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HUM 2140
Chinese & Western Modes of Thought
Group Essay Assignment
Topic
A forecast to China’s way of modifying her sexual
perceptions under the strike of Western thoughts
Lee Kwun Leung Vincent (06009913)
Leung Tsz Ning Yuki ( )
Wong Mei Hung Abby ( )
Date: 22nd April, 2008
A forecast to China’s way of modifying her sexual perceptions
under the strike of Western thoughts
As lots of Chinese crafts and antiques were found consisting of passive sexual
implications, it makes us realize that Chinese perception upon sexuality was
surprisingly more open-minded than the recent age. Though Chinese people
in the past could not discuss sex issues openly based on the taboo of
Confucian ethics, they could still observe sex as a kind of life-nurture with
reference to Taoist philosophies. Sex education could thus be delivered in a
secret or ironic manner. In fact, Chinese people, from ancient to recent, regard
heterosexuality as a regular way of maintaining the harmonious development
of human relations. Chinese male were required to prolong their heritage,
while Chinese female were acting as subordinate roles of assisting their
husbands to fulfil their obligations. Children were born to secure the family
operations when their parents grew older. Sex, henceforth, could be a kind of
physical and spiritual cultivation between a pair of couples, whereas it was
inevitable that the Confucian ethics strictly request for a proper management
to this type of unleash. Heterosexuality was a definite process human-beings
had to undergo for fulfilling their granted obligation of maintaining the
stability of human orders within the system of social stratification.
Culturally saying, heterosexuality was regarded by Chinese as a succession of
Taoist ideal – an interaction between Heaven and Men, in which “yin”
(dimness) and “yang” (brightness), the two extreme sides of universe, came
into a harmonious merge and attain a status of fullness, toleration and
absorption1. The combination of a pair of heterosexual partners was under a
routine of destiny. Chinese people did respect the order from Nature, thus
they obey the arrangement of such destiny. Therefore, the marriage of
heterosexual couples often reveals Chinese elite spirit of willingness in
uniting their mode of living with the Nature. Chinese people treated their
beloved homosexual partners as just a kind of “encouraging admiration”.
Homosexual lovers just limited their passions to the status of spiritual
interactions rather than closed physical contacts. Though homosexuality was
not an appraised behaviour in Confucian ethics, there was still not a strict
suppression towards people’s freedom of choosing their targets for
admiration.
Since the intrusion of Western Imperialism in the 19th Century, China faced a
contradictive interlace of both kinds of Occidental sexual perceptions. They
were the Christian / Catholic belief and the idea of Individualism. The
nowadays Hong Kong was an obvious example revealing such kind of
contradictive interlace. Chinese Confucianism never totally rejected the
functionality of sex in terms of unleashing one’s desires due to his / her
established physical shortcomings. However, dogmatism in the West totally
regarded sex as the origin of human sin. Sex could only be practiced under
Lord’s order to make procreations, since Christianity believes that sex belongs
to the Lord’s dominance. Any kinds of exceptional unleash without the usage
of procreation, such as pre-marriage sexual behaviour, homosexuality and
masturbation, should be strictly prohibited. For Individualism, Chinese
1 Choi Yan Chi, Space and Passio – The Art of Hon Chi Fun (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development
Council,March 2000)
people’s mind was further liberated to a stage that everyone had a right to
decide whom to be his/her lifelong lover. They began to question the
applicability of Confucian ethics in terms of utilizing the functionality of sex
to maintain the social order. But, with the disordered influence of Christian
dogmatism, Chinese people were misled to a belief that, exceptional unleash
of sexual desire were apart from the platform of “psychological rationalism”.
They dishonoured the ones who had pre-marriage sex. They marginalized the
ones who had homosexual love relationship. They abandoned the ones who
purchased the service of sex (prostitution). As Edison Chen’s private episodes
of sexual relations with other pop stars were publicized in January 2008,
HongKongers assumed themselves to be so-called “rational-minded” based
on the idea of “psychological rationalism” and heavily condemned Edison’s
behaviour as a violation to morality. Chinese people, in such controversial
occasion, found it difficult to strike a balance between a respect to everyone’s
need of physical gratification and a rather considerate approach of
maintaining a proper utilization of sex within the social routine. Chinese
tradition of “polygamy”, which was not a required element in Confucianism,
was overthrown by Christian concept of sexual equality. But, Chinese people
seemed to lack an open-mindedness to observe those who suitably practiced
their individualist right of sexual enjoyment. Ladies in China and some
conservative European countries who found male lovers outside their
marriage were still much more heavily condemned by our society than the
men were. Yet, Christianity overwhelmed the flow of Individualism. It is
because, Individualism was honoured by civilians, while Christian
dogmatism was being borrowed by Chinese ruling class as a mirror of
extending a well governing over civilians’ mode of living and behaviour.
Chinese people long for a freedom of emotional pursuit, while they are
feeling scared of the authority of dogmatism as it might make labelling to
those who move away from the generally-expected sexual routine.
China is practicing a renewed mode of “cultural resistance” as a mean of
counteracting with the flooding of Western ideology. She firstly borrows the
total mode of Western ideology for the quickest realization of national
modernization, as well as gaining a recognizable international position. Then,
the authorities concerned limitedly penetrate some elements of Chinese
traditions into the established Western-styled sectors in order to win
Westerners’ tolerated acceptance upon Chinese culture. But, is it right that
Chinese defines its contemporary sexual perceptions based on a blind and
unquestioned reference to all kinds of Occidental ideas? It is emergently
necessary for Chinese nowadays to rationally indicate the cons of Christianity
and Individualism, as China should avoid having their civilians becoming
more and more conservative than those in the Ancient Period while being
influenced by Western thoughts.
