In 79 AD, in the fourth year of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the imperial court organized a national seminar on Confucian classics, which was presided over by the emperor himself. The minutes of this meeting were later compiled and edited by Ban Gu into "White Tiger with Tongde", which was the official standard answer of Confucian classics at that time and had a great influence on later generations.
However, it is such an official and extremely "orthodox" book that pays so much attention to sexual issues.
Biography of the White Tiger also has a section devoted to Bi Yong. "Biyong" is a kind of learning hall in ancient times, where male aristocratic children learn all kinds of skills needed as a nobleman, and there is even sex education in the course.
Then, why should sex education be conducted at school, but not at home? From the perspective of the white tiger boy, this issue was also raised at the headquarters meeting. White Tiger Child Record, the original explanation: "Why doesn't the father teach the child by himself?" For blasphemy. The way of teaching well illustrates the changes of yin and yang couples, and it is impossible for father and son to teach each other. "It means that a father can't teach his son, so it's not serious.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, sex education was regarded as a compulsory course in schools for aristocratic children. It can be seen that people's sexual concept was still quite open at that time, and they attached great importance to research issues. Of course, from today's perspective, sex education cannot be passed down from father to son, so it may not be.
So in ancient China, did the general public have sex education? Of course there is. But it is not so systematic and comprehensive, but uses "intuitive teaching AIDS" to carry out "suggestive guidance" education. "Dowry painting" and "wardrobe bottom" are two main ones.
"Dowry Painting" is actually an erotic painting with about 8 to 12 pictures of different sexual intercourse. Due to the great social demand, most of them are printed in woodcut, with strong local flavor and folk color.
Before a daughter gets married, parents often buy one or two rolls of "dowry paintings" to put in the dowry and take them to her husband's house. On their wedding night, the young couple often know nothing about sex, so they spread the "dowry painting" on the bed and made it like a cat and a tiger.
The record of "dowry painting" was first seen in the Han Dynasty, but many objects were found in the early years of the Republic of China, which shows that it has existed for a long time in the history of China. Zhang Heng, a writer in the Eastern Han Dynasty, once wrote "Simultaneous Songs", describing the feelings of men and women in the first person. Later generations spoke highly of this poem, saying that it was "beautiful without lewdness", "ambitious" and "symbolizing the affairs of courtiers" and so on.
In addition to "dowry painting", there was also a sex education tool called "closet bottom" in ancient China. It is a kind of porcelain, some of which are smaller than fists. Most of them are fruit-shaped, with a lid and a pair of men and women hidden inside. Usually, people put it at the bottom of the box to ward off evil spirits. Before the daughter got married, the mother took out the "bottom of the box" and opened the lid to show her the way of husband and wife.
Of course, sex education in ancient times was definitely not just "suggestive guidance", but there were some ancient books about sex to read, but they were not so popular. When a girl marries, she may be taught by a wet nurse, a stable and a young sister. Sometimes little sisters sing folk songs at the bride's window. These folk songs all have sexual content. Singing folk songs is provocative, but it also has the function of sexual enlightenment.