Sexual vampire
A sexual vampire practiced esoteric Daoist sexual techniques where one partner purportedly strengthened their own body by absorbing the other partner's and without emitting any of one's own. Practitioners believed that sexual vampirism could enable them to maintain eternal youth and become a Daoist . However, an unwitting victim repeatedly subjected to sexual vampirism would supposedly weaken and die.
Myths about Chinese gods and immortals recount sexual vampires who allegedly became transcendents. For instance, after having sexual intercourse with 1,200 young women, the legendary Yellow Emperor achieved spiritual transcendence and ascended into heaven.
In Chinese erotic literature and sex manuals, intercourse is often metaphorically referred to as a "battle" or "war" of the sexes. This metaphor emphasizes the idea of one partner "defeating" the "enemy" through a c=採戰. These texts are predominantly written for a male audience, guiding men to defeat their female enemy in a "sexual battle" by mastering Daoist ejaculation control. The goal is to excite the female partner until she reaches orgasm and sheds her essence, which the male then absorbs.
Two Chinese mythological creatures are comparable to sex vampires. A kills people to absorb their . A or shapeshifts into a beautiful woman who seduces men to absorb their . In both Chinese mythology and popular literature, the themes of vampires and "other monsters avid for sperm abound".
A Chinese sexual vampire is analogous to English terms like psychic vampire, energy vampire, succubus, or incubus. These mythical beings feed on human vital forces, similar to traditional vampires who purportedly feed on blood.
Theoretical background
The ancient Chinese belief in achieving immortality through predatory intercourse might appear outlandish to contemporary readers, but it is deeply rooted in traditional Chinese theories of. is considered the fundamental substance that animates all living beings and forms the basis of the universe. Within the human body, manifests through various aspects, including and, prevalent in women and men, respectively. At the moment of orgasm, people release a highly concentrated form of known as. In men, is equated with semen, while in women, it is associated with vaginal lubrication or menstrual fluid.and are part of the Three Treasures in traditional Chinese medicine, along with. In practices, these Three Treasures can be transmuted sequentially. Using the concept of, Daoist sexual techniques posited that by absorbing a partner's genital fluids without releasing one's own, one could increase one's store of at the expense of the partner, who could waste away and die if the technique was overused.
Chinese bedchamber manuals aimed to teach methods of inducing orgasms in sexual partners while preventing the leakage of one's vital liquids. In heterosexual intercourse, each partner would exchange their abundant aspect of with the other's, creating a healthy balance of and. However, in homosexual intercourse, partners would absorb the same aspect of they secreted, resulting in no net benefit to either.
The theory of vampiric intercourse involved "sucking in" a partner's secretions without emitting any, either by suppressing orgasm or through injaculation, to extend one's lifespan. Techniques such as coitus interruptus, coitus saxonicus, and coitus reservatus were employed to achieve this goal.
Paul R. Goldin, a professor of Chinese Thought at the University of Pennsylvania, explains that two fundamental aspects of Chinese culture made belief in sexual vampirism possible. First, early Chinese views on sin did not consider sex sinful. Unless legally or religiously forbidden, partners were free to engage in any sexual activities they desired. This laissez-faire attitude allowed the consumption of sexual partners for nutritive purposes to be seen as no different from consuming food or medicine. Second, the "materialistic cosmology" of Chinese culture viewed people as containers of that a knowledgeable person could manipulate and consume for their benefit.
Ultimately, sexual vampires, along with the underlying Chinese concepts of life force and sexual energy, are pseudoscientific. "Why should one speak of ‘sexual vampirism’, even though the topic is largely neglected by our technical texts? Is this silence not precisely what reveals the outright imaginary character of the nourishing transfer? Texts on sexual body techniques are thus being silent, where literary, fictional texts fill in the blank space with the figure of dangerous fox ghosts that seduce men in human female appearance".
