Les Conteurs des Ming - traduit du roman anglais The Ming Storytellers

La traduction française de mon premier roman, Les Conteurs des Ming, paraîtra en avril 2027. J'ai trop hâte et j'espère de tout cœur que ce livre trouvera des lecteurs.

Nous sommes au XVe siècle.

À l’aube de la dynastie des Ming, trois femmes que tout semble séparer vont voir leurs destins se croiser.

De leur rencontre naîtra une histoire.

Une concubine impériale.

Une voyageuse persane.

Une mystérieuse conteuse.

Trois femmes.

Un même destin.

Une seule histoire.

BEIJING. La cité impériale bruisse de secrets, de passions et d’intrigues. Derrière les murs du palais, nul ne sait à qui accorder sa confiance.

Orpheline recueillie autrefois au palais, Min Li n’a jamais eu qu’un désir : plaire. Jusqu’à conquérir, qui sait, les faveurs de l’empereur Zhu Di lui-même.

Mais devenue puissante concubine, elle découvre derrière les portes closes de la Cité impériale un secret terrifiant.

Poussée au désespoir, elle se tourne vers son amant, l’amiral Zheng He, et lui demande son aide. Un geste qui semble n’être qu’un appel au secours, mais qui va déclencher une chaîne d’événements et faire vaciller les fondations du palais.

Le destin de Min Li est scellé.

Pourtant, l’ennemi qu’elle redoute n’est pas celui qu’elle croit…

De Nanjing à Beijing, des palais impériaux aux villages montagneux du Yunnan, Les Conteurs des Ming nous entraîne dans la Chine du XVe siècle, au cœur d’un monde où les secrets se murmurent derrière les paravents, où les alliances se nouent dans l’ombre et où le pouvoir voyage au rythme des navires de l’empire.

Au-delà des mers, des bazars animés de l’Inde méridionale aux rivages luxuriants de Zanzibar, d’autres destins se dessinent, tandis qu’une mystérieuse conteuse détient peut-être la clé d’un destin.

Dans l’empire des Ming, nul secret ne demeure enfoui très longtemps.

Et les yeux comme les oreilles de l’empereur sont partout.

---

Récit d’un Extrême-Orient foisonnant de mystères et de secrets, Les Conteurs des Ming se déroule aux premiers temps de la dynastie Ming, à l'heure où le Royaume du Milieu est libéré du règne des Mongols.

Le roman plonge au cœur des intrigues politiques et personnelles de la maison impériale des Zhu. À la veille du grand incendie qui ravagera le palais de Beijing et alors que la sixième expédition de la flotte des Ming s'apprête à prendre la mer, une concubine impériale est emportée par les forces sombres de l’obsession et de la vengeance.

Les Conteurs des Ming est une invitation au voyage pour les amoureux de l’Histoire et pour tous ceux qui croient que les mondes, même les plus éloignés, peuvent se rejoindre.

Couverture pour la version numérique 

du livre Les Conteurs des Ming

Buddha's Birthday Giveaway and Kindle Special

17 May 2013 is officially Buddha's birthday this year, and all over the world, people have joined into the celebrations.

Did you know that the city of Brisbane, in Australia is home to the largest annual Buddhist Birth Day Festival in the world? For three days and nights, Brisbane's South Bank Park lands light up with traditional red lanterns to celebrate the Buddha Birth Day Festival. Admission is free and there is much to keep everyone in the family interested with birthday ceremonies, cultural dances, music and feasting.

It turns out that humble Brisbane is also the birthplace of the historical novel, The Ming Storytellers. Set in China, the novel was extensively researched and written over a period of five years...all from Brisbane!

As part of the Buddha birthday month celebrations, a lucky person will have the chance to win a FREE Paperback copy of The Ming Storytellers.

To be in the random draw, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post or on the The Ming Storytellers Facebook page.

Don't enjoy reading Paperbacks? No stress!

Buddha's happy energy is fostering much generosity this month.

The Amazon Kindle version of The Ming Storytellers, originally priced at $5.99 USD is now priced at only 0.99 USD for a limited time only. This massive discount is also available on all Amazon KDP territories  where The Ming Storytellers is sold, including Germany, France, Spain, Brasil, Italy, Japan and India.


Much peace.



A tale of mystery and intrigue, The Ming Storytellers tells the fated story of Min Li, a willful imperial concubine and the illustrious Admiral Zheng He. The novel is set in China, during the Early Ming Dynasty a time of expansion and drama both at the Beijing court and at sea. Reviewers at Historical Novel Review have written an excellent review of the novel, here. 
Further information about The Ming Storytellers is available from the author interview at Unusual Historicals.

The Ming Storytellers - Paperback Release

I am pleased to announce the Paperback release of The Ming Storytellers on 

January 2013.

To celebrate this occasion, one lucky person will WIN an advance paperback copy of The Ming Storytellers. Talk about a Christmas present... 

And wait! There's more...we are speaking about a dedicated and SIGNED copy of this absolutely gorgeous book set in China's Ming Dynasty. How can you not want this?  