China’s future reactions to sexual perceptions from Christianity
Christianity deserves a historical recognition of contributing to the rising
trend of sexual equality in China as it discourages polygamy. Hong Xiuchuan,
the leader of Taiping Rebellion, was the first Chinese Christian introducing
this liberal concept to China, and it was later succeeded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen
after the establishment of Republican rule. Chinese female nowadays are
much protected from being socially and psychologically exploited by the
males, as they are allowed to succeed male’s capacity whenever they have
academic intelligence. It’s encouraging that Chinese female can make
decisions in the marriage relation and they no longer need to subordinate
themselves to the male dominance. Family values are preciously preserved in
Christian beliefs, but fraternity, as well as respect of human dignity, were a
rather essential spirit that motivates both the parental side and the children
side to have a mutual understanding and tolerance between each other. Yet,
men have to be responsible for his irrational unleash of sexual desire if it
causes pre-marriage pregnancy of their lovers and spread of diseases. It is
under the regulation of Common Law and Human-Right Doctrine, since Lord
offers female the right of striving for their deserved treatments by
constitutional appeals. In short, Christianity requests male to fulfil their duty
of protecting female, while female in return assist male to fulfil Lord’s sacred
duty of making procreations. This should be a fundamental standard Chinese
needs to observe in the future in order to achieve a total harmony of human
relations, regardless of being with men or with women.
China’s bureaucracy should not totally make the mode of Christianity a
dominant standard for the upper class to regulate. Christian belief is different
from Christian doctrinarism. The first one is based on fraternity, and the
second one is rather a bureaucratic mode of dogmatism which is utilized to
suppress the ones who violate the standard of “psychological rationalism”.
Chinese people, who incline to pursue the Christian mode of living, should
not regard sexual relations with lovers as a moral obligation from Lord of
eliminating sin origins. Rather, Christian pursuers in China should deliver
sympathies to those homosexual lovers who really establish true love
relations. It’s not recommended that Christian pursuers intend to marginalize
the exceptional sexual relations by adopting biblical concepts as a mean of
incorporating Confucian taboos in China. Jesus Christ revealed his
compassionate heart to all kinds of human-being, even they were bounded by
sufferings of sins. He had ever saved prostitutes from political exploitation.
As Jesus showed his tolerance to the ladies who violated Lord’s favour in sex
regulation, why do the Churches and dogmatist authorities in Europe and
America still brutally suppress the already-marginalized minorities?
Historically, Chinese people have a nice essence of pursuing Mencius’ spirit
of kindness and compassion to people all around, emphasizing the
modification of people’s mind through heartfelt educations. It ought to be a
centred thought for Chinese to guide others to a proper approach of sex
regulation with the facilitation of Jesus Christ’s fraternity. The mode of
dogmatism is no longer a proper approach of succeeding the idea of humanist
harmony.
China’s proper attitude towards the flood of Individualism in terms of
sexual perceptions
The idea of Individualism initiates the elder generations in Chinese society to
pay certain kind of respect to their sons or daughters’ decision of marriage.
Chinese youngsters no longer need to bear the burden of achieving family
honour. Moreover, it’s encouraging that elder generations no longer have the
right to negotiate with parents from another family for a politically-planned
marriage for the purpose of combinative benefits between two families.
Youngsters just choose their faithful lovers, and the daily affairs are just
discussed by the couples themselves. Individualism made a rather
controversial breakthrough upon Christian restrictions. People can have
pre-marriage sex with their lovers whenever they adopt proper preventive
measures, such as wearing condoms. But, will Individualism become an
excuse manipulated by people in terms of unleashing their sexual desires
without any sense of civic responsibility? Human-beings’ normal way of
regulation upon their sexual desires ought to deserve public and religious
tolerance. BUT, they should respect opposite-sides’ feelings instead of
becoming too self-centred. Pre-marriage sex and homosexuality are allowed
under the condition of not hurting others physically or harming others’
interests. One would never be appraised if he destroys others’ established
marriage relations or causing the spread of sexual diseases due to the lack of
preventive measures. You can violate the Law, but your private reason should
not totally base on no grounds. Any kind of moves should consist of the
supporting means of rationality. Therefore, China should continue to pursue
the existing concept of not regarding sex as a heritage obligation, while
people who stimulate the collapse of humanist harmony should bear the risk
of being punished by the Law if they fail to regulate their unleashing
properly.
The side effect of Individualism was that, it leads to a risk of disintegration
upon Chinese “authority-dreaded” peculiarity, as well as a collapse of the
patriarchal patterns in Chinese society. It is worried that, as Chinese people
are encouraged to have a greater automatic extent of decision-making, they
might be no longer afraid of the strict guidance from the authoritative parties.
Parents, relatives, masters or government’s advices therein possess less
associative forces in terms of restraining the self-indulgence of younger
generations. In return, youngsters might shift to a status of “psychological
anomy”, as they are often given too much independence and being too
self-centred of protecting their own feelings without any awareness to other
people’s care and concern on them. To eliminate such kind of psychological
anomy, it’s recommended to adopt Confucian spirits as a medicine of healing.
Confucianism emphasizes the maintenance of loyalty, filial piety, kindness
and righteousness. These major four essences are the cored values of
maintaining a stronger association among human-beings. As one can reveal
any kind of behavioural goodness stated previously, he/she is thus able to
further spread his elite spirit throughout the community, impressing people
around to succeed this kind of humanist harmony. Europeans or Americans
tend to have a total escape from parental care after becoming adults. Even
they regarded God as a prior dominance upon their future destinies; they
have much courage of exposing themselves to physical, mechanical and
intelligent challenges. Thus they prefer to pursue his renewed living mode
alone without reliance on relatives’ assistance, whereas they just limitedly beg
for the blessings from brothers and sisters in Churches. But, in contemporary
Chinese society, though Chinese people have much right in deciding their
love, sex and marriage affairs, they still bear in mind of remembering where
their happiness comes from. They still reserve a very flexible extent of
allowing parents and elder generations to have intermediations upon their
lifelong decisions, nor to say sexual relations. Very often, Chinese youngsters
are often ready to subordinate their self-interests into parents’ concern due to
their cultural spirit of loyalty. It can be explained that Chinese and Asian
societies, being mostly influenced by Confucian culture, consist of rather
united groups of submissive civilians, whereas less cases of family-relation
disintegrations, sexual diseases and sexual crimes might occur comparing
with those in Occidental societies. Chinese people, in such aspect, can be
regarded as comparatively having a more considerate mind of self-reflection
towards the consequences from every kind of their behaviours than the
Westerners do, specifically in the aspect of sexual behaviours.
