Ch’ing, a Chinese Book of Love : From Early Times to the Modern Age

A revelatory portrait of China’s literary passion, sensuality, elegance and desire.

This landmark anthology brings together, for the first time in English, the rich tradition of Chinese writing on love – sensuous, romantic and ecstatic – from early classics like the Book of Songs to twentieth-century modernist verse. Challenging the stereotype of Chinese literature as stiffly Confucian, it celebrates instead the Taoist embrace of physical passion as cosmic harmony. The selections span lyrical hymns, bawdy tales, singsong-house ballads, philosophical musings and a bedside manual, revealing a long, diverse literary culture of erotic and emotional expression. High-quality translations preserve both elegance and clarity, while exquisite seventeenth-century erotic woodblock prints provide visual echoes of the texts’ spirit. This anthology offers a rare and revelatory window on to the pleasures, desires and poetic sophistication of Chinese love literature through the ages.