Loving Beauty:
Sex & Spies in Ancient China
by David Bannon, Ph.D.
Prompted by an incident in the state of Wei, Confucius exclaimed, "I have never seen anyone who loves virtue as much as he loves beauty!" This famous remark well expresses the strength of sexual appeal and its efficacy in the service of covert operations. Moreover, since "sex" is another fundamental meaning of the character "se," translated here in accord with the traditional (although not necessarily correct) understanding of "female beauty," sexual connotations are invariably present whenever the character is encountered in discussions focused on morality and behavior. Confucius may well have meant "sex" rather than the more idealized, morally acceptable "beauty." The Book of Odes, one of the fundamental Confucian classics (even though essentially a collection of romantic songs and folk elegies form the early Chou period) opens with a portrait of romantic longing:
K'uan k'uan resound the ospreys,
Ensconced on the river mound.
Slender and refined, the alluring girl,
The prince desires her for a mate.
Of variegated length floats the mallow,
Carried left and right by the current.
Slender and refined, the alluring girl,
Awake and asleep he sought her.
He sought her without success,
Awake and asleep his thoughts dwelled on her.
Long his pondering, interminable his contemplating,
Tossing and turning, bent and unsettled.
Other poems in this work ostensibly praising Virtue and the idealized relationships of ministers and ruler echo these themes from both the male and female perspectives. Early on the poets and singers were obviously conscious of the power wielded by desire and its more romanticized counterpart of love, which made it possible to exploit natural attractiveness to manipulate men -- and occasionally women.
Beautiful Women Destroy a State
An Yi Chou-shu passage traditionally attributed to King Wen, the great
Chou cultural king, sketches the dynamics of human desire. In admonishing the
future King Wu, the actual conqueror of the Shang dynasty, King Wen stated:
"When people are born they have likes and dislikes. When they gain what they
like to some degree, they are happy; when they obtain what they like in large
measure, they are joyful. When they encounter what they dislike to some degree,
they become worried; when they are subjected to what they dislike, they feel
grief."
Throughout the Yi Chou-shu (Lost Books of the Chou) there is a unifying thread, a recognition that women, being the most powerful objects of desire, represent both danger and the means for destroying worrisome enemies. Accordingly, King Wen instructed King Wu to become arrogant, extravagant, or licentious, while the text separately notes that "beautiful women destroy a state" and that "when the ruler monopolizes pleasure, authority passes to the ministers." This being true, it advocates "bending rulers with licentious music and bribing them with beautiful women," measures much employed in the Spring and Autumn period. Thus King Wu's violent treatment of the Shang King's two concubines (who had already hung themselves) immediately following the bloody conquest, by shooting their corpses with three arrows each, striking them with a sword, and then beheading them with an executioner's ax, may be understood as symbolically exorcising the power of sexual desire.
Beyond the classics and derivative works, such as the Yi Chou-shu and Li Chi, the Confucians consistently decried the disruptive power and influence of the desires. Moreover, virtually every other school of thought from Taoism through Legalism pondered the nature and dynamics of desire, generally focusing on its impact on man's emotional and spiritual life. A few examples from the disparate perspectives will indicate the importance attached to the drives whose existence underlay the very possibility of China's two major covert practices -- subversion through sexual attraction and corruption coupled with estrangement techniques.
Taoist Perspective of Beauty
The Tao Te Ching, the definitive Taoist classic, warns against perturbations induced by the desires with such dire assertions as found in Chapter 12:
The five colors cause human eyes to be blind,
The five notes cause human ears to be deaf,
The five tastes cause human mouths to be numb.
The fairly eclectic Shuo Yuan preserves a number of pronouncements from different speakers - some no doubt genuine, others certainly spurious - that indicate what might be termed "the common understanding" and therefore what military and political officials would have taken as fundamental operating assumptions at the end of the Warring States period. For example, Yen-Tzue is quoted as saying, "he heard that desire can reverse normality and change nature" and Confucius observes, "when the average man's emotions follow his desires he is defeated." With desire being so powerful, "it is human nature that everyone wants to excel in virtue, but they are unable to act virtuously because profit defeats them. The tastes and desires cause behavior to fail, they are horses that pursue disaster. Nothing is more poisonous to wisdom than wine; nothing detains affairs more than music; nothing destroys purity more than beauty (sex)." However, Liu Hsiang, compiler of the Shuo Yuan, allowed that, even though dynasties perished because of women, they also rose in part because of them.