To sum up, Confucianism is quite constructive in restraining Chinese in this
contemporary era not to abuse their sexual desires and concern more about
the maintenance of harmonious human relations, which could strike a
counteractive balance with the overwhelming self-indulgent force of Western
Individualism.
China’s future modifications to the existing traditional Chinese beliefs
Stability in family integration, which is proclaimed by Confucianism, is
inevitably a significant spirit which facilitates Chinese to achieve a status of
racial and cultural totality. Yet, the “ceremonial regulations” help restrain
human-beings from being too self-indulgent, always considering if certain
sexual behaviour would cause disturbances to the procreation order of one’s
heritage. The restraint of people’s desire is necessary, but should it be
manipulated by bureaucratic classes and elder generations as an excuse of
intervening others’ right of choosing their suitable ways of unleashing? The
idea of “Not observing affairs with impoliteness, not listening to affairs with
impoliteness, not having contact with affairs with impoliteness” seems to be
implemented too rigidly in the ancient age. For example, couples which
uncontrollably had pre-marriage sex would be heavily condemned by their
patriarchal clans, being pulled to suffer from drowning executions. Even a
lady who was divorced or widowed would undergo the same fate if she was
found of having another love or sexual relationship with a new man. There
seemed to be a very strict request on Chinese not to unleash their sexual
desires outside their family boundaries. In Chinese society, a marriage was
regarded as a “life-and-death” contract restricting anyone’s physical and
spiritual freedom. This kind of dogmatism was not what Confucius hoped for.
Confucius stated that, even somebody had been driven away from the proper
route, we, as a conscientious educator, should try our heartfelt best to impress
him/her spiritually to make further improvements. Too rigid punishments
would only drive the offenders to revolts. Patience, tolerance and thoughtful
understanding ought to be the nice essence of Confucianism, whereas it
lessens the contradictions and hatred among mankind. Whenever a person
has found a true lover in a lifelong mean, parents and relatives should respect
their decisions, as well as blessing and congratulating them with fruitful
futures. Authority should not be abused as a kind of suppression unless
certain sexual behaviour causes endangerments to the public interest in a
greater scale. Of course, on the other hand, we cannot tolerate those who
spread AIDS or other sexual diseases due to their abuses of sexual behaviours,
while it is also ridiculous for the homosexual groups in Hong Kong to
brutally force Catholic Church and Red Cross to permit them a right of either
same-sex marriage or blood donation, as they just wanted to achieve their
self-indulgent means at the expense of other innocent citizens’ health interests.
It’s suggested that, humanist kindness and behavioural restraints should
strive a balanced mechanism.
All in all, in a mediated approach, we should first exert kindness to those who
have exceptional sexual behaviours as a prior mean of considerate patience,
whereas we won’t allow this kindness to be exploited liked the homosexual
groups in Hong Kong did. We should exert ceremonial restraints on sexual
relations only if it causes a risk of disintegration upon the harmony of human
relations.
The “desire-free” ideal proclaimed by both Buddhism and Taoism can be a
mirror borrowed by Occidentals as a mean of psychological shift to reconsider
the gifted spiritual substances by the Nature. In fact, sex is just a biological
cycle that human-beings need to undergo. It should be an enhanced
substitution of human love-relationship, instead of self-indulgent
entertainments. Prostitution and “one-night stand”, in such aspect, should be
minimized as possible as ones can for the sake of predicting ones’ future
rewards. Buddhism’s philosophy in explaining the origin of “bitterness” due
to our desires deserves our kind reference. It proclaims that human-beings
were fundamentally formed by the “five essences”2 through a merge of
different destinies. The five essences were “amativeness”, “receiving”,
“thinking”, “behaviour” and “intelligence”, and they are continuously
producing human desires. Buddhists think that human lives are full of
2 Ma Chung-kei & Chow Lai-ying, An Interesting Discussion on the Knowledge of Chinese Culture
(Hong Kong: PilotPublishingCompany Limited, 2003,3rd Edition)
bitterness, but the formation of our bitterness depends on the way of our
engagements. Moreover, there’s also an association that “intelligence” would
also motivate ones’ desire of amativeness, which is sensed by our six types of
sensational organs. Then, such sensation would stimulate our feelings, love,
greed, desire, and even persistence. All of these elements have to be
restrained once we achieve a self-sufficient status. It is quite encouraging that,
contemporary Chinese are relatively more aware of the importance of
regulating their subconscious desires by imitating Buddhists’ mode of
practising morality and philosophies. They can rather think thrice before
leaping, for not having anybody to be the victims of their self-indulgence.
Chinese people are praised of their thanksgiving mind, for not having
exceptional ambitions to counteract with their physical limitations like the
Occidentals do.
For Taoism, it plays a significant role of reminding contemporary Chinese, in
which they have to be aware of their behaviours not to harm the chaining and
cycling regulations of the Nature. 3Taoism proclaims that human life is not
totally decided by the Order of Heaven. We can, in fact, enjoy longer lives by
practising Taoist philosophy and nurturing our lives properly. There are five
kinds of “ways” (taos), which are “Heaven”, “human”, “animal”, “hungry
ghosts” and “hell”. Human-beings have to observe the rules within these
“ways”. Too much desire aroused would just disorder our peculiar truth and
it leads to our inability of returning to the sincere mode of living. There’s a
retribution for human sin in Taoist philosophy. Chinese people believe that,
3 Ma Chung-kei & Chow Lai-ying, An Interesting Discussion on the Knowledge of Chinese Culture
(Hong Kong: PilotPublishingCompany Limited, 2003,3rd Edition)
all kinds of creatures in this Universe witness our behaviours. If we
irrationally produce too much desire, it just leads to a growing atmosphere of
cunningness which would risk of a psychological injury to the people around.
It would finally drive us to the stage of “emptiness” based on the justice from
a kind of Heavenly Truth. Yet, Taoism categorizes the sexual skills as a
research on the way of life-nurturing. But, it still urges people to observe
certain spiritual commandments and try delivering more behavioural
goodness to the secular world.