Battle of the sexes
Some Daoist texts on sexual alchemy consider intercourse mainly as a means for attaining transcendence, and figuratively refer to it as a "battle". This metaphor is also common in Western literature, for example, Robin Baker's Sperm Wars. Distinctly Chinese is, however, the notion that the "victory" belongs to the sex partner who "succeeds in obtaining the other's vital essence thereby increasing one's supply of vital force".The arcane term, first recorded in the Song dynasty, describes the practice of sexual vampirism in which one partner tries to obtain energies at the loss of the other. This word combines, translatable as "pick, pluck, gather; cull, select, choose, adopt; extract, exploit; collect, cluster; bunch up, assemble"; and, "battle, combat; fight with weapons; clash of arms; war; struggle, contend for". The unabridged monolingual, which is lexicographically comparable to the Oxford English Dictionary, defines as, which in turn is defined as.
Various English translations of reflect its complexity:
- "plucking in combat"
- "gathering through battle"
- "plucking battle"
- "the battle of gathering"
- "reaping the rewards of battle"
- "battle of stealing essences"
- "battle of absorption"
The 2nd- or 3rd-century contains an early "sexual enemy" reference.
In engaging the enemy a man should regard her as so much tiles or stone and himself as gold or jade. When his is aroused, he should immediately withdraw from her territory. One should mount a woman as if riding a galloping horse with rotten reins or as if fearful of falling into a deep pit lined with knife blades. If you treasure your, your life will have no limit.
The translator Wile notes that this phrase is a military and sexual double entendre for "to resist the enemy" and "to have intercourse".
The 5th- or 6th-century text begins, "A superior general when he engages the enemy will first concentrate on drawing out his opponent, and as it were suck and inhale the enemy's strength. He will adopt a completely detached attitude, resembling a man who closes his eyes in utter indifference." This metaphorical extension from martial to erotic terminology is appropriate because Chinese martial arts and sexual alchemy share two common judo-like principles: begin by yielding to one's opponent to catch them off balance; conserve one's force while utilizing that of the opponent.
''Yufang zhiyao'' and ''Yufang mijue''
Two Han dynasty sex manuals, the and, offer insights into the complex and often sexist Chinese views of sexual vampirism. These texts are part of the broader category of. The, like most Daoist texts predominantly describes male sex vampires, while the uncommonly describes female ones. Both sexological classics, along with several others such as the above, were lost in China by the end of the Tang dynasty in 907, but fortunately, they were preserved in Japan as part of Tambo Yasunori's 984 Chinese medical chrestomathy Ishinpō, and those recovered textual fragments were reconstructed in the early 20th century.The emphasizes male sexual practices, and begins by quoting the mythical Chinese Methuselah Peng Zu,
The Yellow Emperor mounted 1,200 women and thus achieved immortality, whereas the ordinary man cuts down his life with just one. Is there not a great gap between knowledge and ignorance? Those who know the regret only having too few opportunities for mounting. It is not always necessary to have those who are beautiful, but simply those who are young, who have not yet borne children, and who are amply covered with flesh. If one can secure but seven or eight such women, it will be of great benefit.
There is no mystery to the of intercourse. It is simply to be free and unhurried and to value harmony above all. Fondle her and "seek to fill her mouth." Press deeply into her and move ever so slightly to induce her. When the woman feels the influence of there are subtle signs. Her ears become hot as if she had drunk good wine. Her breasts swell and fill the whole hand when held. She moves her neck repeatedly while her feet agitate. Becoming passionate and alluring she suddenly clasps the man's body. At this moment, draw back slightly and penetrate her shallowly. The will then gain at the expense of the.
Kristofer Schipper described this gap between knowledge and ignorance as "a mixed bag of tricks, some rather funny, but in general frankly morbid".
The presents a unique perspective by describing female sexual vampirism for longevity, particularly through the figure of the Queen Mother of the West, who supposedly had intercourse with numerous young boys and consumed their life force, thereby cultivating her sexual energy and becoming a transcendent and famed goddess. Jolan Chang interprets this "somewhat apocryphal" story to indicate that the Queen Mother had all the characteristics of a vampire and conformed with the cross-cultural trope of the femme fatale.
