Forbidden Taste

Another inspiration while doodling with a brush and an idea from Dragon's Egg... Was completed during my jog.

1 宮牆柳外野花香 Outside the willow walls of the palace, fragrant are the wildflowers,
2 玉蟾莫登青樓上 Nary to the Jade Toad go but to the green bowers went.
3 禁規瑣琗樂何有 Where is joy when so many trifle palace rules are in place?
4 凡裕忌少喜無量 Unlimited bliss is in the plebian realm where taboos are few!

1 Willows represents palace women and wildflowers, those from the brothels. Nothing is more desirable than than forbidden fruit.

2 Jade toad, reference to the three legged toad that dwells in the moon. How imperial women, with the exception of the empress, were presented to the emperor depends on his taste. One thing for sure is that some rigid protocols are followed without exception during those routine sessions. For example, after the “assassinated” attempt on Emperor Chien Lung’s life when he tried to be amorous with the reluctant the Fragrant Concubine 香妃 into submission, she drew out her dagger and wounded him on his arm. Hence forth, all women were presented naked and wrapped in a thin blanket after she was checked out by the eunuchs and be carried to the imperial chambers. She would lie on the bed unrolled under the covers and waited for the emperor to come. During the rain and mist session, she is expected to remain silent because of decorum rules for a virtuous woman! I am sure what initial excitement there was, would be reduced to humdrums.

Green bowers is a poetic name for whorehouses, places of pleasure or the courtesan herself. The original meanings were imperial palace rooms, grand structures of nobility and boudoirs of the nobility. After the Tang dynasty, the meaning was changed. With unfettered rules in the art of the bedroom, there will always be more excitement than in the palace. It was even said that Emperor Sung Hui Tsung had an underground passage built directly from his palace to the brothel for his visits with Li Shi Shi (李師師) so as not to lose face.

Another example is that of Emperor Tung Chih of the Ch’ing Dynasty and he contracted syphilis.  He died because the imperial doctors used the methods of treating smallpox as the fiasco would be an embarrassment to the imperial family. With him out of the way, the Empress Dowager Tzu Hsi could name a new ruler under her thumb.

Saturday, April 15, 2023