But seriously, how can you not want to ditch your e-reader for a hefty 633 pages? This is, after all, a historical novel. It demands the traditional reading experience with the forearm cramps, paper cuts and all.

To be in the draw to win, please click here and follow the competition instructions.

The winner will be announced shortly after the Australian New Year's Eve countdown on 01/01/2013.  

The Ming Storytellers - Sexuality

Issues of sexuality, sexual frustration and sexual obsession are an important undercurrent of the historical novel, The Ming Storytellers.

At the very core we have a world, the Forbidden City, where the only male population consists of an impotent emperor, Zhu Di, and his hundreds of castrates. Both ironically feel their inadequacies and both look to other worldly ambitions to compensate.

Zhu Di knows that he is unable to perform and in an attempt to dupe the world that he is still a virile man, continues to supplement his harem with yet more beauties from as far as Korea. Zhu Di persists in rubbing himself with aphrodisiac ointments and consulting with his physicians to improve his condition. Finding himself unable to perform, he assuages his masculinity on the military field.

Meanwhile the eunuchs who have sacrificed their manhood in order to accede to an imperial position understand that they will never have other means to succeed in their life than to serve their emperor. Maimed, conscious of their differences, plagued by lifelong health problems and sexually frustrated, they direct their ambitions, finding self-esteem and meaning in ascending the echelons of eunuchism, competing for roles and or often driving themselves to complex and illicit affairs with concubines.

For the hundreds of bored and sexually unfulfilled concubines in Zhu Di's harem, relief is found in forbidden literature. The women secretly indulge in the printed tales of the Ming storytellers, renown for their dubious virtue. They devour lascivious erotic vignettes, a Ming equivalent for pornography which arose during this period with the development of the printing industry.
In much the same way, Kareem, an envoy from Zanzibar is himself not foreign to the use of literature to compensate for the lack of spice in his bed. While his highly obsessed partner, Shahrzad, whiles her journey aboard the Ming fleet compiling theories about her idol, Admiral Zheng He, Kareem plunges ever deeply into the classic Persian volumes of One Thousand Tales (Arabian Nights).

Back in the Inner Palaces of the Middle Kingdom, bored and unfulfilled imperial concubines like the main protagonist, Min Li, become trapped in a form of fantasy, where they pine for unrequited forms of love. They become obsessed with eunuchs, perhaps men who believe themselves to be so inadequate that they shut themselves in a protective shell, convinced that they are undeserving of any adoration.

One such eunuch, Zhijian, will have to bear the frustration brought upon by castration all his life. He fills his time with the senseless completion of routine chores, without so much of a career goal, having abandoned all motive for life. The only escape from his torment is the obsession that he will develop for Min Li. His only joy following the castration that has deprived him of all he wanted from this life, is to seek every rumour concerning this one woman that he knows he can never have and who belongs to the emperor.
Zhijian will project his anima onto Min Li believing her to be pure and faultless, convinced that she is like him, a victim about to be slaughtered. Unable to function sexually, Zhijian elevates Min Li to muse status. He places her on a pedestal, relishing his platonic devotion as a welcome refuge because if he were to see her as a woman and desire her, he would ultimately need to face the 'villainy' of his physical condition.

But returning to the women of the palace, we find in the Ming Storytellers, another brand of sexual frustration one which perhaps would not be so problematic today, at least in many parts of the world.
It is the frustration of women who love other women and who are either forbidden to publicly meet due to social constraints or who entertain a secret passion for a loved one, a passion they hide, for fear of rejection.
The Ming dynasty is not foreign to sapphism. Palace women were known for having affairs with each other and wooden dildos have been found in the ruins of ancient Han palaces.

At the other extreme, there is another complex character who embodies a man completely at peace with castration yet who nevertheless suffers the frustration of remaining a man. Ji Feng is a eunuch, criminal at that. My conception of this character can be read in many ways. At the simplistic level he is a sexual criminal. At a more twisted level he is a man who has not 'come out' with his homosexuality. He experiences every woman as a threat, seeing them as creatures he can never compete with and whose form he can never hope to achieve.
Yet Ji Feng remains completely unaware of his own sexuality and of his seething jealously, nor is he conscious of his motivations for wanting to hurt women and see them under his power. Ji Feng's criminal impulse and his voyeurism, compound to produce a perverse individual capable of the worse crimes towards a gender that he cannot attain.

One salient undercurrent of The Ming Storytellers is the common theme of frustrated sexuality and soul-consuming sexual obsessions. It depicts a contrived world with extreme social taboos and physically maiming traditions, a world where eunuchism and forced concubinage combine to produce frustrated human needs that more or less contribute to the characters' journey.

10 Things You Didn't Know about The Ming Storytellers

1. It has eunuch characters - The main male character is a Muslim eunuch with a turbulent childhood. He existed. Yet in contrast to what is known of his role in Ming diplomacy and naval history, little has been written about his personal life or for that matter, about the many eunuchs who suffered and whose lives were violently transformed.

