Su'e pian
{{short description|Chinese erotic novel}}
{{Infobox book
|name = Su'e pian
|title_orig = {{noitalic|{{lang|zh-Hant|素娥篇}}}}
|translator =
|image = Su E Pian (素娥篇) Ming Dynasty period erotic novel 28.jpg
|caption = A page from a late Ming printed edition
|author = Yehua Sheng ({{lang|zh|鄴華生}})
|illustrator =
|cover_artist =
|country = China (Ming dynasty)
|language = Chinese
|series =
|genre =
|release_date = {{circa|1610}}
|english_release_date =
|media_type = Print
|pages =
}}
Su'e pian ({{zh|c=素娥篇|p=Sù'é piān}}),{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=1}} also Su E Pian, translated into English as The Moon Goddess{{Sfn|Denton|1986|p=197}} or The Lady of the Moon,{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=2}} is a Chinese erotic novel by an anonymous writer published in the late Ming dynasty. It follows the sexual escapades of Wu Sansi ({{lang|zh|武三思}}) and his concubine, Su'e ({{lang|zh|素娥}}).
Plot
Wu Sansi ({{lang|zh|武三思}}), the wealthy and powerful nephew of Empress Wu Zetian, falls in love with the eponymous Su'e ({{lang|zh|素娥}}) and takes her in as a concubine. The novel describes forty-three sexual encounters between Wu Sansi and Su'e, each of which is artfully named and commemorated with a poem.{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=4}} Palace official Di Renjie ({{lang|zh|狄仁傑}}) insists on meeting Su'e after hearing of her exceptional beauty; she agrees after some hesitation, before revealing to Di that she is an immortal "Moon Lady".{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=4}} Su'e then departs to a higher dimension with Wu's spirit. Some time later, the couple are reportedly sighted at the Zhongnan Mountains.{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=4}}
Content and publication history
Su'e pian is more than 10,000 Chinese characters long and comprises some forty-three chapters and ninety illustrations collected in four volumes.{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=2}} Each sexual position described in the novel is given a name such as "Stopping the Horse to Pull the Saddle" ({{lang|zh|駐馬板鞍}}),{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=5}} "Flowers Longing for Butterflies" ({{lang|zh|花開蝶戀}}),{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=4}} "Boat Widthwise Over the Ferry" ({{lang|zh|野渡橫舟}}),{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=5}} and "The Union of Yin and Yang" ({{lang|zh|囫圇太極}}).{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=5}}
The novel was written in Classical Chinese{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=6}} by an anonymous writer using the pseudonym Yehua Sheng ({{lang|zh|鄴華生}}).{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=3}} According to its preface, Su'e pian was engraved by Hangzhou-based engraver Huang Yikai ({{lang|zh|黃一楷}}),{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=4}} and published {{circa|1610}}.{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=2}} An English translation of the story was written by E. D. Edwards and published in Chinese prose literature of the Tang period (1935).{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=7}} A complete Ming edition of the novel, believed to be the only one left in existence and previously owned by Columbia University professor Wang Jizhen ({{lang|zh|王際真}}), is housed in the library of the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction in Bloomington, Indiana.{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=1}}
Inspiration and influence
The anthology Ganze yao ({{lang|zh|甘澤謠}}) by Yuan Jiao ({{lang|zh|袁郊}}) records the short story of Su'e, an artist and poet who is also the concubine of Wu Zetian's nephew, Wu Sansi; Su'e later reveals herself as a "spirit of flowers and the moon" sent to Earth to "lure the human mind and body".{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=3}} The same story is also collected in Yaowang Zhuan ({{lang|zh|妖妄傳}}) by Zhu Xiji ({{lang|zh|朱希济}}), published in the Tang dynasty.{{Sfn|Zhou|1995|p=3}} The protagonist Su'e in Su'e pian is also inspired by the mythical goddess of the Moon, Chang'e.{{Sfn|Denton|1986|p=202}} In the erotic novel Zhulin yeshi, published between 1610 and 1620, the main protagonist is referred to as Su'e, which Olivia Milburn suggests is a reference to Su'e pian.{{Sfn|Milburn|2017|p=10}}
References
=Citations=
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
{{refbegin}}
- {{cite journal|title=Lu Ling's Literary Art: Myth and Symbol in "Hungry Guo Su'e"|first=Kirk A.|last=Denton|volume=2|number=2|journal=Modern Chinese Literature|pages=197–209|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41490583|year=1986|jstor=41490583}}
- {{cite journal|first=Olivia|last=Milburn|title=The Legend of Lady Xia Ji: Two Late Ming Dynasty Portrayals of an Ancient Chinese "Femme Fatale"|journal=Chinese Literature: Essays, Articles, Reviews|pages=1–25|year=2017|volume=39|jstor=45014208|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/45014208}}
- {{cite journal|title=Su E Pian: A Unique Treasure at the Kinsey Institute Library|last=Zhou|first=Lianhong|date=October 1995|journal=Journal of Library & Information Science|number=2|volume=21|url=https://www.proquest.com/openview/bffd621a48314f90466bdf75f23b4afd/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=2035548|pages=1–9}}
{{refend}}
{{Commons category|Su E Pian}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Chinese erotic novels
Category:17th-century Chinese novels