from heaven and earth to a scourge?

Since when did the ancient Chinese concept of sex change?Some experts believe that since the Qing Dynasty, Chinese people's sexual concepts are no longer as free and primitive as they were in ancient times, but have changed a lot towards repression.Some people have listed a much earlier timetable for the change, thinking that in the 5000-year history of China, people's attitudes towards sex were basically positive in the first 4000 years; but from 1000 years ago (Song Dynasty, about 960 AD) It began to change, becoming more and more negative and depressive.

Negative attitudes toward sex became more and more serious in the second half of the 20th century, and a sexual atmosphere of asceticism pervaded Chinese society.Like all party groups initially united by ideals, China's revolutionary political parties also placed great emphasis on their moral strength when they were founded, and a key issue in the moral sphere is sexuality.In order to show and maintain its moral strength, the revolutionary party chose a strict sexual concept, and there was an extremely strict abstinence tendency within the revolutionary group.After liberation, this moral standard was promoted throughout the country, forming a very unique moral atmosphere.

In addition, the inherent shame of sex in Chinese culture has not disappeared.Its oppression on people still exists.In the Chinese concept of sex, sex is an unrefined affair that can only be done but not talked about.While this does not imply complete abstinence, the idea of ​​abstinence and abstinence have an aspect that is quite in tune.In recent decades, the abstinence tendency of the revolutionary groups in the early years merged with the inherent abstinence concept in Chinese society, resulting in the current status of sexuality in China, which has a strong color of repression and negation, which is reflected in the "Cultural Revolution" reach the peak.Although there has been a trend of becoming more and more relaxed in recent years, traces of modern anti-sexual tendencies can still be seen in the way society deals with some illegal and illegal behaviors.The change of sexual concept and sexual culture is an arduous and long process, which cannot be accomplished overnight.

At the turn of the century, my country's dull and repressed sexual concept began a new reversal. This process of negation of negation was deeply influenced by the large-scale sexual revolution that occurred in the West in the 60s and 70s.Regarding the merits and demerits of this sexual revolution, there are great disputes among various theories, schools and various political forces.The general view is that the main manifestations of the sexual revolution that took place in the 60 years of the 70s and 20s were: the great liberalization of sexual concepts, the increase in sexual relations outside of marriage, the increase in the number of sexual partners per person, and the fact that people can talk frankly about their relationship with sex. All related topics and various sexual discourses have been given the opportunity to express.The tone of the change is a shift in attitudes towards sex from negative to positive.

A direct consequence of this sexual revolution has been the separation of sexual activity from reproductive purposes.It can be said that the main factor affecting the modern conception of human nature is this separation.At present, from a worldwide perspective, contraception has become a common practice.In China, the contraceptive rate of married women has reached 83%, and in some areas it is higher than 90%. Even in the case of contraceptive failure, abortion can be used to terminate pregnancy.In some countries, the average abortion rate per 55 pregnancies can be as high as 31%.In China, the abortion ratio reaches [-]%, that is, nearly one-third of every hundred pregnancies are infertile, not to mention that the vast majority of sexual intercourse does not lead to pregnancy at all.Widespread contraception, sterilization, and abortion have made the separation of sexual activity and childbearing increasingly apparent.In this case, changes in sexual concepts are inevitable.Not only is procreation no longer the sole purpose of sex, it is not even the main purpose of sex.Judging from the proportion of sexual activities for procreation in all human sexual activities, procreation can only be regarded as a very insignificant one among all sexual purposes.

Although there are cultural differences, since entering the modern society, the modern sexual concept formed in various cultures still has some universality, and its keynote is to give positive value to sex.It is manifested in: an increased sense of personal independence and the right to personal liberty in the pursuit of pleasure; a weakened sense of the connection between sexual pleasure and guilt; The established norms have been popularized all over the world by the end of the 18th century.Modern culture has created values ​​such as: a high appreciation for romance and passionate love; marriage for love (against arranged marriages); equal relations among family members (against patriarchy, hierarchy, sexual freedom for both sexes; equality between men and women Tolerance to sexual activities. These concepts were first formed in Western society, and then spread to all corners of the world through mass media such as radio and video.

The concept of modernity regards sex as a natural function, and believes that people should have the right to freely express their sexual nature.This concept strongly opposes various sexual taboos and repressions, criticizes hypocrisy, and criticizes double standards on sexual issues.In the United States and Western Europe, the study of sexology has initiated a process of secularization of sexual life, from the realm of religion and morality to the realm of purely private behavior, reducing the degree of control of indirect social means of controlling sexual expression, such as laws or The degree to which other non-personal third parties interfere with an individual's behavior in private.

The ancient philosopher said: "I am a human being, and I have everything that a human being has." In other words, the nature that a human being can have and the behavior that a human being can perform are not unnatural.The famous sexologist Kinsey also expressed his views on sex in a similar way: the only unnatural sexual activity is the unrealistic sexual activity.Kinsey's concept expresses the ideological essence of modern sociality concept.After entering modern times, a general trend in the development and change of sexual concepts is to recognize all sexual activities, no matter what their goals are, what their forms are, what their contents are, and what their objects (including gender) are, as long as they are physiologically If it can be practiced, there is nothing impossible.This latest concept of modernity is entering the mainstream of sexuality in our country. This is an irreversible trend in a society where the awareness of individual rights is at an all-time high, and it is also the gospel for every one of us living in this society.

(End of this chapter)