To sum up, even the Confucian idea of family and social stability was
introduced to restrain Chinese people’s indulgence of their sexual desires,
there was still a loophole in such a dominant Chinese ideology, as the
peculiarity of Confucianism was transformed by the bureaucratic class to be a
bit dogmatist – only exerted this restriction to the unprivileged civilian class.
The controversial issue of how to control our sexual desires still inevitably
bears much burden in terms of our family and civic responsibilities if
Confucianism is made as a centred thought. BUT, Buddhism and Taoism, the
two mainstreamed Chinese religions, offer a rather intelligent and tactful
drainage for Chinese people to measure the gains and losses when defining
their nationalist sexual perception in a suitable philosophical approach, since
we just study different cases in a very personal and spiritual level without
any moral interference from either the authoritative sectors or the elder
generations. As sex is associated to the studies of how to maintain a healthy
cycle between the Nature and biological lives, we no longer produce
exceptional arguments to defend those who abuse their right of having
pre-marriage sex or homosexual relations at the expense of other innocent
people’s interests. It is because, as Chinese people bear in mind that, once you
plant an erosive root inside the earth, you will be the one of poisoning
yourself finally even nobody stops you beforehand. This reveals the
intelligence of Chinese people’s religious philosophy – not having a direct
conflict with the mechanical, material, objective, technical and physical norms
of Western ideology. I think that, in the following ages, contemporary
Chinese can regulate the functionality of sex properly based on the Buddhist
or Taoist beliefs, instead of over-reliance on Confucian ethics to supervise
people’s intentions.
Never allow Western ideology to turn Chinese sexual perceptions into a
deeper stage of conservatism
No matter Confucianism, Buddhism or Taoism never denies the functionality
of sex as a gifted biological functionality of mankind. Chinese people’s sexual
perception is unexpectedly open-minded for a public taste of cultural
temperaments. The only thing Chinese people have to renew is the social
mode of “Feudalistic Sexual Morality”4. Based on the concept of feudalistic
morality in China, it’s revealed that the feudal society tend to pay little
attention on male virginity, as they have the freedom of practising polygamy
and divorce. In return, more attention was paid to prevent female from
loosing their virginity, as ladies are hidden at home in order to prevent them
from having pre-marriage sex and need to be unquestionably submissive to
their marriage obligation. This male-centred routine is still influential in this
4 http://big5.jiexieyin.org/show.aspx?id=515&cid=34 It’s a must of restraining sexual behaviour of
mankind
contemporary patriarchal Chinese society; even feudalism was overthrown a
century ago. Chinese people generally bear a misleading concept, that the
preservation of “virginity” (just indicate female) is a symbol of loyalty to love
relationship5. I think that such kind of double-standard bias in Chinese sexual
perceptions should be eliminated. Both male and female should make equal
respect to each other in terms of deciding their ways of pursuing their sexual
behaviours, and this type of respect bases on mutual understanding and
concern.
Fundamentally, Chinese people regard sex as natural. Both “The Book of
Politeness” (Li Ji) and “The Book of Odes” (Shi Jing) reflect that Chinese
attitude towards sex is still very liberal and initiative6. Except for the passive
attitude of Buddhism, both Taoism and Confucianism do not make brutal
repression on sex. We can see that Chinese people are facing an ideological
interlace of liberal opening, cultural diversification, repressive doctrinarism
and formalism due to a mixture of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and
Communism, but most of them still bear in mind of making considerate
behaviour for not harming the normal cycle of Nature, biological health and
humanist harmony. It’s expected that, Chinese people would continue to
pursue their ideal of emphasizing the attitude of practicability towards sex in
life and tolerate different types of sexual behaviours, while they should be
regarding both enjoyment and procreation as the goal of sexual relations.
5http://big5.jiexieyin.org/show.aspx?id=515&cid=34 It’s a must of restraining sexual behaviour of
mankind
6http://www.swik.org.hk/SWIKPortal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabIndex=0&tabid=50&ItemID=223 Ng
Man-lun,Our Sex In The Past And Present
However, another piece of interlaces, including Christianity, Romanticism,
Individualism, Liberalism and Capitalism, complicate Chinese people’s
orientation. These Western ideas turn Chinese sexual perceptions to be rigidly
standardized and moralized7, which leads to nervous relations between two
sexes as both can equally strive for their deserved gratifications. Chinese
couples should never just limit themselves to a level of pursuing formalized
sexual enjoyments as the Occidentals do. Yet, Western Romanticism bridged
the gap between love and sex8: sex is just regarded as a practical functionality
in the realty, while love is enhanced to a sacred level of interactive spiritual
gratifications that would further enhance each side’s admiration. But, this
differentiation is too formalized. To Chinese belief in a rather humanist
approach, sex can be a healthy supplementation for the enhancement of love
relationships, in which couples can give concern, care and encouragement to
increase each other’s mutual understanding. Based on their existing human
essence of toleration, Chinese people no longer need to be afraid of being
condemned under an Occidental-styled rigid standardization – never feeling
sex as an origin of sin. They should unite together to destroy the block of
conservatism laid by Westerners, and re-establish a community with a group
of nationalist civilians willing to make harmonious approach of maintaining
both stable and equal human relations with a liberal sex culture.
