The Carnal Prayer Mat Paperback – Unabridged, March 1, 1996

I found a version of this book in Amsterdam 20 years ago. My wife and I stayed up nights fighting jet lag while reading of the exploits of Vesperus. We found it hilarious and very entertaining. I bought this version to remember those days. This must be a more complete version because it is verbose and boring in comparison with what must have been an abridged version decades ago. It is what must be one of the earliest erotic novels in existence though it is neither obscene nor very pornographic by modern tastes. You could safely give a copy to your teenage son without teaching him much of anything new. I strongly recommend the abridged version to young married couples. This complete version ... not so much.

Our hero, the Before Midnight Scholar, starts life as a serious student and novitiate monk. Someone convinces him that he should sample the worldly pleasures if he is to renounce them with full knowledge, ...BMS starts by claiming a beautiful, cloistered young woman from her overbearing father. Despite initial difficulty, he shows her the pleasure of the marriage bed. At first barely dutiful, she becomes a very avid player. He dumps her unceremoniously at that point, and sets out to plant his flag, so to speak, in as many other lands as he can.Early on, though, he discovers that his flagpole is more of a toothpick than mighty staff, and any woman with any experience would laugh him out of the boudoir. Only naivete allowed his first wife to enjoy so tiny a morsel of masculinity, when others would surely want more of a meal. That problem is cured by a traveling medicine man, whose descendants today flood the internet with the word 'BIGGER!' After a final fling with his catamite, he undergoes the surgery and begins a three-year debauch. He works his way through various seductions up to foursomes with a family of lovely ladies.Despite his BIGGER features, one wonders what a modern woman would see in his technique. His idea of foreplay seems to consist of the words "open up." Perhaps fortunately, the women (the prayer mats on whom he devotionally prostrated himself) seemed not to know any better either.The end of the book takes on a properly moralistic tone, where all his evils come to roost - largely on the people around him. That poor first wife, more wronged than wrong herself, is driven to suicide. His twin daughters mysteriously die. He mutilates himself, turning BIGGER into 'gone.' A final chapter takes pains to explain how necessary the steamy details were in creating the context of heaven's retribution. I suppose they had to do something to get it past the censors.If you ignore everything after about p.300, it's a fine bit of bawdy. Written in 17th century China, it's a good companion to Japanese works by Saikaku, roughly a contemporary. The Prayer Mat's euphemisms get a bit dense at times - does anyone really call a lady's sex toy "Little Jack Horner?" Perhaps those inelegant renderings were why this translator chose anonymity. Still, it an interesting look at that era of China, and an interesting look under their sheets.//wiredweird

These old Ming classics are only as good as the English translators that work on them. I discovered the translator Patrick Hanan when researching this book. The Chinese version would have been impossible to decode, it is written in such a anachronistic style. Hanan has made Weiyang Sheng come alive. Scholar Vesperus? Carnal Prayer Mat? Have you ever seen a more elegant rendition of otherwise impossible Chinese names? You are in for a good time.

One of the strangest yet great books to read. Glad I found this hidden gem.

Well worth reading. Very interesting cultural dynamics explored in this text.

Classical classic

The Patrick Hanan translation of Li Yu's The Carnal Prayer Mat is as much a case study in period Chinese entertainment as it is any kind of entertainment. The content and language is adult. Explicit references tend to be in a more poetic style than is typical in European erotica. For example, the male and female body parts tend to be engaged under the terms the yin rising up to the yang. As such the most intense orgiastic scenes tend to have a less harsh effect on the reader. Over all I found The Carnal Prayer Mat to be a fascinating study in a particular style of Chinese non-classical writing but an equally fascinating contrast with almost anything of its like from the western world.Not being anything of a scholar of anything Chinese I can only say of the translation, that it was clear and easy to read. Hanan may have toned things down or given preference to scholarly language over whatever crudities Li Yu employed, but you will never doubt about what you are reading. It is elsewhere noted that the original was written in a very remote and hard to modernize language. The original dates to the 1700’s or about the time of Fanny Hill. One can imagine many graduate papers written contrasting the two.The contrasts are more than interesting.The central plot involves a major ‘player’ whose status is derived from the fact that he is an advanced student. China had a very evolved bureaucratic system of government. Initial placement and advancement were heavily decided by how well an applicant did on various examinations. The exams were almost entirely based on Confusion thinking. Possession of a high government job meant stable and large income. Something very few professions could promise.Our hero, if such he may be called is just such a student. He has not yet passed the exam that would produce one of these jobs, but he has progressed to the point that he can gain entry into at least middle-class society on no more bases that his status as an advanced student. This heavy reliance on Confusion thought will be part of Li Yu’s narrative and footnotes will help to explain the significance of these passages.To say that he gains entry is a double entendre. Most of the 300+ pages has him performing lots of entry. Mostly but not exclusively with females. Evidently people, male or female could take their pleasure where they could find a shared interest. No particular stigma about the particular genitals in contact. Also atypical is that sexual jealousy seemed to be a mater of some subtilty. Jealous lovers and spouses existed. Husbands are extremely active to avoid, or punish cuckoldry. But there is an underworld of cooperation. A suiter, male or female could be made to audition, or practice or be tricked into the bed of another before the intended lovers are abed.The caution to the reader is that this was a period wherein a man could have both wives, plural and concubines. But taking Li Yu at face value is to miss the fact that he was also being subversive. His Carnal Prayer Mat is not a historical document but can be read as social satire, a deliberate comedy or an effort to appeal to fantasy over the mundane reality. If you are here for more than the entertainment, read carefully and be prepared to be mis-directed.Not typical in European erotica, of the 1700s or since is a lot of discussion of the importance of and details about attending to the sexual satisfaction of the female. Men are judged by their stroke count. That count tending to be from a few to many thousands. The ladies will speak directly with each other about who is better and make their preferences clear to a lover. Overall there is a remarkable lack of restraint on a variety of matters sexual. Penis size counts, as does the ladies relative willingness to be active. Virginity is discounted as a thing to be preferred over experience. Side note: There is a rather modern anticipation of turning to surgical techniques to enhance male size. There is a case made for the curvier female as one who has better strength to bare the weight of her lover and as have being in general more desirable than a thin weak woman. Again, one has to be careful as the author may be making fun rather than speaking to common prejudice.Li Yu also had to deal with censors. It is likely that this translation is an instance of working form the best copy available rather than the original. As a sop to these censors, every chapter ends with something between a commercial and an appeal for the presumptive morality of an immoral book. It is not clear if these additions are original to Li YU. The translator’s introduction suggests that some are and some are not. They can be amusing, or intrusive.There are several ways to read the Carnal Prayer Mat. Comedy, social satire, subservice or erotica from a very different culture. All variations have their legitimacy and all their entertainment or educational value. For me it was a fun enlightenment.

This is a classic Chinese adult literary fiction written in 1675. It is apparently still banned in China. It has to be said it's not that sexy as a fiction but seen best, in my view, as an erudite mix of erotic thinking meets Confucius's, Zen social etiquette norms it is a good read. It has the main character Vesperus seeking to bed the most beautiful woman. He's persuaded he needs a bigger penis and ends up with marriage and concubines, 4 in-a-bed, porn, etc - so normal 'male' stuff overall. It is a moral tale at root but I missed 'one of the funniest episodes in Chinese literature' (as written on the sleeve) so not that funny really. It was interesting that 'catamites' and Vesperus' use of them appeared to be a 'norm'?

Un libro del siglo XVII en la China Qing. Cómico, erotico, filosófico, muy bien escrito y muy bien traducido. Prohibido en China durante siglos y aún actualmente.