Today in many parts of the world, notably the West, there is much outrage over female genital manipulation in African and Middle Eastern communities, and how this scars women physically and psychologically. Conversely, the maiming of countless men over the course of history and even today is not dwelt upon with the same psychological and human rights perspective. It seems we have become disensitized about the practice of castration.

Whether through literature or film, we have come to accept that say, Romans, Turkish Sultans and Chinese emperors enslaved eunuchs, without dwelling on what being a eunuch meant for the victims. There is no memorial to acknowledge the lot of these men as eunuchs. There is little empathic study or recognition of what they endured, relative to our recognition of what slaves, in general, endured.

There are exceptions in literature. For example, I recently read the graphic novel, Habibi, and found it a truly respectful, eye-opening story featuring a eunuch as central character. It is a wonderful work of art and literature.

2. It contains torture scenes and a castration scene and offers the rudimentary outline on Chinese footbinding - history has its realities, however grim. I do not like to overlook the truth no matter how hard this truth. 

3. It presents a realistic portrayal of the life of Ming imperial concubines - What do bored women get up to, do you think? Yes, there is much plotting and scheming in secret, just as there are broken rules, bitchiness and much brooding. At the very least, readers can discover what it takes to be selected for the emperor's Royal Chamber and how to become a fashionable imperial courtesan. You can read more about this in my previous post, The Secret Life of Ming Concubines.

4. One of the great joys in writing historical fiction is that of giving a voice to those who have been overlooked or forgotten and offering a re-balance of perceptions through storytelling. And this is what The Ming Storytellers sets out to do. 

There is a magic realism element and as such, the novel slightly advances the cause of Shamanism. Long before the feudal Buddhist system headed by Tibetan priests, the old Tibet religions were rooted in shamanism. There was a deep reverence for animals and nature, and the belief in female seers or shamans. This root religion is explored and lends a magic realism aspect to the story.

The Ming Storytellers invites further contemplation into the history of Chinese minorities, notably those of Yunnan province, and the complex power systems that existed between China, Tibet and Mongolia in the 15th century.

5. It references Hazar Afsanah (One Thousand Nights, now known as 1001 Nights) - The Ming Dynasty is after all, the period where volumes of One Thousand Nights were being published in both Arabic and Persian editions.

6. It is set in a period where Arab and Chinese trade dominated the Indian Ocean, a time preceding the arrival of the Portuguese navigator, Alfonso d'Alburquerque, and his systematic takeover of Arab, Indian, South East Asian and East African trading ports. The Ming Storytellers is actually set just prior to a pivotal point in global trade history. The years following the novel's period mark a major historical shift from Chinese and Arab-dominated naval trade to European-dominated naval trade.
Today we find ourselves in a similar period of change but in the favor of China. From a political and economic perspective, the idea underpinning The Ming Storytellers is that empires, economies and military/trade supremacies rise and fall, and are also fraught by the same prejudices, fears, paranoia and delusions time and time again.

7. It is set in various places around the world including Nanjing, Lijiang in Yunnan, Beijing, Baidu in Sichuan, Deqin in Yunnan, Zanzibar in Tanzania, Calicut in Southern India, with general references to Mongolia, Tibet, Venice, Melacca, Oman, Mecca, Persia, Siam, Vietnam, Korea and of course, there are many passages set aboard the Ming fleet.
During the 15th century, these latter foreign places were all known by the Chinese. China was engaged in global trade with representatives from these parts of the world. It also received tributes from them as a form of allegiance and in exchange for naval protection and trade benefits. There was also a complex relationship between Tibet and China for both political and trade purposes.

8. The Ming Storytellers is transcultural - it embraces all religions and beliefs, and is divorced from all of them - There are references to Taoism, Buddhism, Tibetan Shamanism and Islam. There are references to several superstitions, together with the rejection of these.

Mazu, Celestial Goddess of the Seas guiding sailors

There are references to the Goddess Mazu - the Celestial Goddess of the sea for the Southern Chinese - together with references to the Nakhi ethnic group's frog worship.
The historical figure, Admiral Zheng He, on which the main male character is based, is believed by some historians to follow a harmonious integration between religions. The Ming Storytellers tries to be faithful to this notion and presents Zheng He as highly tolerant, with his attitude remaining quite fluid to integrate belief systems.

9. It deliberately features no White characters - In the story, when white foreigners are mentioned, they are commonly misjudged or treated as backward barbarians- this may be misconstrued to mean that Asian-centrism was the norm across all Ming Dynasty subjects (or that the novel endorses any existing Ming Dynasty racism). This is not the case. A couple of years ago, I wrote that this novel is an experiment in social psychology. It is a paradigm shift and nothing else. It is an exercise in human relations. It illustrates what often happens when an economically and politically powerful group of people, regardless of origin, looks upon the 'other'. 
I have always floated between East and West influences. It is my fluid background (Lebanese, Vietnamese and French) which allows me to setup this paradigm and remain...transcultural.

