Sex represents a free spirit.

"The sight of short sleeves immediately conjures up images of bare arms, then of nudity, then of genitals, then of sexual intercourse, then of promiscuity, then of illegitimate children. The Chinese imagination can only leap so far in this respect."

This is a famous quote from Lu Xun's "Random Thoughts" in 1927.

This passage is not only a critique of the "inferiority complex" of the Chinese people, but also depicts an era of extreme conservatism and fear regarding sexuality.

A photograph of women taken between 1890 and 1900 shows that 20 years later, urban women in cheongsams appeared in China.

The concept of treating "sex" as dirty, decadent, and vulgar, and separating it from love, has been prevalent in China for over a thousand years. Even today, the shadow of this concept can still be seen.

The praise of love is common in Chinese culture. Since ancient times, who among the Chinese has not read or memorized a few love poems? Who doesn't know Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl? Who doesn't know *The Peony Pavilion* or *Dream of the Red Chamber*?

More than 1200 years ago, Wei Zhuang, a poet and lyricist of the late Tang Dynasty, wrote:

"Spring outing, apricot blossoms fill my hair. Whose young man is that on the road, so dashing? I intend to marry him, for life. Even if I am heartlessly abandoned, I will not be ashamed."

These few words vividly depict the inner thoughts of an ordinary girl seeing a handsome man; her infatuated expression and bold imagination transcend time and resonate with readers today.

However, while love has been written about for over a thousand years, the more direct and realistic issue of sex between men and women has always been absent and irrelevant.

Even in the Qing Dynasty novel *Dream of the Red Chamber*, which fully depicts the joys and sorrows of love, sex remains relatively obscure.

In *Dream of the Red Chamber*, Jia Baoyu only learns a little about sex through dreams in Qin Keqing's room. The remaining descriptions of sex between men and women are barely comparable to the "homosexual desires" between men.

However, in *Dream of the Red Chamber*, sex occupies a special place; it is taboo, but it also carries the weight of nihilism and freedom. Love is the "spirit," and sex is the "flesh." When love is shattered, the "flesh" becomes nothingness. But once a person can face their desires squarely, they gain a kind of freedom.

One of the most memorable characters in *Dream of the Red Chamber* is You Sanjie

. Her boldness in love and hate highlights the hypocrisy of almost all the other characters in the book. Her portrayal of You Sanjie in the 1987 TV series *Dream of the Red Chamber

* is a powerful challenge to taboos, leaving even the most lustful man embarrassed. It is precisely this attitude towards sex that underpins her attitude towards love.

Love and sex are inseparable; both are beautiful and real. In human life, few things are more natural or important than sex.

However, in China, people truly understood this principle very late.

In 1991, Wang Xiaobo openly placed love and sex together in his book *The Golden Age*. The sexual relationship between Wang Er and Chen Qingyang in the book unfolds as naturally as Adam and Eve.

Wang Xiaobo and Li Yinhe's love and values have profoundly influenced contemporary Chinese people.
Image source: The New York Times.

In *The Golden Age*, Wang Er and Chen Qingyang are forced to write statements explaining their affair. In one passage, Chen Qingyang tells Wang Er,

"When this statement was submitted, the regimental commander picked it up and read it. After reading it, he blushed, just like your little monk. Later, everyone who saw her statement blushed, just like little monks."

Those who have read Wang Xiaobo know that his "little monk" refers to male genitalia.

Wang Xiaobo was the first to write about "affairs" so vividly and humorously. And which young person who read Wang Xiaobo back then wasn't "blushing"?

In this way, Wang Xiaobo effectively initiated a belated enlightenment.

However, in 1991, *The Golden Age* could only be published in Taiwan; young people in mainland China could only see it in privately copied copies. The real Wang Xiaobo craze in mainland China didn't begin until at least 1997.

However, this trend began to emerge in mainland China in 1993.

That year, Chen Zhongshi published his novel *White Deer Plain*. The book's descriptions of sex far exceeded the limits of previous novels, leaving a profound impression on readers at the time.

In the same year, Jia Pingwa published *Ruined Capital*, a book with even more explicit sexual descriptions, which resulted in it being banned for a time, only being unbanned in 2009.

In the 20 years following 1980, Chinese people's views on love and sex changed at an unprecedented pace. The female figures in *Film Pictorial* sparked people's imaginations; song lyrics were filled with love and passion, which not long ago was considered "decadent music."

Today, it may be hard to imagine that when the film *Romance on Lushan Mountain* was released in 1980, a single kiss could shake a nation.

*Romance on Lushan Mountain*'s place in Chinese film history largely stems from its impact on and transformation of Chinese people's views on love. The film also became the most-screened film due to its long run in cinemas on Lushan Mountain, earning it a place in the Guinness World Records.

And in less than twenty years, people had begun to accept the image of the "modern woman."