It was generally accepted that the desires and emotions are innate: "That which
first gives birth to man is Heaven, men have nothing to do with it. Heaven causes
men to have desires, men cannot keep them from coming. Heaven causes men to
have hatred, men cannot avoid them. Desire and hatred are what is received from
Heaven, man cannot have anything to do with it, cannot change them, cannot alter
them." And even more ominously, "Heaven gives birth to men and causes them to
have greed and desire." In the prevalent view, disorder stemmed from external
stimuli that drove men to perverse acts in seeking their unbridled fulfillment:
"When man is born his body is solid and quiet, only when he responds to outside stimuli does he have wisdom. Something brings it about. When he follows them without reverting, when he is controlled by inexhaustible tastes and desires, he will certainly lose his Heavenly component. Moreover, when his tastes and desires area inexhaustible he will invariably have a greedy, uncouth, perverse, rebellious, turbulent mind, and perform licentious, lax promiscuous, and deceitful actions."
Certainly, this constitutes a radically different view from that of the Taoists who emphasized the natural life force and suppleness of a child at birth!
Other observations dominate the extensive passages found in the Huai-nan Tzu that ponder the desires from an essentially Taoist perspective:
"Now music, beauty, the five flavors, valuable and unusual goods from distant states, and rare and unique items are sufficient to change the mind and alter the will. The number of things that can perturb the spirit and stir the blood and ch'i cannot be counted. People have a nature that loves sex so there is the great ceremony of marriage. In general, what caused rulers to lose their states, cast away the altars of state, perish at the hands of other men, and become laughingstocks of the realm has always and invariably been desire."
Following the final assertion, the text cites five cases in which desire destructively overwhelmed the powerful, including the "King of the Hu who dissipated himself in the pleasure of female musicians and lost his great lands."
Pao P'u-tzu, a Later Han period Taoist adept, as well as administrator and military commander, counseled self-restraint:
"What the eyes love should not be followed. What the ear takes pleasure in should not be accorded with. What the nose likes should not be trusted. What the mouth enjoys should not be followed. What the mind desires should not be unleashed. Thus what will confuse the eye will certainly be soft feminine deportment and refined elegance. What will delude the ear will certainly be beautiful notes and dissipated sounds. What will confuse the nose will certainly be wondrous fragrances. What will confuse the mouth will certainly be rare foods and delicacies. What will delude the mind will certainly be power, profit, achievement, and fame."
However, in this same chapter - contrary to normal Taoist inclinations - he expounds on the dangers of imbibing alcohol, condemning it not only for confusing men, but also for harming them physically and psychologically. Perhaps the only treatise of its kind, it constitutes an early psychological examination of the effects of alcohol. Although he adduced several notable figures who destroyed themselves through drunkenness to illustrate his thesis, he uniquely conceded it was not simply the licentious pursuit of beauty that ruined history's despots, but also the effects of alcohol that compromised their judgment:
"Now what caused Chieh of the Hsia dynasty, Chou of the Shang, Hsin Ling and Emperor Hui of the Han to dissipate themselves with the licentious sounds of lost states and submerge themselves into a sexual morass sufficient to overturn an entire city stems from alcohol occluding their natures and drunkenness achieving its power. Accordingly, they allowed their emotions to go to extremes and forgot the techniques of cultivating one's person and appearance."
He elsewhere states, "Human emotion universally loves a rouged face, voluptuous appearance, light bones, and a soft body."
Poison and Beauty
In the Han dynasty Wang Ch'ung, who was fond of explicating the unusual and debunking the dubious in the Lun Hing, apparently derived an odd theory from a Tso Chuan passage. In essence, he asserted that "the exotic gives birth to the beautiful and delightful. Therefore beautiful people are, for the most part, pernicious and evil." He symmetrically concluded that the reverse also holds true:
"The strange and unusual always proceed from a love of beauty. In everyone's life poison and harm derives from loving beauty." He thus felt that "loving women brings joy to the heart, but it is difficult to maintain beautiful women. Love of beauty will delude the mind."
Although the original Tso Chuan story probably evidences jealousy more than fear, it still embodies an anti-beauty viewpoint that is remarkable in having been voiced by a woman:
"Shu Hsiang's mother, being jealous of an extremely beautiful concubine, excluded her from her husband's bed. When her sons advised against this, she retorted:
'The deep mountains and great marshes truly give birth to dragons and serpents. As she is beautiful, I am afraid that she will give birth to a dragon or serpent that will bring misfortune upon you. Our clan is weak, while the state is filled with many favorites. If some perverse individual intervenes, won't it be difficult for you? How would I otherwise begrudge this meeting?'
She then arranged for the concubine to visit the duke, resulting in the birth of Shu Hu. Shu Hu proved both handsome and courageous and was thus much favored by Luan Huai-tzu, resulting in their clan being plunged into trouble."
When these fears proved prophetic, Shu Hsiang was implicated and imprisoned. However, after Shu Hu was killed, Hsiang managed to gain his own release and thus escaped capital punishment.