10. It contains both sexual references and sex scenes. Nothing coarse or pornographic, but I thought you might want to be aware of this. The Ming Storytellers features both homosexual and heterosexual sex scenes, including sex scenes between female and eunuch.

But in the words of my storyteller character, Jun: "Everything is important to the story."

Return of the Dragon

Post Opium War: (left to right)
Britain, Germany, Russia, France and Japan slicing out China

There is a perception, especially in the West, that ever since China overtook Japan as the world’s second largest economy that China’s status as a superpower is something new.  For a while, in the last 30 years, China's economy has been growing at a fast pace, averaging a 10% growth per year.  In the last five years especially, the  media has compared China more favourably against the West along several economic markers, bringing it to our attention as though it were an anachronism in our decidedly fixed vision of the country as, “lagging behind the West” or “curtailed by its communism policies”.  One notes that China’s performance has only been more noticeable following the recent global economic crisis and its detrimental impact on both the EU and the US.  When the head of the Eurozone bailout fund flew to Beijing early this year to ask the Chinese to contribute from their massive foreign reserve holdings, this move was seen by some as an indication of China's emergence as the world's top economic power. 

Yet reviewing China's history beyond the 21^st Century, China’s place as a top economy and its influential presence on the world’s stage is not something new. Hence the title of this article, Return of the Dragon, not Rise of the Dragon.

One must examine the reason why the Dragon's rise might be seen as a new phenomenon together with the fears that go hand in hand with such belief. Arguably following the Cold War period, the extensive English literature pervading our media where China was concerned has focused on the Cultural Revolution, stringent communist policies, the one-child policy, human rights records and censuring. That this coverage serves ethical and political (especially during the Cold War) values is one thing but its narrow focus fails to highlight the complete Chinese essence and partly obscures the vast history that has shaped China. Again, this narrowly focused coverage has, by its nature, bordered on propaganda, in the sense that it has fostered a  "rising fear about how China could use its power". 

Re-Assessing China's History

China’s history is extensive with records dating back to 1600BC.  The assertion that events taking place in China during any particular decade either in the 20^th or 21^st century could serve as a definite marker for the country’s productive capacity and its standard behaviour in the international sphere, would be akin to attributing that Britain and Holland are defined by their colonial past, Germany by its Nazi Holocaust and Spain by its Inquisition.

China is clearly more than its Cultural Revolution, the subject of most films and historical books, at least in the West. In this extensively documented and troubling period, China saw the unprecedented burning of books by the Red Guards, together with the replacement of all practices that were deemed ‘old’, and therefore 'bourgeois', in favour of ‘new’ or 'working class' practices, often at great costs to culture, peace and social structure. Today, given China's consumer record, one would argue that 'bourgeois' practices have been embraced anew wherever affordable. So much for the Cultural Revolution.

Even if one were to reflect on the extent of communist influence in China, Mao’s policies do not define China more than would its 2600 years of Confucianism. Albeit there was a time, when the replacement of the 'old' with the 'new' did conflict with Confucianism and had a resounding effect on the country’s society, with children being encouraged to break away from filial duty by turning in their 'dissident' parents. Today however, it would be erroneous to believe that Confucianism is dead in China’s society. In fact Confucianism has experienced a strong revival in China in the last 20 years.

The Ming Dynasty - The Last Peaceful Period when China Ruled Itself

In evidence, one needs a broader picture of China. One needs to look back, before the unstable decade of the Cultural Revolution, long before Mao’s time, even prior to the colonial conflicts which led to the Boxer Rebellion together with the Opium Wars and China’s forced dispossession of Hong Kong.  Again, we should look prior to the 19^th century, long before the reigning Qing Dynasty during which China was ruled by Manchu tribes for several hundred years, and when even the elegant thousands of years old Han-fu dress code, pride of the dominant Han culture, and precursor of Japan’s own Han-fu based kimono, was forcefully replaced by the plain qipao.

We are almost there…

...back to a time, when Chinese men were still permitted to wear their long hair in buns without being forced by the Manchus to shave their head and grow a braid; a time where they were masters of their own country: the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty spans almost 300 years. A key period in Chinese history and one of the least written about in English language literature, it is also the setting for The Ming Storytellers, an English language character-driven historical novel whose plot weaves intrigue between Ming emperors, fleet navigators, shamans, eunuchs and concubines. The Ming Storytellers brings to the fore several key events in the Early Ming Dynasty, including the construction of the Beijing Imperial palace. 

Chronologically speaking, the Ming Dynasty sits between China’s 90-year rule by Mongol tribes and its near 300-year rule by invading Manchus (who have since blended into the Han Chinese population). 

The Ming Dynasty seems like some political miracle in comparison to these adjacent periods.  During this dynasty, the Chinese Han majority governed itself. This is in sharp contrast to its later political situation following its encounter with the Manchus, later with Western powers (Germany, Britain and France) and finally, with Japan in WWII. 

Evidently, China has had its share of foreign invasions and foreign political pressure. It raises a question as to whether it deserves the potential "red" invader reputation that some fearmongers have attributed to it in these modern times...Something to ponder.

