In 1949 the sinologist Robert van Gulik (also known now for his Judge Dee mysteries) purchased in a Tokyo curio-shop a set of printing blocks of a Ming Erotic Album. Two years later the album, with an extensive treatise, was published by Van Gulik himself in a 50 copies print run, sent to a small group of Sinological libraries, as “the erotic prints and other data ought not to fall into the hands of unqualified readers”. It was to be the author's first work on the subject, preceding his 'groundbreaking' Sexual Life in Ancient China (new edition, Brill, 2002). Unqualified readers have now at last become qualified with this official edition. James Cahill, Wilt Idema and Soeren Edgren provide readers with indispensable introductions to its art historical, literary, biographical, and book technical context. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9789004131606).

In 1949 the sinologist Robert van Gulik (also known now for his Judge Dee mysteries) purchased in a Tokyo curio-shop a set of printing blocks of a Ming Erotic Album. Two years later the album, with an extensive treatise, was published by Van Gulik himself in a 50 copies print run, sent to a small group of Sinological libraries, as “the erotic prints and other data ought not to fall into the hands of unqualified readers”. It was to be the author's first work on the subject, preceding his 'groundbreaking' Sexual Life in Ancient China (new edition, Brill, 2002). Unqualified readers have now at last become qualified with this official edition. James Cahill, Wilt Idema and Soeren Edgren provide readers with indispensable introductions to its art historical, literary, biographical, and book technical context. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9789004131606).

“Unqualified readers” have now at last become qualified with this offical edition of Van Gulik’s famous Erotic Colour Prints. With indispensable introductions to its art historical, literary, biographical, and book technical background. The print edition is available as a set of two volumes (9789004131606).

"Unqualified readers" have now at last become qualified with this offical edition of Van Gulik's famous Erotic Colour Prints. With indispensable introductions to its art historical, literary, biographical, and book technical background.

China today is sexually (and in many other ways) a very repressive so ciety, yet ancient China was very different. Some of the earliest surviving literature of China is devoted to discussions of sexual topics, and the sexual implications of the Ym and Yang theories common in ancient China continue to influence Tantric and esoteric sexual practices today far dis tant from their Chinese origins. In recent years, a number of books have been written exploring the history of sexual practices and ideas in China, but most have ended the discussion with ancient China and have not continued up to the present time. Fang Fu Ruan first surveys the ancient assumptions and beliefs, then carries the story to present-day China with brief descriptions of homosexuality, lesbianism, transvestism, transsexualism, and prostitution, and ends with a chapter on changing attitudes toward sex in China today. Dr. Ruan is well qualified to give such an overview. Until he left China in the 1980s, he was a leader in attempting to change the repressive attitudes of the government toward human sexuality. He wrote a best selling book on sex in China, and had written to and corresponded with a number of people in China who considered him as confidant and ad visor about their sex problems. A physician and medical historian, Dr. Ruan's doctoral dissertation was a study of the history of sex in China.

In 1961 Robert van Gulik published his pioneering overview of "Sexual Life in Ancient China," This edition of the work is preceded by an elaborate "introduction" by Paul Rakita Goldin assessing the value of Van Gulik's volume, the subject itself, and its author. The introduction is followed by an extensive and up-to-date "bibliography" on the subject, which guides the modern reader in the literature on the field which appeared after the publication of Van Gulik's volume. One of the criticisms in 1961 regarded the Latin translations of passages deemed too explicit by Van Gulik. In this 2002 edition all Latin has for the first time been translated into unambiguous English, thus making the full text widely available to an academic audience.

In 1961 Robert van Gulik published his pioneering overview of Sexual Life in Ancient China. This edition of the work is preceded by an elaborate introduction by Paul Rakita Goldin assessing the value of Van Gulik’s volume, the subject itself, and its author. The introduction is followed by an extensive and up-to-date bibliography on the subject, which guides the modern reader in the literature on the field which appeared after the publication of Van Gulik's volume. One of the criticisms in 1961 regarded the Latin translations of passages deemed too explicit by Van Gulik. In this 2002 edition all Latin has for the first time been translated into unambiguous English, thus making the full text widely available to an academic audience.