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Abstract
Roy’s translation of “Plum in the Golden Vase” shows that, in the 16th century China, wealth, social exploits, and social relations gained a man social power. Social power was not the making of a man, but a social resource attained through monetary wealth, large household and higher lifestyle.
This Ximen Qing exemplifies this through his increase of wealth through his businesses, social relations he acquires as he climbs the social ladder, large household with numerous wives, concubines, servants, relatives, and sexual exploits from the local whom-house to the imperial court.
Ximen Qing’s Sex, Wealth, and Power
In Jin Ping Mei, the reader is introduced to money, power, and sex in the 16th century China’s society. “The Plum in the Golden Vase” is a Chinese narrative masterpiece, which depicts an immoral Chinese society that is very different from the Confucian Chinese society.
The story runs for 100 chapters in David T. Roy’s translation. The story is a rich construct of poems, songs, and drama, which portray Chinese history and culture. The author uses the fate of one man, Ximen Qing and his household to describe the society in the 16th century (Horner, 1994).
The reader is introduced to the rich Chinese “material medica” merchant, with social and capital connections, and with an establishment of several wives and concubines, numerous servants and relatives (Horner, 1994).
Ximen Qing’s voracious sexual appetites described in a realm of sexual activities, exemplify sex in this society. This essay extracts examples from the novel to support the premise that Jin Ping Mei sells sex to the reader.
Power and social progress in the 16th century China are exemplified by Ximen Qing’s acquisition of monetary wealth, large household, and higher lifestyle. Lifestyle in this case is depicted by the rich Chinese festivals Ximen Qing attends, architecture of his house, clothing, furnishing, and sex aids (Chan and Owen, 2010).
The growth of his social power through the Chinese society is seen not only in wealth acquisition, but also in his ability to enjoy the sexual thrills of the 16th century China.
Ximen Qing’s power increases as he progresses from enjoying sex aids from the local whom-house to enjoying sexual exploits of the imperial court (Horner, 1994). Ximen Qing gains social power, which in the 16th century China is depicted in his ability to gain acquaintances, family, and build a social circle from top to bottom.
Ximen Qing’s powerful social circle entails high officials, wealthy merchants, menservants, shopkeepers, doctors, educators, entertainers, women from all social stations and stages of life. Ximen Qing gains power by climbing the social class using wealth and his title as a prosperous businessperson (Cahn and Owen, 2010).
Power is gained through the different social exchanges, interactions, and hierarchical relationships he makes with representatives of the local and federal official-dom.
The ability of a man like Ximen Qing to acquire social resources like political influence, knowledge, women, and knowledge, gives him power to maneuver the 16th century Chinese society. Therefore, Jin Ping Mei indicates that sex and wealth are the attributes of the social power in the 16th century.
Ximen Qing, by climbing the social ladder, first became a militia, a lowly post, after paying 10 teals of silver to Hejiou. He shows his social power when he prevents the extermination of a branch of his family, by disconnecting kinship ties from Yang, the Marshall, who is later persecuted by Cai, the Grand Tutor.
This is facilitated by Comptroller Zhai, the secretary of Cai, the Grand Tutor, who is paid by Ximen Qing 500 dan of rice for the favor (Book I: 248). The relationship with the Comptroller Zhai continues and provides Ximen Qing a channel to express himself to the Grand Tutor.
This expression is seen during the Gran Tutor’s birthday celebration, when Ximen Qing sends him a gift as an act of seeking attention. In turn, Ximen Qing’s gift favors him, as he is later made the Junior Magistrate of Shandong Province.
Jin Ping Mei shows that in the 16th century China, social power was gained through favors and relationships that entailed exchanges. This Ximen Qing is aware of and takes full advantage of it.
This is because after his appointment as Junior Magistrate, he assists Comptroller Zhai to get a wife, and adds to this act a wedding gift of more than 10 teals of silver. This act is central to Ximen Qing’s success, for the Comptroller during the Ming dynasty was the financial controller officer and minster of revenue.
In addition, Grand Tutor during the Ming Dynasty was the highest local administrator in the kingdom (Chan and Owen, 2010). It is evident that Ximen Qing was a man able to gain social power through wealth and social relations.
Jin Ping Mei depicts Ximen Qing’s Wealth in Chapter 79, “the silk shop is worth 5,000 taels … the threat shop of which Pan Si is in charge is worth 6500 taels, and the silk shop which Uncle Wu Er looks after, 5000 taels. The pawnshop is worth about 20000 taels and the medicine shop 5000. Clerk Han and Lai Bao … have about 4000 taels worth of merchandise” (4:1129-30).
Jin Ping Mei illustrates the character’s wealth in terms of a detailed description of prices and money owed. In this passage, the reader is introduced to Ximen Qing’s wealth in detail after he has fallen fatally ill at 33 years of age (Ning, 2009).
At his deathbed, Ximen Qing is giving instructions to his son-in-law, Chen Jingji heir to his wealth, on the amount of inheritance and the distribution of money. Ximen Qing shows a man with a remarkable memory of his financial transactions and wealth.
This detailed memory, especially of the transactions and debts people owe him, is Pin Jing Mei’s way of introducing the reader to an experienced merchant.
This also shows the advances of the 16th century China’s monetary economy from the traditional agrarian society often depicted in historical literature.