China's Foreign Policy During the Ming Dynasty

While being itself a country familiar with external aggressors, one must acknowledge China’s then resource hungry Ming policies which saw it invade Annam (today’s Vietnam) during the 15^th century and deforest a great part of the Annamese land to service its domestic architecture. Parallels might perhaps be seen with China's current policies towards Xinjiang and Tibet.

Then again, one must also acknowledge the extensive Ming tribute system. In this mostly peaceful system, diplomacy and trade with China were dependent on a country's willingness to send gifts to the Ming emperor. To reward its 'subjects', China reciprocated in gifts and offered protection from pirates. China's feared Ming fleet made it a respected superpower. 

In the Ming Dynasty, China successfully engaged in a tribute system with what is now Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Southern India, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Borneo.  

Overall, however, China's foreign policy was geared towards diplomacy and 'face', not profit. The cost of the tribute system which included massive expenditure on the Ming fleet, was so significant, that even China’s government ministers would rile against it, leading the country to eventually close itself to better deal with its growing inflation. 

Ming China - an Economic Giant Catering for a Global Market

Nevertheless, China during the Ming Dynasty was an economic power, producing mass quantities of silk, porcelain, craftwork and food products.  During Admiral Zheng He’s time, the Ming treasure fleet, travelling as far as Zanzibar and Dhofar, carried in its holds thousands of porcelain pieces destined for Persia, Constantinople, Hormuz and other parts of the Arab world. Topkapi Palace museum exhibits 10700 pieces of porcelain ranging from the Song, Yuan (Mongol), Ming and Qing dynasties. In the Ming Dynasty, porcelain destined for the Islamic world was even designed by the Chinese with their Muslim patrons in mind. The pieces limited figurative imagery, as prescribed by religious guidelines. 

China’s mass manufacturing, its industrious spirit and its capacity to cater for its world market and trade extensively with the rest of the world is clearly not exclusively a post-Mao neo-liberal phenomenon.

Civil Liberties During the Ming Dynasty

Interestingly, if we extend our scope to domestic policy, China’s reputedly stringent political control is not a device born of communism.  To support this claim, one only has to dwell into the beginnings of the Ming Dynasty at a time when Emperor Zhu Di once officialised a secret police known as the Eastern Depot. This institution was named after the Donganmen (the Eastern city gate of Beijing) where it was situated.  The Eastern Depot was a ruthless secret police that saw eunuch guards hire spies to weed out dissidents and potential traitors while systematically torturing political suspects.  

The Eastern Depot had its own torture prison called the Zhenfusi and was feared for its cruel torturing techniques. It lasted for as long as the Ming Dynasty.  The Eastern Depot is a central theme in the character-based The Ming Storytellers. While the novel covers a larger scope than the political, The Ming Storytellers gives a fascinating insight into the paranoia of the early Ming emperors and their often corrupt secret police, driven to service political interests at the cost of civil liberties and justice.   

The Zhenfusi is not unlike Guantanamo, nor is Guantanamo unlike many other torturing locations in the world.

The Threat of the Dragon

It appears that China is today more than just regaining its place as a world superpower. Just as we have been noticing China more and more, China, too, is regaining an interest in its past. Unlike the days of the Cultural Revolution where the past was seen as decadent and not a subject to learn from, China has lately seen a rising wave of interest for history books and films. 

Evidently, China's surge in interest for its history serves the country's growing nationalistic pride. It is this rising nationalism that is seen by some Westerners as a threat, especially by those who fear that China, given its political and economical power, could assert itself more aggressively in the future just as it has been seen to assert itself in Tibet.  

In this respect, one must remember that there is always an irrationality in fear that needs to be closely examined. That nationalism in China should arouse fear while the singing of La Marseillaise by the French leads to goosebumps, invites curiosity. After all, to use it as an example, France once invaded parts of America, Africa and Asia. Its government practiced scorched earth policy in Algeria. France's human rights record, notably, during the aptly named Reign of Terror following the French Revolution, and, over several centuries as a prominent slave trader, could equally lead to suspicion or sense of threat. 

Why does it not?

The answer to this question might well be found in Nicolas Barre's argument published in France's Le Figaro, 21 April 2008  during the pre- China Olympics period which saw a call to boycotting of China in response to its treatment of Tibet: 

"No matter how sincere this pro-tibetan mobilisation is, we can observe that it is sometimes accompanied by an anti-Chinese dimension which is not unlike the anti-Japanese animosity of the 70s and 80s. Under the white flag of great principles and human rights discourses, there often hides, here and there, a certain resentment towards a country, which similarly to Japan 20 to 30 years ago, perturbs the world's equilibrium, notably in economic terms: this mobilisation is often stronger when it is fueled by the fear of the 'made in China'. Cloaked in the noble argument of our so called 'universal values' there often exists the stench of racism which lies at the antipodes of those principles that we pretend to incarnate." - author's translation 

A New Beginning

Only time will tell if the Dragon that is China, cannot be trusted and if this Western fear is at all justified.  Indeed, perhaps this fear is the same type of fear as the one which haunted early Ming emperors when they established their secret police. 