Nevertheless, other passages in this same text follow the tradition of male-centric sexual vampirism. The one directly preceding the Queen Mother passage is an excellent example.
To frequently change female partners brings increased benefit. More than ten partners in one night is especially good. If one constantly has intercourse with the same woman, her will become weak, and this is not only of no great benefit to the man, but will cause her to become thin and emaciated."
The Daoist canonical tradition represents the Queen Mother of the West as the goddess of immortality who resides on mythical Mount Kunlun, where she served the famous Peaches of Immortality to human and divine guests. In stark contrast, the sexually represents her as a woman who "attained eternal youth and transcendency through a combination of sexual techniques designed to suck the vitality from her male partners", which suggests that sexual vampirism will allow any woman who follows its instructions "to achieve transcendency at the cost of the ill-health of any man unfortunate enough to fall into her clutches."
It is not only that can be cultivated, but too. The Queen Mother of the West cultivated her and attained the. As soon as she had intercourse with a man he would immediately take sick, while her complexion would become radiant without the use of rouge or powder. She always ate curds and plucked the "five stringed lute" thereby harmonizing her heart, concentrating her mind, and was without any other desire. The Queen Mother had no husband but was fond of intercourse with young boys. Therefore, this cannot be an orthodox teaching; but can the Queen Mother be alone in this?
When having intercourse with men, you must calm the heart and still the mind. If the man is not yet fully aroused, you must wait for hisVan Gulik's influence
Robert van Gulik, a Dutch diplomat, orientalist, and author, made significant contributions to the understanding of traditional Chinese sexuality through his seminal works, Erotic Colour Prints of the Ming Period and Sexual Life in Ancient China; A Preliminary Survey of Chinese Sex and Society from ca. 1500 B.C. till 1644 A.D.. In these works, van Gulik delved into the complex and often misunderstood aspects of ancient Chinese sexual customs, and was the first scholar to call Daoist sexual practices "sexual vampirism"
Theoretical complications underlying his scholarship have been criticized by scholars such as Charlotte Furth: "Van Gulik's message to his mid-twentieth-century English-speaking reader was that traditional Chinese sexual norms were healthy, neither 'repressed' nor 'perverted'. Van Gulik's criteria here are those of Freudian discourse: what is repressive is abstinence, while perversions divert libido away from its proper genital outlets or channel it into sadomasochistic cruelties."
Van Gulik's interest in this field began during his posting to the Netherlands Embassy in Tokyo in 1949, when he obtained a set of Chinese original printing woodblocks for a rare Ming dynasty erotic picture album. His initial plan was to publish them in a limited edition, and add a brief preface on the "historical background of Chinese erotic art." However, upon beginning to research ancient Chinese sexual life and customs, he found that there was a paucity of serious literature available, either in Chinese sources or in Western sinological publications. The materials van Gulik assembled and examined convinced him that "the current foreign conception of the depraved and abnormal sexual habits of the ancient Chinese was completely wrong." In 1951, he privately published Erotic Colour Prints in a limited edition, distributing copies to academic institutions worldwide to ensure the content remained accessible only to qualified readers. Due to his concerns about limiting readership, van Gulik's English translations of sexually explicit Chinese passages were rendered in Latin; an attitude that Goldin says "smacks of elitism and is clearly outmoded today".
The pioneering scholar's 1951 Erotic Colour Prints referred to "sexual vampirism" in two contexts. The first described the metaphorical "battle" of the sexes:These alchemists considered woman as the "enemy" because through her causing the man to emit semen, she robs him of his precious Yang essence. This conception resulted in woman being degraded to a mere source of supply of the coveted Yin essence. The Art of the Bedchamber as the alchemists interpreted it was a kind of cruel sexual vampirism. They believed not only that absorbing large quantities of Yin essence from the women they copulated with could lengthen their years and rejuvenate them, but also that the Elixir of Immortality resided in the "Original Femininity" 元牝. This mysterious substance they described as concentrated, inactivated Yin essence, that could be extracted from the vaginal secretions especially of a young virgin. This substance could be tapped by performing the sexual act in a special way, or also be extracted from the woman by artificial means. Accordingly the alchemists engaged in various revolting and cruel experiments which not seldom caused the death of the unfortunate victim. … The sexual vampirism of the Taoist alchemists must be considered as quite apart from the Art of the Bedchamber, which, contrary to the allegations of later Confucianist writers, is by no means peculiar to Taoism.