In the same passage, the reader is introduced to Ximen Qing’s business transactions, “if Li San gets the contract we spoken about, it will be better not to go further in the matter. Ask Uncle Ying to get somebody else to take it up. Li San and Huang Si still owe me 500 taels with interest amounting to another 150. Ask them for payment and use the money for my funeral… Liu, the Director of Education, owes me 300 taels. Magistrate Hua owes me 50. Xu Si, who has a shop outside the city, owes me, including interest due, about 340. We have all necessary documents, and you can ask them for payment at once” (4:1129-30).
The passage shows that the 16th century China was an advancing monetary economy, where wealth was not only measured in agricultural produce but also through monetary exchange (Ning, 2009). An important lesson the reader learns from Jin Ping Mei’s description of the merchant is his professional business practices.
Ximen Qing like the 20th century businessperson has records of documents detailing all his transactions, contracts, and credits. This passage also introduces the reader to a powerful and wealthy businessperson who lends money to government officials like the magistrate and director of education.
This analysis identifies this passage from chapter 79 important in analyzing Ximen Qing’s wealth and growth in society as a businessperson. This is because it summarizes the wealth and assets he has by the time of his death.
It is evident that at the beginning of the novel, the reader is introduced to Ximen Qing, who only owns a fair-sized medicine shop, which he inherited from his father.
Ximen Qing’s value at the beginning of the narrative is estimated at 300 taels, the equivalent value of his competitor Jiang Zhushan’s medicine shop (Ning, 2009).
This means that Ximen Qing’s wealth increased by two hundred-fold by the time of his death. Ximen Qing’s vast wealth is also depicted in his many wives, servants, and relatives depending on him by the time of his death.
Jin Ping Mei sells sex and the evils of sexual perversion through the life and premature death of the protagonist. Ximen Qing’s life is described as one filled with “innocuous carousing and whoring,” which leads to perversions and incest (Horner, 1994).
Ximen Qing sexual exploits leads him to search for new sexual thrills, and eventually drives him to succumb to ugly compulsions of incest, and the eventual disintegration of his household. Ximen Qing enjoyed perverted sex.
For example, Jin Ping Mei illustrates that in the 16th century China, at the height of the golden lotus cult, bare feet was a taboo. However, in “The Plum in the Golden Vase,” Ximen Qing’s search for sexual thrills drives him to unbind a woman’s feet in a risqué sex scene (Ko, 2007).
This is in a scene in chapter 27, where Ximen Qing “took off [Jinlian’s] red embroidered shoes, unwound her foot bindings, and amused himself by using them to suspend her feet from grape arbor overhead” (I: 124). Ximen Qing in this chapter breaks away from the Chinese traditional culture and taboo.
However, the scene is also an indication of sexual licensing and excesses in the 16th century China’s powerful households and the emperor’s court. This analysis finds that the unprecedented degree of detail used to describe Ximen Qing’s wealth is also used to describe sex and sexual exploits.
From the reading, it is evident that Jin Ping Mei sells sex to the reader as issueless sex, which is divorced from its natural purpose and which depicts the moral decline in the 16th century China. This is because each character in the novel is guilty of sexual misdoing (Chan and Owen, 2010).
For example, Lady Lin is a wealthy widow of a high official, who becomes an acquaintance of Ximen Qing to offer moral guidance to her son. Ximen Qing begins a relationship with Lady Lin, which becomes a loveless sexual affair and takes her son as his godson.
The son has sexual encounters with the courtesan Cassia, who was deflowered by Ximen Qing earlier in the narrative.
Cassia, in turn, is the goddaughter of Wu Yueniang, Ximen Qing’s senior wife (Chan and Owen, 2010). The author summarizes this immoral decay in the death of Ximen Qing, and the destruction of his household.
At the end of the novel, the reader is introduced the effects of irresponsible sexual exploitations in form of Ximen Qing’s suffering and death. Ximen Qing is described as suffering from “the calamity of spitting blood, and discharging pus and the affliction of desiccated bones and emaciated frame” (Roy, 4:652).
Therefore, though Ximen Qing had amassed wealth and social power, his decadent sexual exploits led to his premature demise.
Jin Ping Mei describes Ximen Qing in volume 4, as “he no longer resembled his former self, his frame was cadaverous and emaciated, and his disease body was utterly enervated” (Roy 4:652).
Therefore, the author of “Plum in the Golden Vase” is preaching against excessive sexual behavior despite the image of their delight in describing sex.
Roy’s translation of “Plum in the Golden Vase,” shows that in the 16th century China, wealth, social exploits, and social relations gave a man social power. Social power was not the making of a man, but a social resource attained through monetary wealth, large household, and higher lifestyle.
This Ximen Qing exemplifies this through his increase of wealth through his businesses, social relations he acquires as he climbs the social ladder, large household with numerous wives, concubines, servants, relatives, and sexual exploits from the local whom-house to the imperial court.
References
Chan, K-I., & Owen, S. (2010). The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume II: From 1375. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Horner, C. (1994). The bad earth. Chinatown News, 42(7), 13.
Ko, D. (2007). Cinderella’s Sisters: A Revisionist History of Foot binding. CA: University of California Press.
Ning, M. (2009). When Robinson Crusoe Meets Ximen Qing: Material Egoism in the First Chinese and English Novels. Comparative Literature Studies, 46(3), 443-466.
Roy, D. T. (2011). The Plum in the Golden Vase or, Chin P’ing Mei: Volume Four: The Climax. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
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