For now however, having taken a brief glance at its broad history, together with the global role it has played in past centuries, one should not feel surprised to watch this Dragon rise. 

The Secret Life of Ming Concubines

The alluring Gong Li in Tang Dynasty film,

 Curse of the Golden Flower

Nothing quite spells mystery like a glimpse into China’s forbidden palaces, centuries ago. Stepping back in time over 600 years ago, to the Ming Dynasty, one wonders about the women who dwelt in the palaces of Beijing and Nanjing. Unlike the daring women of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) who lived in Chang'an Palace opulence and shied not from revealing skin or cleavage, Ming court women were more demure. 

During the early Ming Dynasty the dragon throne, seat of the emperor, lay in the palace in Nanjing, a cosmopolitan city then known as Yingtian. 

Emperor Hongwu - Zhu Yuanzhang

Founder of the Ming Dynasty

Emperor Hongwu, the first Ming emperor had just driven out the Mongols from the Middle Kingdom. Like many Chinese emperors before him, and much like the former Mongol rulers who had ruled China from Dadu (modern day Beijing), Emperor Hongwu owned a Royal Chamber or harem where lived, or so he hoped anyway, the most gorgeous creatures in the country and beyond. 

Who were these women? Where did they come from? Standards of beauty vary enormously between historical periods and cultures. What were the primary physical attributes that rendered a woman attractive in Ming China? And were these women happy? 

To answer these questions, we travel back in time to the Yingtian Palace. Here, in the Inner Palace, only the emperor, his eunuchs and the court ladies or maids can usually enter. But today for this exclusive interview with a Ming concubine, we have been permitted entry by a corrupt eunuch. We will sit under a pavilion in the Imperial Gardens and we will ask the delicate Zhou Mai, a fifth-ranking concubine, to tell us a little bit about herself, her beauty routine and what her experience has been so far living in the palace.

Greetings Zhou Mai. Where do you come from?

I was born in Korea. My country pays tribute to the Hongwu Emperor. This is a demonstration of my people's loyalty as vassals to the Middle Kingdom. In exchange, Korea is offered protection from pirates. It can also trade with the people of the Middle Kingdom. 

Is it true that you were sent to the Middle Kingdom as a gift?

Yes. Last year, the Hongwu emperor asked that my country pay tribute by sending him one hundred virgins. I was one of the girls chosen to be his concubine.

How old are you?

I am thirteen.

Did you want to be selected?

It is an honour to serve in Emperor Hongwu's Royal Chamber. But...I miss my family. My parents were very upset to see me go. 

Where do you live now?

I live here, in Yingtian palace. We girls sleep in the Royal Chamber quarters. We cannot go outside the palace. 

What is your palace title?

Here, I am called Zhou Guiren. Guiren is an honorific title for fifth-ranking concubines like me. I want to be a Guifei. This is a first-ranking concubine. I have much to learn. I can only become Guifei if the emperor is pleased with me or if I bear him a son.

What were the reasons you think you were selected? 

I was told my skin was as pure as jade and white as glistening snow. In the Middle Kingdom and Korea, fair skin is very important. Also my breasts are not too big as I have bound them tight from an early age with strips of cloth. Having big breasts is seen as salacious. I think also, I have a lithe waist and have always been encouraged to shuffle graciously with tiny steps. I am well-spoken and have a good voice.

I noticed that you do not have bound feet. Do not the women of the Middle Kingdom bind their feet?

We Koreans do not bind our feet.   

Yes, footbinding is increasing in the Middle Kingdom today.  It is called "lotus feet". 

So some women in the Middle Kingdom have bound feet and some do not?

The Mongols tried to outlaw the custom. They have since been pushed out, back to the North. Emperor Hongwu, is against all Mongol practices. Now footbinding is becoming popular again all over The Middle Kingdom. 

But there are still exceptions. Even Emperor Hongwu's consort, Empress Ma does not have bound feet. She is from Mongol stock.  She even rides horses.

Why do you think men of the Middle Kingdom like bound feet?

Any man with a good reputation prefers his woman to stay in the home so she cannot invite illicit affairs. A woman with bound feet cannot easily walk. So she is less likely to leave her husband if she wanted to. 

Also only country women who work outside in the fields need use of their big feet. So for a man to be seen as wealthy, it is best that his woman has lotus feet. 

Do you wish you had bound feet?

(frowns) Yes...and also...no. 

Why?

Lotus feet are seen by some women as more precious than a beautiful face. They say men are excited by lotus feet. They play games with them in bed. But then I know that lotus feet cause a lot of pain. In the Royal Chamber, girls with bound feet need help to squat for toileting. They are dependent on their chamber maids. I often hear concubines complain about pain.

What do you do with your time, Zhou Guiren?

We do many things. We like to read books. They are not illicit tales from the streets, they are mostly virtuous books written by Empress Ma, Hongwu's consort. Also the educated ladies from Suzhou in the south come to visit us often. They are very talented. They teach us songs and music. They teach the younger girls to read.  I like to embroider animals on silk. I am getting better at silk embroidery. 