The second context elaborates upon the first,… Taoist alchemical treatise where the sexual act is considered exclusively as a means for attaining immortality. Above I referred to these depraved practices as "sexual vampirism." The Taoist teachings relating to this subject, however, bear a vicious character. They have nothing to do with love, not even with the satisfying of carnal desire or with sexual pleasure. These teachings preach a kind of sexual black magic, aimed at acquiring supernatural power at the expense of the sexual partner.
Although van Gulik popularized "sexual vampire" referring to Chinese sexual acts, he but did not coin the term. For instance, Arthur Eustace Morgan wrote, "Her heart has yearned for maternal love; but suddenly the idealized picture has dissolved and clearly and unmistakably there stands out the figure of a sexual vampire, Mrs. Warren—procuress."
Van Gulik's portrayal of Daoist sexual practices was not without controversy. In 1954, Joseph Needham, the eminent historian of science and technology in China, and his international group of collaborators began publishing the monumental series "Science and Civilisation in China". When Needham independently started researching ancient Daoist sexual alchemy, he read van Gulik's 1951 book and disagreed with some of its remarks, especially concerning "sexual vampirism". The two scholars subsequently corresponded, as described in the second volume of Science and Civilisation in China, which praises van Gulik's Erotic Colour Prints as an "excellent book". Needham notes that, "The only difference in our conclusions is that I think van Gulik's estimate of the Taoist theories and practices in his book was in general too unfavourable; aberrations were few and exceptional. Dr. van Gulik and I are now in agreement on the subject."
Van Gulik's preface to 1961 Sexual Life provides more information about their correspondence.consulted the copy of my book which I had presented to the library of his university, and found himself in disagreement with my unfavourable remarks on certain Taoist sexual disciplines. I must confess that those Taoist practices had rather shocked me at first and as a reaction I had characterized them as "sexual vampirism." Although when studying these matters as a layman it is difficult to maintain always the proper detached attitude of mind, I went much too far in stating that Taoist thought had exercised a detrimental influence on the treatment and position of women in ancient China. Needham pointed out to me in private correspondence that on the contrary Taoism had on the whole enhanced the position of Chinese women in general. Needham showed me that my interpretation of Taoist data had been too narrow, and that his broader views were indeed right.
Needham was already a world-famous scholar, while van Gulik was a diplomat who collected art and wrote books, for example, the Judge Dee historical mysteries. By accepting Needham's "broader views", Van Gulik augmented his belief that Chinese sexual practices were not "depraved." Goldin says, "But with hindsight, we can see today that Van Gulik's earlier thoughts on the matter were more judicious, and it is a pity that he allowed himself to be hectored."
Despite van Gulik's agreement with Needham's opinion, his 1961 Sexual Life still refers to sex vampires in two circumstances. The former uses "sexual vampirism" to describe two erotic Ming dynasty novels. In the, "the teachings of the old handbooks of sex are Debased to a kind of sexual vampirism", and the blends plot elements of "sexual vampirism, a perversion of the old Taoist disciplines" and fox-lore. The latter mentions sex vampires along with mythological fox spirits, or, was believed capable of shapeshifting into a beautiful young woman to seduce men and absorb their . If a nocturnal emission is "induced by the man seeing a woman in his dreams, he must be on his guard against that woman if he actually meets her, for she may be a vampire or a fox-spirit." Voluntary celibacy for men and women was viewed with contempt and sharply denounced, particularly celibate women who "were suspected of being vampires or harbouring nefarious designs, and they were often persecuted …".
Robert van Gulik's pioneering studies opened a window into the complex sexual culture of ancient China, challenging stereotypes and offering a nuanced perspective that continues to influence modern sinology.