Jin Ping Mei: A Chinese classic
During these past couple of months, my reading time was occupied by a Chinese classic novel called Jin Ping Mei. You’ve never heard of it? Understandable. It’s not as famous as Journey to the West or Dream of the Red Chamber, and I think there is only one reason for that and it’s not its literary quality, but the simple fact that, unlike any other Chinese classic, in Jin Ping Mei there are very explicit sex scenes, and lots of them (also illustrations!). Because the book was considered scandalous and pornographic, it was banned for a long time, although many educated people managed to get their hands on it. Its author and exact date of publication are unknown, but the manuscript was already circulating by the end of the 16th century.
I had heard about Jin Ping Mei during my college years and for some reason I had imagined it was a short novel. Imagine my surprise when I found it in my local library and it was 1200 pages! And then later on I realized that was just book 1, and book 2 was another 1600!
Jin Ping Mei is presented as a spin-off from Water Margin (which I read last year!). Pan Jinlian (the “Jin” in Jin Ping Mei, which refers to three of the female characters) is a minor character in Water Margin and here she’s one of the protagonists. The story is set in the Song Dinasty (12th century) and revolves around Ximen Qing, a rich, powerful and lustful merchant who has six wives and concubines, one of them Pan Jinlian. The relationships between the wives and the servants, and the social climb of Ximen Qing and his relations with government officials and other powerful men fill those 2800 total pages.
I have to say I found it absolutely fascinating. Although it’s quite long, I couldn’t get my eyes off it (and not only because of the racy scenes, haha). There’s only one part at the beginning of the second book that I found boring. Also, and this feeling might be in part due to the fantastic Spanish translation (done by one of my college professors, the amazing Alicia Relinque Eleta), the novel sounds so modern, not only in its words but also in the way the characters act. I saw so many attitudes that are still preserved in today’s China! For example, the fact that business and deals are closed during dinners and need to have copious amounts of alcohol (something that I personally hate!) seems to have a too long history that has surely affected the life expectancy of generations of Chinese men. With regards to the openness about sex, it definitely feels more modern than present day China, haha. Also, monks and nuns tend to be presented as scammers, which is something that I’ve heard too from some people.
Pan Jinlian is a character that became the archetype of female villain in Chinese culture. She’s sometimes described as a femme fatale, but I’d say “total bitch” would be more adequate. She’s absolutely despicable, selfish, and mean, and she lies all the time to get other people in trouble and achieve her objectives. In the end she dies from a horrible and cruel death, and well deserved. Ximen Qing, the male protagonist, uses his money to buy influences and power, and when he gets an official position, he seems to think that there is nothing wrong with corruption. In fact, many of the officials that appear in the novel are corrupt, and the whole story is a critique of the corruption of its time. Ximen Qing seems also to be unable to keep it in his pants for more than half an hour, and goes around screwing anyone who tickles his fancy, be it prostitutes, servants (male and female), or the wives of the men that work for him. In the end, he gets physically sick because of having too much sex (probably some STD) and has a very ridiculous death. Yep, in this novel, most people who do bad things end up dead, as a punishment for their crimes.
I think I might have talked too much about the sexy aspects, but they’re really not the only reason to read Jin Ping Mei, which I found to be a great portrait of an era and a social class. If you can get your hands on it, and have the patience to stay with a story for 2800 pages, I’d say go for it! I hope the English translation is at least half as good as the Spanish, which as I said is superb (I knew that professor was cool, but now she’s my idol!).
All images taken from Wikimedia Commons.
So was the book officially banned? Is it still banned?
It seems it was officially banned at some moments but it still circulated “underground”. As far as I know it’s not banned now, but I’m not sure if the spicy moments have been “edited” haha. Let’s see if I can get my hands on a Chinese edition when I get back to China.
now I want to read this book!
Please do! Hehe. In English or in Chinese? Or maybe in Spanish? 🤪
I’ve become accustomed to books that are 300-350 pages. If a book is shorter, I feel a little disappointed. If it’s too long, I get impatient to start a new one. I don’t know if I’d have the patience anymore to read 2800 pages, Years ago I read Water Margins and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, both of which were long. But that was a long time ago.
I haven’t read Romance of the Three Kingdoms yet! Maybe it will be my Chinese classic for 2023.
Interesting!
Is there a certain portion of Jin Ping Mei that you liked the most? Maybe I can just check that out first lol. I’m reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms right now and that’s gonna be a while.
Mmm, I liked everything except the first part of the second book. So I guess you can just start from the beginning, haha!
I haven’t read Jin Pei Mei! From what you described, it really sounds like a modern book with topics and pictures some people don’t talk about. And a very long book too. I agree with Nicki in that long books are usually not my thing. If a book is too long, sometimes I can forget what the start of the story is about!
A big big wow and thumb up for your patience finishing such a long book. As a Chinese myself I have to confess I haven’t finished the four classics, not to mention Jin Ping Mei. It’s said to be an encyclopedia of the many aspects of life for people of the time. We get glimpse into the book from many different sources though, mostly story adaptation and movies (R rated 😀). Anyway, you definitely better than majority of the Chinese experts on market being able to finish this :)
Wow I have never heard of this book!! Your glowing review makes me want to check it out. Maybe I’ll go take a look around my library…
BTW, how was Water Margin? That’s another classic I heard is good, but I always think it might be too boring for me to get all the way through…
Do look for Jin Ping Mei! I remember I first heard of it when I was in uni, my professor who later translated it into Spanish mentioned it (I guess she was already getting ready for the task at that moment haha).
Water Margin is entertaining, but it gets a bit repetitive in the second half, because it’s super long and similar things happen all the time in the story. However I would definitely recommend reading at least the first volume (and if you’re hooked, the second one haha). If you read it, look for the most recent translation, I think the one I read was from the 1930s and I hated the Wade-Giles hahaha. (Or would you read it in Chinese? I don’t dare hahaha).
Congratulations on reading such a tome! It sounds like one of those great War and Peace + Game of Thrones – magic / sweeping legacies of intrigue and downfalls. I would imagine there have been many TV or movie adaptations?
I was going to say years ago, I read a horny parody of it somewhere, and played a horny version of PC game carrying the same title… but, I guess those were the real things huh?
I suspect the stories told in Jin Ping Mei are probably closer to the truth than not with regards to the actual societal norms of that era.
I’m not sure if it was close to the truth or not, but my conclusion was that government officials did not do much apart from going to banquets and f*ck around… which sounds similar to the present days xD