Do you go outside your chamber?

Yes, when it is not too hot. We ask the eunuchs to bring parasols for us and we play in the Inner Palace's gardens. We play behind the rocks and sing songs. But we cannot go outside the palace. On special occasions, some Guifeis will travel on sedan-chairs and accompany the emperor to visit the other palaces where the princesses and princes live. 

You mentioned illicit tales before. What are those?

They are road-side tales told by ambulant storytellers in the cities and the country. I am told they can be crude and not virtuous. Some tales have been made into bound books by the publishers of Fujian province in the south. But we are not permitted to read these. We are only allowed virtuous literature. Women should be modest, chaste and Tend to the Gentlemen. This is our highest calling.

Long silk pleated skirt, blue is usually a colour no commoner can wear

The ribbon tied coat is a little passe, Zhou Mai preferring buttons

What are you wearing Mai?

(stands) On my feet, I have slippers with peony pattern embroidery. I am wearing a long white silk pleated skirt. Pleated skirts are the latest fashion in the palace. On top of this, I have a silk peach waist coat with porcelain buttons. Buttons are very good to have. 
I like being a concubine because we have beautiful silk clothes. Country people can only afford cotton or hemp.

Did you do your hair yourself?

(smiles) My chamber maid helped me with this double bun. She picked blue flowers from the imperial garden and pinned them to the sides above my temples. One of the princesses gave me a gift of this cobalt tasseled pin and I have pushed it into my bun. This type of pin is only for girls who have reached menstruation. 

Ming Dynasty Hair ornaments 

Tasseled pins adorn double buns

Tell me more about your makeup and beauty routine, Mai.

It is important to keep the skin white and so we use powder from crushed shells. After covering my face in powder, I draw-in my eyebrows into black crescent shapes and spread a vermillion-tinged pomade on my cheeks to bring them to life. 
I use a vermilion lip balm to draw a cherry-shaped pout in the centre of my lips. It should not go out too much, only three quarters of the lip should be covered. 
On my nails, I have a red nail tint made of egg-whites, beeswax, balsamic dye and Arabic gum. Last month, my nails were tinted in black but I decided to change today. I wear a scented pouch around my waist to give off pleasant smells wherever I walk. (touches earrings) These jade earrings are a gift from the emperor. (smiles)
All this is what men find beautiful.

The cherry-shaped pout in latest vermilion

You mentioned eunuchs before, what are those?

They are men who have been castrated. They cannot have children. They are the only men we see in the palace aside from the emperor. 

What do you think of eunuchs?

Some are not to be trusted. But others are very helpful. It depends. They are from all over the country including the south in Yunnan province. Others come from as far as Annam, Korea and Manchuria. There are some eunuchs who never wanted to be eunuchs but they had no choice because they were made prisoner by the emperor's men and taken by force, like the Mongol eunuchs for example.

What is the role of eunuchs in the palace?

They work hard in the palace. They do everything for us. They bring toilet paper, empty chamber pots, call onto female physicians and they organise our foot warmers, parasols and sedan-chairs. They will bring us to the emperor's night chamber whenever we are selected to spend the night with him. They do everything in the palace but they cannot read.

Why can they not read?

(whispers) The Hongwu Emperor has forbidden that eunuchs learn how to read. He believes they should not be trusted with important documents. 

What about the Royal Chamber...do you girls trust the eunuchs?

(hesitates) Well...I will tell you something that the emperor does not know...yet. Some of the concubines have eunuch lovers. They meet them in secret... 

Why do you think the concubines seek a eunuch lover?

I don't know. Because...they are lonely maybe. They miss their family...but eunuchs are always here for them. Also some of the concubines can seek the attention of eunuchs when they are sad or lonely. You see, even if a concubine has children, these are taken away from them as soon as they are born and sent to the nursery in the Eastern side of the palace. 

Do you think you will ever return to your homeland?

Maybe. I think it is not likely. When concubines are old, around thirty years, they are sent to do laundry or become maids. They also cannot remarry with a man from the Middle Kingdom, only with a foreigner. Maybe I will die an old maid. But I am still lucky. I could be on a farm working hard on the land with not much food to eat. The emperor knows everything about famines. You see, when he was a young boy he lost most of his family in the Anhui famine. (smiles) So I am lucky living here in the palace.

Thank you, honourable Mai Guiren, for your time. It has been a pleasure. 

May the path you walk on be sprinkled with the most fragrant flower blossoms and may you live a long life.

An erotic embossment on a brick - Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)

Courtesy of the Chinese Sex Museum in Xi'an

Published in AvaxNews.com

Did you like this post? 
A new historical novel, The Ming Storytellers crafts a mysterious tale of imperial concubines and eunuchs set against the political intrigue and obsessions lurking in the palaces of Beijing and Nanjing. Set in the early Ming Dynasty, The Ming Storytellers brings to the fore the lives of imperial concubines during this period. It is available internationally from Amazon (Paperback and Kindle Editions), Barnes & Noble NOOK and Apple's iBookstore.

