Changling Xu

Lord of Utmost Satisfactoriness Changling Xu

Believed to be created before 1514, Ruyi Jun Zhuan, aka, Lord of Utmost Satisfactoriness is the first erotic novel created in the Ming Dynasty preserved so far. In less than 10,000 traditional Chinese characters, it depicts the lechery between Empress Wu, the only female emperor of China in its course of five thousand years, and her many lovers, which include two emperors, a monk, an imperial physician, two officials and especially a young man named Xue Aocao, the Lord of Utmost Satisfactoriness as indicated in the title. In the latter half of her life, Empress Wu is seized with increasingly booming sexual desire which is never truly quenched by her many gigolos until the day she meets Xue Aocao. A versatile young man puzzled by his overly large manhood, Xue Aocao embarks on a journey of serving the most powerful woman with his utmost satisfactoriness, he himself denying any wealth, rank or exclusive favor on him. With his remonstration, Aocao helps the restoration of the Tang Dynasty ruled by the Li Family. With their years of intimacy, they grow more attached to each other. As Empress Wu is facing her imminent mortality, this cruel empress, with righteousness from her sex and affections, makes a plan for Aocao, something she has never done before, by hiding him in her nephew's mansion so that he could escape from his possible doom once she is no longer in power. When other lovers are met with tragic ends, Aocao makes his escape from the imperial palace and roam around the land. Two thirds of the book are devoted to the promiscuous affairs between Empress Wu and Xue Aocao, with detailed narrations to their dialogues, actions and gestures in those intercourses. With its detailed sexual depictions, Lord of Utmost Satisfactoriness exerts vital influences on later Chinese classics such as Jin Ping Mei (the Plum in a Golden Vase) and others. Prohibited in many dynasties, Lord of the Utmost Satisfactoriness unveils the erotic life of the only female ruler and a man shining with not only his manhood but also his talents, indifference to wealth and fame, sense of justice and seizure of the right moments of coming into and exiting from a place of perils. A must read for anyone who intends to savor "the fountain of Chinese erotica".