7 http://www.swik.org.hk/SWIKPortal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabIndex=0&tabid=50&ItemID=223 Ng
Man-lun,Our Sex In The Past And Present
8 Same as above
Materials for reference
 Choi Yan Chi, Space and Passio – The Art of Hon Chi Fun (Hong Kong: Hong Kong
Arts Development Council, March 2000)
 Ma Chung-kei & Chow Lai-ying, An Interesting Discussion on the Knowledge of
Chinese Culture (Hong Kong: Pilot Publishing Company Limited, 2003,3rd Edition)
 http://big5.jiexieyin.org/show.aspx?id=515&cid=34 It’s a must of restraining sexual
behaviour of mankind
 http://www.swik.org.hk/SWIKPortal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabIndex=0&tabid=50&Ite
mID=223 Ng Man-lun, Our Sex In The Past And Present
Workload Distribution
Lee Kwun Leung Vincent (06009913)
 Article-writing
 Decision on the approaches of different paragraphs and counter-arguments
 Integrating resources concerning Christianity, Individualism, Confucianism, Taoism
and Buddhism with detailed elaborations
 Translation
Leung Tsz Ning Yuki ( )
 Consolidating the useful information from the previous group presentation
 Contributing to the brief information on patriarchal pattern in Chinese society
Wong Mei Hung Abby ( )
 Summarizing the main points in “It’s a must of restraining sexual behaviour of mankind”
and “Our Sex In The Past And Present” for conclusion

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Humanity Paper - Forecast to Renewal of Chinese Sexual Perceptions

  • 1. HUM 2140 Chinese & Western Modes of Thought Group Essay Assignment Topic A forecast to China’s way of modifying her sexual perceptions under the strike of Western thoughts Lee Kwun Leung Vincent (06009913) Leung Tsz Ning Yuki ( ) Wong Mei Hung Abby ( ) Date: 22nd April, 2008
  • 2. A forecast to China’s way of modifying her sexual perceptions under the strike of Western thoughts As lots of Chinese crafts and antiques were found consisting of passive sexual implications, it makes us realize that Chinese perception upon sexuality was surprisingly more open-minded than the recent age. Though Chinese people in the past could not discuss sex issues openly based on the taboo of Confucian ethics, they could still observe sex as a kind of life-nurture with reference to Taoist philosophies. Sex education could thus be delivered in a secret or ironic manner. In fact, Chinese people, from ancient to recent, regard heterosexuality as a regular way of maintaining the harmonious development of human relations. Chinese male were required to prolong their heritage, while Chinese female were acting as subordinate roles of assisting their husbands to fulfil their obligations. Children were born to secure the family operations when their parents grew older. Sex, henceforth, could be a kind of physical and spiritual cultivation between a pair of couples, whereas it was inevitable that the Confucian ethics strictly request for a proper management to this type of unleash. Heterosexuality was a definite process human-beings had to undergo for fulfilling their granted obligation of maintaining the stability of human orders within the system of social stratification. Culturally saying, heterosexuality was regarded by Chinese as a succession of Taoist ideal – an interaction between Heaven and Men, in which “yin” (dimness) and “yang” (brightness), the two extreme sides of universe, came into a harmonious merge and attain a status of fullness, toleration and
  • 3. absorption1. The combination of a pair of heterosexual partners was under a routine of destiny. Chinese people did respect the order from Nature, thus they obey the arrangement of such destiny. Therefore, the marriage of heterosexual couples often reveals Chinese elite spirit of willingness in uniting their mode of living with the Nature. Chinese people treated their beloved homosexual partners as just a kind of “encouraging admiration”. Homosexual lovers just limited their passions to the status of spiritual interactions rather than closed physical contacts. Though homosexuality was not an appraised behaviour in Confucian ethics, there was still not a strict suppression towards people’s freedom of choosing their targets for admiration. Since the intrusion of Western Imperialism in the 19th Century, China faced a contradictive interlace of both kinds of Occidental sexual perceptions. They were the Christian / Catholic belief and the idea of Individualism. The nowadays Hong Kong was an obvious example revealing such kind of contradictive interlace. Chinese Confucianism never totally rejected the functionality of sex in terms of unleashing one’s desires due to his / her established physical shortcomings. However, dogmatism in the West totally regarded sex as the origin of human sin. Sex could only be practiced under Lord’s order to make procreations, since Christianity believes that sex belongs to the Lord’s dominance. Any kinds of exceptional unleash without the usage of procreation, such as pre-marriage sexual behaviour, homosexuality and masturbation, should be strictly prohibited. For Individualism, Chinese 1 Choi Yan Chi, Space and Passio – The Art of Hon Chi Fun (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development Council,March 2000)
  • 4. people’s mind was further liberated to a stage that everyone had a right to decide whom to be his/her lifelong lover. They began to question the applicability of Confucian ethics in terms of utilizing the functionality of sex to maintain the social order. But, with the disordered influence of Christian dogmatism, Chinese people were misled to a belief that, exceptional unleash of sexual desire were apart from the platform of “psychological rationalism”. They dishonoured the ones who had pre-marriage sex. They marginalized the ones who had homosexual love relationship. They abandoned the ones who purchased the service of sex (prostitution). As Edison Chen’s private episodes of sexual relations with other pop stars were publicized in January 2008, HongKongers assumed themselves to be so-called “rational-minded” based on the idea of “psychological rationalism” and heavily condemned Edison’s behaviour as a violation to morality. Chinese people, in such controversial occasion, found it difficult to strike a balance between a respect to everyone’s need of physical gratification and a rather considerate approach of maintaining a proper utilization of sex within the social routine. Chinese tradition of “polygamy”, which was not a required element in Confucianism, was overthrown by Christian concept of sexual equality. But, Chinese people seemed to lack an open-mindedness to observe those who suitably practiced their individualist right of sexual enjoyment. Ladies in China and some conservative European countries who found male lovers outside their marriage were still much more heavily condemned by our society than the men were. Yet, Christianity overwhelmed the flow of Individualism. It is because, Individualism was honoured by civilians, while Christian dogmatism was being borrowed by Chinese ruling class as a mirror of extending a well governing over civilians’ mode of living and behaviour.