A World of Minorities

It always irks me a little when I hear the people of several countries within the African continent being designated under the broad term of “Africans”.

Human language abounds with stereotypical definitions that serve our laziness and relative refusal to inquire about the unknown “other”. We use what social psychologists term as heuristics or mental shortcuts to make judgments, precisely because they allow us to quickly map and speak of our environments. They allow us to define our environment based on our experiences, often not in an empirical way. These do not spring from malicious intent. They are used to save time, mental effort and to serve our already shaped attitudes with minimum impact to our identity.

The more unknown and dissimilar a group of people are to us, the more likely we will apply to them what is called the outgroup homogeneity effect. This is defined as the tendency to perceive outgroup members (people who differ from us through their gender, their status or their social and cultural background) as more similar to one another than are ingroup members. In simpler terms, this is best described as the "they all look the same" mentality that we apply, even subconsciously, to outgroup members.

I am not sure if it is because I was born in Senegal but I am aware of the difference between a Serer, a Toucouleur, a Dyula or a Wolof person. Already my perception of Senegal has been refined by my experience and I would be ashamed to call a Senegalese an “African” no matter how positive my attributions are towards a said “African”.

I really think the terminology we use reflects the knowledge and respect we have for people in the world. Obviously I would not expect that everyone starts to refer to a Western France person as a Breton or that we all list the different Aboriginal tribes that exist in Australia.

But ultimately it is true that the correct naming and identification of certain groups brings us closer to understanding who they are.

Surprisingly, one of the most stereotyped groups of people in our modern age is the Chinese. With China's growing presence in the global sphere and the advent of more Chinese related subjects in the media, we read a lot about China these days. But when we think of China and the Chinese, the image that comes to mind will be directly influenced by our experiences however limited. If we have never been to China, the only information we will have is from the media.

I cannot answer the question of what it means to be Chinese in such a short post, let alone attempt to do justice to its broad scope.

But at the simplest level, it is worth painting this Chinese face a little more sharply than is currently done by the media.

If you are a Uyghur from Xinjiang province, you might be Muslim and your heritage might encompass more Turkic rather than Sino influences. If you are a Hakka from Fujian province, your ancestors would have never suffered the painful tradition of footbinding. If you are a Nakhi from Lijiang, your heritage includes the world’s only still-in-use pictographic writing system which looks akin to Egyptian hieroglyphs.

Nakhi Pictographs (center)

Chinese characters shown on each side

Source: blogger's own scroll, Lijiang

 If you are a Mosuo, a cousin of the Nakhi, your society is matrilineal and you are a descendant of Tibetan nomads. If you are a Manchu or Jurchen, your people once ruled China under the Qing dynasty and it was your imposed dress code which the colonial Europeans came to identify as “Chinese” even though this could not be further from the truth. If you are a Hue then your ancestors may come from Uzbekistan or you may yourself be mixed after many generations of intermarriage within China, whether this be a marriage with the ruling Mongols during the 13th century, or with people of the Han majority, or with other groups. But you are first and foremost a Hue because you follow Islamic teachings.

Finally if you are a Han then you are in the majority Chinese ethnic group and might possibly be the group most Westerners refer to when they lump the people of China into the one stereotype.

 As it stands, China has 55 recognised ethnic minorities. Many of them are in China's Yunnan province, the area bordering Vietnam, Burma, Laos and Tibet. The cultural heritage in Yunnan is outstanding. It is not a surprise that I chose to feature Yunnan and its people in my novel, The Ming Storytellers.

I was still a novice on China when I began writing but my approach was to recognise its cultural richness and depict a China where borders are elusive and where for centuries a flow of people has existed either from Uzbekistan, Mongolia, the Northern area known as Manchuria, Vietnam, Burma, Laos, Thailand or Tibet.

Of course, internally, the Chinese government aims to strengthen its country's nationalism and will encourage identification under one umbrella group: the Chinese. But this government also recognizes the 55 different ethnic groups because this dual identity is crucial to avoiding group conflict especially when there are so many different groups in one country. That is, some social psychologists have found that to avoid inter group conflict and to ensure individuals do not become dissatisfied, they must have a common group or goal to identify with as well as a means to differentiate themselves and derive cultural pride. Having said this, there is still much to be done (in many countries, not just China) to ensure that the voice of minorities is not extinguished in the favour of the majority.

One of the ways we can listen to and support minorities is by first knowing that they exist. Lumping a group of people into an umbrella term, for example, using the term, “Africans” is a sure way of forgetting that minorities exist.

No sooner does our vision of a country begin to encompass the richness and granularity of its people, the more these people cease to be unknown. They become familiar and understood. Our perception then no longer conjures fear, nor objectifies nor alienates this outgroup; suddenly these people acquire human qualities, each with their own culture, their own ways of seeing, their own story. I cannot stress the importance of this phenomenon. It is being able to see others as human which keeps us human.