(8-96)There is a myth about a kind of Chinese woman who can suck the qi and spirit out of a man during intercourse, thus keeping her youth forever. This myth appears most often in Kong-Fu stories. The moral of almost all the stories is for men to Beware, Get Away.

I don't know whether the feminists would celebrate this. I would. I would also like to know how. But, so far, I haven't found any documentation that can concretely describe how it can be done. However, I did find the origin of the story, I think. It is in the book of The History of All Kingdoms in East Chou Period. The book was written around 1500 A.D. The story occurred around 700 B.C. It occured before the birth of Confucius. It occured way before the birth of Confucianist moralists who set Chinese women into the dark age of sexual suppression for almost a thousand years.

Her name was Xia Ji (X is pronounced as sh). She was almond faced, pink cheeked, with eye brows like Er Mei Mountain, and eyes like a phoenix tilted upward slightly. Whoever saw her would lose his soul to her beauty. When she was fifteen, she dreamed of having intercourse with a handsome tall man from heaven. He taught her the way of directing the qi, and absorbing the spirit. He taught her how to harvest the yang to replenish her yin, thus keeping herself young.

Her husband was a high ranking official in a kingdom named Chen. He died when she was a middle aged woman. There were two other officials who were particularly close to King Chen. One named Kong Ning, the other Yi Xing Fu. Kong Ning saw her beauty and he tried every way he could to get close to her. When he finally succeeded, he stole her underwear and later showed it to Yi Xing Fu. That aroused the interest of Yi who also set out to pursue her. Yi was a handsome tall man with a full and straight nose (these are not my words, they are all in the book). Xia Ji loved him and gave him one of her light green lingerie. Yi also showed this to Kong. Kong was jealous and thought if he could get the king involved then there would be no chance for Yi Xing Fu.

The King wasn't interested at first, for he thought she was an older woman who must have lost her beauty to aging. But Kong Ning persuaded him with all the secret details of her sweetness. After King Chen met Xia Ji, he was also hopelessly in love with her. As the events unfolded, all three of them were involved with Xia Ji. They happily shared their partnership.

Xia Ji had a son who had grown into a strong young man. He worked as a low ranking soldier for the kingdom. He usually avoided them when they came to visit her mother. One day, he came home and the king and Kong and Yi were still there. He heard them joking about who fathered Xia Ji's son. He couldn't stand it any longer; he pulled out his sword and killed the king. Kong and Yi escaped that day, but later died in events related to the incident. The kingdom was taken over by another country. The son was executed as a traitor.

For any Western storyteller, this story would end here. We could draw many moral or psychological lessons from it. This author, however, was only interested in historical facts. King Chu took over the country, he was also dazzled by the beauty of Xia Ji. He wanted to make her his concubine. The Prime Minister stopped the King by saying that if he married Xia Ji, then people would think the king destroyed Chen for a woman; it would not be good for the name. A general there was also dazzled by her. He asked the King for Xia Ji. The Prime Minister said: "No, no, this woman is a symbol of misfortune. Look at what she did to kingdom Chen..." They finally decided to let an old official have Xia Ji.

The story of Xia Ji stopped here. The author turned his pen to other significant events. It is not easy to read five hundred year old language in very small print with my tri-focal eye glasses. Pages later, I finally found the ending of Xia Ji's life in a few casual lines. The general couldn't forget Xia Ji; he plotted, and finally betrayed his king. He ran away with Xia Ji to another country. There is no "happily ever after." However, Xia Ji had a pretty good ending, all things considered. I don't know what kind of lessons you will draw from a story like this. I am just glad she was not stoned to death.