  • 5. Chinese people long for a freedom of emotional pursuit, while they are feeling scared of the authority of dogmatism as it might make labelling to those who move away from the generally-expected sexual routine. China is practicing a renewed mode of “cultural resistance” as a mean of counteracting with the flooding of Western ideology. She firstly borrows the total mode of Western ideology for the quickest realization of national modernization, as well as gaining a recognizable international position. Then, the authorities concerned limitedly penetrate some elements of Chinese traditions into the established Western-styled sectors in order to win Westerners’ tolerated acceptance upon Chinese culture. But, is it right that Chinese defines its contemporary sexual perceptions based on a blind and unquestioned reference to all kinds of Occidental ideas? It is emergently necessary for Chinese nowadays to rationally indicate the cons of Christianity and Individualism, as China should avoid having their civilians becoming more and more conservative than those in the Ancient Period while being influenced by Western thoughts. China’s future reactions to sexual perceptions from Christianity Christianity deserves a historical recognition of contributing to the rising trend of sexual equality in China as it discourages polygamy. Hong Xiuchuan, the leader of Taiping Rebellion, was the first Chinese Christian introducing this liberal concept to China, and it was later succeeded by Dr. Sun Yat-sen after the establishment of Republican rule. Chinese female nowadays are
  • 6. much protected from being socially and psychologically exploited by the males, as they are allowed to succeed male’s capacity whenever they have academic intelligence. It’s encouraging that Chinese female can make decisions in the marriage relation and they no longer need to subordinate themselves to the male dominance. Family values are preciously preserved in Christian beliefs, but fraternity, as well as respect of human dignity, were a rather essential spirit that motivates both the parental side and the children side to have a mutual understanding and tolerance between each other. Yet, men have to be responsible for his irrational unleash of sexual desire if it causes pre-marriage pregnancy of their lovers and spread of diseases. It is under the regulation of Common Law and Human-Right Doctrine, since Lord offers female the right of striving for their deserved treatments by constitutional appeals. In short, Christianity requests male to fulfil their duty of protecting female, while female in return assist male to fulfil Lord’s sacred duty of making procreations. This should be a fundamental standard Chinese needs to observe in the future in order to achieve a total harmony of human relations, regardless of being with men or with women. China’s bureaucracy should not totally make the mode of Christianity a dominant standard for the upper class to regulate. Christian belief is different from Christian doctrinarism. The first one is based on fraternity, and the second one is rather a bureaucratic mode of dogmatism which is utilized to suppress the ones who violate the standard of “psychological rationalism”. Chinese people, who incline to pursue the Christian mode of living, should not regard sexual relations with lovers as a moral obligation from Lord of eliminating sin origins. Rather, Christian pursuers in China should deliver
  • 7. sympathies to those homosexual lovers who really establish true love relations. It’s not recommended that Christian pursuers intend to marginalize the exceptional sexual relations by adopting biblical concepts as a mean of incorporating Confucian taboos in China. Jesus Christ revealed his compassionate heart to all kinds of human-being, even they were bounded by sufferings of sins. He had ever saved prostitutes from political exploitation. As Jesus showed his tolerance to the ladies who violated Lord’s favour in sex regulation, why do the Churches and dogmatist authorities in Europe and America still brutally suppress the already-marginalized minorities? Historically, Chinese people have a nice essence of pursuing Mencius’ spirit of kindness and compassion to people all around, emphasizing the modification of people’s mind through heartfelt educations. It ought to be a centred thought for Chinese to guide others to a proper approach of sex regulation with the facilitation of Jesus Christ’s fraternity. The mode of dogmatism is no longer a proper approach of succeeding the idea of humanist harmony. China’s proper attitude towards the flood of Individualism in terms of sexual perceptions The idea of Individualism initiates the elder generations in Chinese society to pay certain kind of respect to their sons or daughters’ decision of marriage. Chinese youngsters no longer need to bear the burden of achieving family honour. Moreover, it’s encouraging that elder generations no longer have the right to negotiate with parents from another family for a politically-planned
  • 8. marriage for the purpose of combinative benefits between two families. Youngsters just choose their faithful lovers, and the daily affairs are just discussed by the couples themselves. Individualism made a rather controversial breakthrough upon Christian restrictions. People can have pre-marriage sex with their lovers whenever they adopt proper preventive measures, such as wearing condoms. But, will Individualism become an excuse manipulated by people in terms of unleashing their sexual desires without any sense of civic responsibility? Human-beings’ normal way of regulation upon their sexual desires ought to deserve public and religious tolerance. BUT, they should respect opposite-sides’ feelings instead of becoming too self-centred. Pre-marriage sex and homosexuality are allowed under the condition of not hurting others physically or harming others’ interests. One would never be appraised if he destroys others’ established marriage relations or causing the spread of sexual diseases due to the lack of preventive measures. You can violate the Law, but your private reason should not totally base on no grounds. Any kind of moves should consist of the supporting means of rationality. Therefore, China should continue to pursue the existing concept of not regarding sex as a heritage obligation, while people who stimulate the collapse of humanist harmony should bear the risk of being punished by the Law if they fail to regulate their unleashing properly. The side effect of Individualism was that, it leads to a risk of disintegration upon Chinese “authority-dreaded” peculiarity, as well as a collapse of the patriarchal patterns in Chinese society. It is worried that, as Chinese people are encouraged to have a greater automatic extent of decision-making, they
  • 9. might be no longer afraid of the strict guidance from the authoritative parties. Parents, relatives, masters or government’s advices therein possess less associative forces in terms of restraining the self-indulgence of younger generations. In return, youngsters might shift to a status of “psychological anomy”, as they are often given too much independence and being too self-centred of protecting their own feelings without any awareness to other people’s care and concern on them. To eliminate such kind of psychological anomy, it’s recommended to adopt Confucian spirits as a medicine of healing. Confucianism emphasizes the maintenance of loyalty, filial piety, kindness and righteousness. These major four essences are the cored values of maintaining a stronger association among human-beings. As one can reveal any kind of behavioural goodness stated previously, he/she is thus able to further spread his elite spirit throughout the community, impressing people around to succeed this kind of humanist harmony. Europeans or Americans tend to have a total escape from parental care after becoming adults. Even they regarded God as a prior dominance upon their future destinies; they have much courage of exposing themselves to physical, mechanical and intelligent challenges. Thus they prefer to pursue his renewed living mode alone without reliance on relatives’ assistance, whereas they just limitedly beg for the blessings from brothers and sisters in Churches. But, in contemporary Chinese society, though Chinese people have much right in deciding their love, sex and marriage affairs, they still bear in mind of remembering where their happiness comes from. They still reserve a very flexible extent of allowing parents and elder generations to have intermediations upon their lifelong decisions, nor to say sexual relations. Very often, Chinese youngsters are often ready to subordinate their self-interests into parents’ concern due to