An enlightenment of modern ideas was thus sown in people's hearts through sex and love, both dramatically and quietly.

Throughout human history, the liberation of sex has often been the foundation for the liberation of love, allowing humanity to be truly acknowledged.

The first step humanity took towards modern society was, in effect, a re-examination of love and sex.

The ancient Greeks' views on sex and love were quite frank; not only did ancient Greek sculptures directly depict the human nude, but even the Greek gods were often captivated by love.

Apollo's unrequited love for Daphne resulted in her death by transformation into a laurel tree;

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini's sculpture "Apollo and Daphne" depicts the moment Daphne began her transformation into a laurel tree.

Zeus, on the other hand, was promiscuous, even transforming into an animal to approach beautiful women;

but ancient Greece also had Platonic philosophers who pursued pure love, separating love from desire, giving rise to the famous "Platonic love."

As a result, the Greeks' unrestrained views on sexuality were abandoned, but Plato's pursuit of pure love was amplified, becoming the love of the gods for humanity. Desire was thus condemned, seen as a pagan, devilish temptation.

The beginning of modern human history began with a revival of sexuality.

Renaissance artists, on the one hand, passionately recreated the beauty of the human body, and on the other hand, celebrated beautiful love and the natural "sex."

The former is embodied in Botticelli's *The Birth of Venus* and Michelangelo's sculptures, while the latter is embodied in Shakespeare's sonnets and Boccaccio's *The Decameron*.

Michelangelo's famous fresco *The Last Judgment* in the Sistine Chapel, when completed, depicted all the figures as nude, but later popes could not tolerate it and commissioned contemporary painters to clothe these nudes.

Enlightened popes gradually became tolerant of nudes facing the ceiling during Mass and pagan portraits in their living rooms; nobles also began to habitually place nude paintings of their mistresses in the corners of their bedrooms.

This shift in thinking occurred quietly under the halo of humanism and rationalism of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment. In the shadow of Voltaire, Hume, and Kant, stories of Casanova's scandalous affairs and Sade's erotic descriptions circulated: a time of passionate tears and blushing hearts, inseparable companions.

But this transformation was never smooth sailing.

In fact, even into the 19th century, conservative popes ordered the "castration" of Roman sculptures, hammering off the genitals of many marble sculptures. Until the late 19th century, even science was unwilling to study human sexuality, and society as a whole remained silent on "sex."

In *The World of Yesterday*, Stefan Zweig described the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of the 19th century:

"Since 'sex' could not be eradicated from the world, at least it should not be flaunted, lest it become immoral. Thus, an unspoken agreement emerged: whether in school, at home, or in public, people were forbidden to discuss this distressingly complex issue, lest it remind people of the existence of 'sex.'"

In Vienna during Zweig's youth, all men and women silently learned to cover their bodies, even when swimming, fully clothed. "Ladies" were taught not to expose any part of their body except their face and neck.

American women's swimsuits in the 1870s were made of wool, tightly covering their arms and legs.

Freud pierced this final barrier. He directly attributed all human activity to sexual desire, completing what he considered a "revolution" comparable to Copernicus and Darwin.

During the same period, the rise of feminism led women to believe it was time to liberate their bodies and reclaim themselves.

A series of changes led to the world we know today.

In this world, love is mutual affection, not a calculation of interests between two families;

sex is an inseparable, natural part of love;

marriage becomes a contract between two people, not a patriarchal or theological ritual;

the body is beautiful and sensual, not sinful or taboo…

Modern people have rediscovered sex. They realize that without sex, love has no place.

More importantly, with the continuous liberation of sex, centuries have passed, and human life has not become worse; on the contrary, it has become full of possibilities and more colorful.

The Sexual Revolution, or Sexual Liberation movement, which entered the public eye in the 1960s, refers to the liberation of people from social oppression based on gender, sexual orientation, sexual relationships, and sexual behavior. Some argue that it has two levels: rational enlightenment and disenchantment of sex, and democratic equality and justice in sex. The image shows a Playboy Bunny at the Playboy Club in New York in 1971, considered a symbol of sexiness.

The world has not collapsed because of sex, cities have not become Sodom or Gomorrah, and family ethics have not broken down because of the existence of sex.

On the contrary, sexual liberation actually promotes equality among people, makes people psychologically healthier, and makes families warmer and more humane.

Looking back at the past, people tried desperately to suppress sex, to separate love from sex, yet they were constantly troubled by "sex."

The more desires were suppressed, the more distorted they became, leading people to appear outwardly virtuous while inwardly turbulent.

"Sex" thus transformed into power, into taboo, into eunuchs and foot binding.

Ultimately, as Lu Xun described, people could associate "short sleeves" with "illegitimate children."

Let sex and love return to their original place!

Because that is also the original place of human nature.

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