Han Fei-tzu cited a famous case much like the infamous example of Kuke Ling of Ch'en to illustrate the power of sex and the consequences of dissipation:
"Ts'ui Chu of the state of Ch'I had a beautiful wife with whom Duke Chuang, the ruler, had illicit relations. Therefore the duke frequently went to the Ts'ui family mansion. One day, while en route, one of Ts'ui Chu's retainers led the family forces in an attack on him. The duke managed to reach the interior rooms and offered to divide the state with Ts'ui Chu, but he would not accept. Duke Chuang then raced out and tried to leap over the north wall of the compound but was shot in the thigh by an arrow and fell back. Ts'ui Chu's retainers hacked away at the duke with their halberds until they killed him and then established his younger brother, Duke Ching, as ruler."
Even before Han Fei-tzu's analyses of court dynamics and temptations, a Chan-kuo Ts'e persuasion summarized the threats posed by favorites and consorts:
"What are referred to as Sang-yung are favorites, close attendants, concubines, and beloved youths. They are all capable of exploiting the king's drunkenness and befuddlement to seek what they want. When they succeed in gaining what they want within the palace, outside the great ministers will bend the laws in the court for them. Thus wile the sun and moon scintillate outside the palace, the real brigands are present within. People cautiously prepare against those they detest, but misfortune lies in what they love."
Such influences - both male and female - were historically well known, often cited, and therefore frequently suggested. For example, in the initial part of a Chan-kuo Ts'e persuasion directed to the king of Ch'in, T'ien Hsin cited a couple of successful examples:
"Your servant is afraid that you will be like the lord of Kuo. Once Duke Shien of Chin wanted to attack Kuo but was troubled by the presence of Chou Chi-ch'iao in Lkuo. Hsun accordingly advised, "The Book of Chou states that beautiful women can destroy a tongue so dispatch some female musicians to bring chaos to their government."
Chuo Chi-ch'iao's remonstrances were then ignored, so when he departed, Chin invaded Ku and reduced it. Thereafter the duke wanted to attack the state of Yu but was similarly troubled by the presence of Kung Chih-ch'I. Hsun Shi again advised, "The Book of Chou states that handsome men can destroy the old so send the ruler a handsome young man who has been instructed to revile Kung Chih-ch'i." Kung Chih-ch'I continued to remonstrate but was ignored so he too soon departed. Thereupon Chin attacked Yu and subsequently seized all of it."
However, with martial heroes this ploy did not always succeed, as a T'ang dynasty incident shows:
"Han Hung hated Kuang Yen's forceful fighting so he secretly plotted, connived, and was willing to implement every sort of plan against him. Subsequently he scoured the city of Ta-laing until he obtained a beautiful woman, whom he had taught such arts as singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments. Then he had her adorned with jewelry and jade and dressed in the most expensive clothes, expending several hundred million in all. Thereafter he deputed an emissary to escort her to Kuang Yen, hoping that as soon as he saw her he would be stupefied with joy and neglect the affairs of military administration. The emissary therefore forwarded a letter in advance to the fortifications that Kuang Yen was erecting to say:
'I have been ordered by my gracious lord, who, respecting your patriotism and becoming concerned that you have long been exposed to the brutalities of military life, wants to send you a courtesan in order to soothe your thoughts during the work of pacification. I respectfully await your orders.' Kuang Yen replied, 'As today dusk has nearly fallen, I will accept her tomorrow.' The next morning Kuang Yen held a great feast for his warriors and when the three armies were all assembled had the emissary bring the courtesan in. When she entered, her movement and beauty surpassed all mortals, astonishing the whole assembly. From his seat in the upper hall Kuang Yen addressed the emissary:
'Your gracious lord felt pity for my having been away from home so long. Parting with this beautiful courtesan who has just been presented to me would be truly ungracious, yet I have received great beneficence from the state and have sworn not to live under the same sun and moon as these brigands. I have caused several tens of thousands of fighting troops to turn their backs on their wives and families and brave naked blades. How could I find pleasure in a beautiful woman?' As he finished speaking tears caught in his throat, while the soldiers assembled below were all moved to weeping. Kuang Yen generously rewarded the emissary with rolls of silk, respectfully led the woman off the platform, and addressed the emissary:
'Please thank your gracious lord profusely. My heart is loyally fixed upon serving the state until I die.' From this time onward the soldier's spirits were greatly stimulated."
About David Bannon, Ph.D.:
David Bannon holds a Ph.D. in Far Eastern History. His earlier pieces on Ghengis Khan and Emperor Kang H'si appeared in the December 1999 and February 2000 issues of Kungfu Qigong magazine.