  • 10. their cultural spirit of loyalty. It can be explained that Chinese and Asian societies, being mostly influenced by Confucian culture, consist of rather united groups of submissive civilians, whereas less cases of family-relation disintegrations, sexual diseases and sexual crimes might occur comparing with those in Occidental societies. Chinese people, in such aspect, can be regarded as comparatively having a more considerate mind of self-reflection towards the consequences from every kind of their behaviours than the Westerners do, specifically in the aspect of sexual behaviours. To sum up, Confucianism is quite constructive in restraining Chinese in this contemporary era not to abuse their sexual desires and concern more about the maintenance of harmonious human relations, which could strike a counteractive balance with the overwhelming self-indulgent force of Western Individualism. China’s future modifications to the existing traditional Chinese beliefs Stability in family integration, which is proclaimed by Confucianism, is inevitably a significant spirit which facilitates Chinese to achieve a status of racial and cultural totality. Yet, the “ceremonial regulations” help restrain human-beings from being too self-indulgent, always considering if certain sexual behaviour would cause disturbances to the procreation order of one’s heritage. The restraint of people’s desire is necessary, but should it be manipulated by bureaucratic classes and elder generations as an excuse of intervening others’ right of choosing their suitable ways of unleashing? The
  • 11. idea of “Not observing affairs with impoliteness, not listening to affairs with impoliteness, not having contact with affairs with impoliteness” seems to be implemented too rigidly in the ancient age. For example, couples which uncontrollably had pre-marriage sex would be heavily condemned by their patriarchal clans, being pulled to suffer from drowning executions. Even a lady who was divorced or widowed would undergo the same fate if she was found of having another love or sexual relationship with a new man. There seemed to be a very strict request on Chinese not to unleash their sexual desires outside their family boundaries. In Chinese society, a marriage was regarded as a “life-and-death” contract restricting anyone’s physical and spiritual freedom. This kind of dogmatism was not what Confucius hoped for. Confucius stated that, even somebody had been driven away from the proper route, we, as a conscientious educator, should try our heartfelt best to impress him/her spiritually to make further improvements. Too rigid punishments would only drive the offenders to revolts. Patience, tolerance and thoughtful understanding ought to be the nice essence of Confucianism, whereas it lessens the contradictions and hatred among mankind. Whenever a person has found a true lover in a lifelong mean, parents and relatives should respect their decisions, as well as blessing and congratulating them with fruitful futures. Authority should not be abused as a kind of suppression unless certain sexual behaviour causes endangerments to the public interest in a greater scale. Of course, on the other hand, we cannot tolerate those who spread AIDS or other sexual diseases due to their abuses of sexual behaviours, while it is also ridiculous for the homosexual groups in Hong Kong to brutally force Catholic Church and Red Cross to permit them a right of either same-sex marriage or blood donation, as they just wanted to achieve their
  • 12. self-indulgent means at the expense of other innocent citizens’ health interests. It’s suggested that, humanist kindness and behavioural restraints should strive a balanced mechanism. All in all, in a mediated approach, we should first exert kindness to those who have exceptional sexual behaviours as a prior mean of considerate patience, whereas we won’t allow this kindness to be exploited liked the homosexual groups in Hong Kong did. We should exert ceremonial restraints on sexual relations only if it causes a risk of disintegration upon the harmony of human relations. The “desire-free” ideal proclaimed by both Buddhism and Taoism can be a mirror borrowed by Occidentals as a mean of psychological shift to reconsider the gifted spiritual substances by the Nature. In fact, sex is just a biological cycle that human-beings need to undergo. It should be an enhanced substitution of human love-relationship, instead of self-indulgent entertainments. Prostitution and “one-night stand”, in such aspect, should be minimized as possible as ones can for the sake of predicting ones’ future rewards. Buddhism’s philosophy in explaining the origin of “bitterness” due to our desires deserves our kind reference. It proclaims that human-beings were fundamentally formed by the “five essences”2 through a merge of different destinies. The five essences were “amativeness”, “receiving”, “thinking”, “behaviour” and “intelligence”, and they are continuously producing human desires. Buddhists think that human lives are full of 2 Ma Chung-kei & Chow Lai-ying, An Interesting Discussion on the Knowledge of Chinese Culture (Hong Kong: PilotPublishingCompany Limited, 2003,3rd Edition)
  • 13. bitterness, but the formation of our bitterness depends on the way of our engagements. Moreover, there’s also an association that “intelligence” would also motivate ones’ desire of amativeness, which is sensed by our six types of sensational organs. Then, such sensation would stimulate our feelings, love, greed, desire, and even persistence. All of these elements have to be restrained once we achieve a self-sufficient status. It is quite encouraging that, contemporary Chinese are relatively more aware of the importance of regulating their subconscious desires by imitating Buddhists’ mode of practising morality and philosophies. They can rather think thrice before leaping, for not having anybody to be the victims of their self-indulgence. Chinese people are praised of their thanksgiving mind, for not having exceptional ambitions to counteract with their physical limitations like the Occidentals do. For Taoism, it plays a significant role of reminding contemporary Chinese, in which they have to be aware of their behaviours not to harm the chaining and cycling regulations of the Nature. 3Taoism proclaims that human life is not totally decided by the Order of Heaven. We can, in fact, enjoy longer lives by practising Taoist philosophy and nurturing our lives properly. There are five kinds of “ways” (taos), which are “Heaven”, “human”, “animal”, “hungry ghosts” and “hell”. Human-beings have to observe the rules within these “ways”. Too much desire aroused would just disorder our peculiar truth and it leads to our inability of returning to the sincere mode of living. There’s a retribution for human sin in Taoist philosophy. Chinese people believe that, 3 Ma Chung-kei & Chow Lai-ying, An Interesting Discussion on the Knowledge of Chinese Culture (Hong Kong: PilotPublishingCompany Limited, 2003,3rd Edition)
