Sex tools that couples had to use during sex in ancient times

In the history of our country, formal records of sex education began in the Han Dynasty. In the fourth year of Jianchu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, that is, in 79 AD, the imperial court organized a nationwide symposium on Confucian classics, which was presided over by the emperor himself. The minutes of this meeting were later compiled and edited by Ban Gu into "Baihutong De Lun", or "Baihutong" for short. This was the official standard answer to Confucian classics at the time and had a great influence on later generations. Such an official and extremely "orthodox" book attaches great importance to sexual issues.

There is also a section in Baihutong that specifically discusses Biyong. "Biyong" was a kind of academy in ancient times, where male noble sons learned various skills required to be a noble, and the curriculum even included sex education.

So, why should sex education be conducted in school and not at home? From the Baihutong, it seems that this issue was also raised at the imperial meeting. The Baihutong recorded it. The original text explained: "Why doesn't the father teach his son himself? It is a disrespect. Moreover, the way of teaching should explain in detail the changes of yin and yang, husband and wife, and it should not be taught by father and son to each other." It means that a father cannot teach his own son, which is disrespectful and not serious.

In the Eastern Han Dynasty, sex education was made a compulsory course in schools for children of the nobility. This shows that people at that time had quite open-minded views on sex and attached great importance to studying sexual issues. Of course, from today's point of view, it is not necessarily true that sex education cannot be taught between father and son.

Before the Tang Dynasty, many famous books on sexology had been circulated in China, including "Su Nu Jing", "Xuanu Jing", "Yu Fang Mi Jue", "Yu Fang Zhi Yao", and "Dong Xuan Zi". Unfortunately, most of them were lost after the Five Dynasties and the Northern Song Dynasty.

The New Book of Tang records an interesting story about Emperor Taizong of Tang giving his brother-in-law a sex education lesson: After Emperor Taizong's sister, Princess Danyang, married Xue Wanche, the princess was very unhappy because Xue was rather dull in sex and did not sleep with him for several months. When Taizong heard about it, he held a banquet, invited several other brothers-in-law to come, and carefully explained the essentials of sexual intercourse to them.

According to the Ming Dynasty's "Wanli Yewaibian", there was a Laughing Buddha (the main deity of Tibetan Tantric Buddhism, namely the "Desire Heaven" and "Love God" in Buddhism) in the imperial court of the Ming Dynasty. Before the emperor's wedding, the eunuch would lead him into this secret room to hold a sex education ceremony. Later, this ceremony continued until the Qing Dynasty, and was also performed when men and women got married among the common people.

So, in ancient my country, did the general public receive sex education? Of course they did. However, it is not so systematic and comprehensive, and it mostly uses "visual teaching aids" and "suggestive guidance" education methods. "Dowry paintings" and "treasures from the bottom of the box" are the two main types.

The "dowry painting" is actually a scroll containing about 8 to 12 erotic paintings of different sexual intercourse methods. Due to the huge demand for it in society, it is mostly printed on woodblocks and has a strong local and folk flavor.

Before their daughter gets married, parents often buy one or two rolls of "dowry paintings", put them in the dowry, and take them with their daughter to her husband's house. On the wedding night, the couple, who are often ignorant about sex, spread the "dowry paintings" on the bed and do the same.

The earliest record of "dowry paintings" can be found in the Han Dynasty, and many of them were discovered in the early years of the Republic of China, which shows that this object has existed for a long period of time in Chinese history. Zhang Heng, a writer of the Eastern Han Dynasty, once wrote "Song of the Same Voice", in which he describes the feelings of a man and a woman on their wedding night in the first person perspective of a woman. This poem was highly praised by later generations, who believed that it was "beautiful but not lewd", "has lofty sentiments", and "is a metaphor for the service of a minister to his king".

In addition to the "dowry painting", there is another sex education tool in ancient China called "the bottom of the box". It is a kind of porcelain, some of which are smaller than a fist. Most of them are fruit-shaped, with a lid and a pair of men and women in copulation position inside. Usually, people put it at the bottom of the box to ward off evil spirits. Before her daughter gets married, the mother takes out the "bottom of the box", opens the lid and shows it to her daughter, so that she can experience the "way of husband and wife".

Of course, sex education in ancient times was by no means limited to "hint guidance". There were also some ancient sexology books available for reading, but they were not so popular. When a young girl gets married, her wet nurse, midwife, and younger sisters may teach her; sometimes the younger sisters will sing folk songs in front of the bride's window. These folk songs all have sexual content, and singing folk songs has a teasing element, but it also has the function of sexual enlightenment.