  • 14. all kinds of creatures in this Universe witness our behaviours. If we irrationally produce too much desire, it just leads to a growing atmosphere of cunningness which would risk of a psychological injury to the people around. It would finally drive us to the stage of “emptiness” based on the justice from a kind of Heavenly Truth. Yet, Taoism categorizes the sexual skills as a research on the way of life-nurturing. But, it still urges people to observe certain spiritual commandments and try delivering more behavioural goodness to the secular world. To sum up, even the Confucian idea of family and social stability was introduced to restrain Chinese people’s indulgence of their sexual desires, there was still a loophole in such a dominant Chinese ideology, as the peculiarity of Confucianism was transformed by the bureaucratic class to be a bit dogmatist – only exerted this restriction to the unprivileged civilian class. The controversial issue of how to control our sexual desires still inevitably bears much burden in terms of our family and civic responsibilities if Confucianism is made as a centred thought. BUT, Buddhism and Taoism, the two mainstreamed Chinese religions, offer a rather intelligent and tactful drainage for Chinese people to measure the gains and losses when defining their nationalist sexual perception in a suitable philosophical approach, since we just study different cases in a very personal and spiritual level without any moral interference from either the authoritative sectors or the elder generations. As sex is associated to the studies of how to maintain a healthy cycle between the Nature and biological lives, we no longer produce exceptional arguments to defend those who abuse their right of having pre-marriage sex or homosexual relations at the expense of other innocent
  • 15. people’s interests. It is because, as Chinese people bear in mind that, once you plant an erosive root inside the earth, you will be the one of poisoning yourself finally even nobody stops you beforehand. This reveals the intelligence of Chinese people’s religious philosophy – not having a direct conflict with the mechanical, material, objective, technical and physical norms of Western ideology. I think that, in the following ages, contemporary Chinese can regulate the functionality of sex properly based on the Buddhist or Taoist beliefs, instead of over-reliance on Confucian ethics to supervise people’s intentions. Never allow Western ideology to turn Chinese sexual perceptions into a deeper stage of conservatism No matter Confucianism, Buddhism or Taoism never denies the functionality of sex as a gifted biological functionality of mankind. Chinese people’s sexual perception is unexpectedly open-minded for a public taste of cultural temperaments. The only thing Chinese people have to renew is the social mode of “Feudalistic Sexual Morality”4. Based on the concept of feudalistic morality in China, it’s revealed that the feudal society tend to pay little attention on male virginity, as they have the freedom of practising polygamy and divorce. In return, more attention was paid to prevent female from loosing their virginity, as ladies are hidden at home in order to prevent them from having pre-marriage sex and need to be unquestionably submissive to their marriage obligation. This male-centred routine is still influential in this 4 http://big5.jiexieyin.org/show.aspx?id=515&cid=34 It’s a must of restraining sexual behaviour of mankind
  • 16. contemporary patriarchal Chinese society; even feudalism was overthrown a century ago. Chinese people generally bear a misleading concept, that the preservation of “virginity” (just indicate female) is a symbol of loyalty to love relationship5. I think that such kind of double-standard bias in Chinese sexual perceptions should be eliminated. Both male and female should make equal respect to each other in terms of deciding their ways of pursuing their sexual behaviours, and this type of respect bases on mutual understanding and concern. Fundamentally, Chinese people regard sex as natural. Both “The Book of Politeness” (Li Ji) and “The Book of Odes” (Shi Jing) reflect that Chinese attitude towards sex is still very liberal and initiative6. Except for the passive attitude of Buddhism, both Taoism and Confucianism do not make brutal repression on sex. We can see that Chinese people are facing an ideological interlace of liberal opening, cultural diversification, repressive doctrinarism and formalism due to a mixture of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and Communism, but most of them still bear in mind of making considerate behaviour for not harming the normal cycle of Nature, biological health and humanist harmony. It’s expected that, Chinese people would continue to pursue their ideal of emphasizing the attitude of practicability towards sex in life and tolerate different types of sexual behaviours, while they should be regarding both enjoyment and procreation as the goal of sexual relations. 5http://big5.jiexieyin.org/show.aspx?id=515&cid=34 It’s a must of restraining sexual behaviour of mankind 6http://www.swik.org.hk/SWIKPortal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabIndex=0&tabid=50&ItemID=223 Ng Man-lun,Our Sex In The Past And Present
  • 17. However, another piece of interlaces, including Christianity, Romanticism, Individualism, Liberalism and Capitalism, complicate Chinese people’s orientation. These Western ideas turn Chinese sexual perceptions to be rigidly standardized and moralized7, which leads to nervous relations between two sexes as both can equally strive for their deserved gratifications. Chinese couples should never just limit themselves to a level of pursuing formalized sexual enjoyments as the Occidentals do. Yet, Western Romanticism bridged the gap between love and sex8: sex is just regarded as a practical functionality in the realty, while love is enhanced to a sacred level of interactive spiritual gratifications that would further enhance each side’s admiration. But, this differentiation is too formalized. To Chinese belief in a rather humanist approach, sex can be a healthy supplementation for the enhancement of love relationships, in which couples can give concern, care and encouragement to increase each other’s mutual understanding. Based on their existing human essence of toleration, Chinese people no longer need to be afraid of being condemned under an Occidental-styled rigid standardization – never feeling sex as an origin of sin. They should unite together to destroy the block of conservatism laid by Westerners, and re-establish a community with a group of nationalist civilians willing to make harmonious approach of maintaining both stable and equal human relations with a liberal sex culture. 7 http://www.swik.org.hk/SWIKPortal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabIndex=0&tabid=50&ItemID=223 Ng Man-lun,Our Sex In The Past And Present 8 Same as above
  • 18. Materials for reference  Choi Yan Chi, Space and Passio – The Art of Hon Chi Fun (Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Development Council, March 2000)  Ma Chung-kei & Chow Lai-ying, An Interesting Discussion on the Knowledge of Chinese Culture (Hong Kong: Pilot Publishing Company Limited, 2003,3rd Edition)  http://big5.jiexieyin.org/show.aspx?id=515&cid=34 It’s a must of restraining sexual behaviour of mankind  http://www.swik.org.hk/SWIKPortal/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabIndex=0&tabid=50&Ite mID=223 Ng Man-lun, Our Sex In The Past And Present Workload Distribution Lee Kwun Leung Vincent (06009913)  Article-writing  Decision on the approaches of different paragraphs and counter-arguments  Integrating resources concerning Christianity, Individualism, Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism with detailed elaborations  Translation Leung Tsz Ning Yuki ( )  Consolidating the useful information from the previous group presentation  Contributing to the brief information on patriarchal pattern in Chinese society Wong Mei Hung Abby ( )  Summarizing the main points in “It’s a must of restraining sexual behaviour of mankind” and “Our Sex In The Past And Present” for conclusion