Customer Reviews

Golden Lotus 4v Set

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

There are approximately 50 passages in the 1939 version of this Chinese classic that are completely written in Latin. All of them are the erotic scenes. Clement Egerton uses the Latin to make the passages more "respectable". I feel they ruin the experience completely for the non-Latin reader. If you don't read Latin be very careful if you order this book. Maybe the 1979 version uses English only, but be sure to check it out first. Three stars only for this translation. Hopefully someone else will have the will to translate this masterpiece without feeling the need to mask over the erotica.

This is a classic novel of Ming dynasty China. It paints an amazing picture of everyday life - the domestic strife, the courtiers and sycophants, the corruption, the use of pressure (subtle or otherwise), all within a Confucian framework. While both the heroine and hero ultimately die tragically, the novel offers hope for the future.

And yes, there is a fair amount of graphically-described sex, so if you are not happy with this, don't buy the book. But it is not pornography. It is a realistic picture of what life was like in those days, and a varied sex life was deemed normal and healthy, and not something to be worried about. The book does make the point that excess in sex as in anything else is ultimately destructive, and invites the reader to learn the moral lesson.

The non-Pinyin proper names will confuse some readers, and there are few notes for clarity. Also the habit of giving numbers to frequently-ised names is unfriendly to the modern reader, though it may help to distinguish between characters. Put if you can cope with this, and are prepared to put up with the leisurely pace of the Chinese gentleman, this is a fine book.

Golden Lotus is a wonderful story if you want to discover the forbidden topic of ancient Chinese erotic life style. It is the only Chinese book I have read so far that describes the love making scenes in detail. It is about the traditional Chinese customs and how to make friends and deal with your enemies. And also, if you love Chinese food, the story makes your mouth water as well as it is filled with banquets and tea sessions. The story is slow and filled with wonderful human emotions. If you want to know more about the traditional Chinese life style, literature, customs and culture, this is the book for you, go and get it and you will have so much fun!

When I first read this book, the racy parts were all written in latin. The characters would meet alone somewhere and then the text would suddenly drift of into the vulgate.... It was fun to imagine what they were doing, and your imagination could run wild. Now you can read what really went on when the book got too sexy for the Victorians. A lot of fun to read.

Golden Lotus is the fictional story of Hsi-men Ching, a wealthy and influential man in Sung China. Hsi-men Ching was born into a wealthy family, and his extravagant and debauched lifestyle is legendary. However, when he meets the beautiful (and married) Golden Lotus (Chin P'ing Mei) his scheming to get her results in murder, and sets in motion a train of events that will eventually bring him and his whole family (he has six wives by the end of the story) to grief.

This book was originally written as both a morality play and a work of pornography (it was said to be Mao Tse-tung's favorite book). Clement Egerton translated the book into English in 1939, and to clean it up translated the more salacious bits into Latin (which gives the book a somewhat disjointed and surreal feeling). But, that said, the story is easy to read, and quite exciting. Indeed, the story is so gripping that it is hard to believe that it is not a modern work (except for that crazy Latin bit).

So, if you like erotic literature, and are not frightened by big books, or like great oriental literature, then I highly recommend this book to you. It's really a great read!

I am currently reading the 1939 release of Clement Egerton's translation of THE GOLDEN LOTUS. I only want to give it three stars because I really am disappointed that Egerton decided to use Latin to translate the erotic scenes. Although these passages are not the main focus of the book they do add color and even more excitement to the story. These passages are one of the reasons why it has been banned in China and they are part of why millions of people throughout history have been drawn to this masterpiece. I give it 3 stars for the translation. I must admit I am obviously not schooled in Latin and would hope that the 1979 release of this classic uses English only throughout the whole text. I don't want non-Latin using readers to be left out. Sorry Clement, but you come from another generation when Latin was mandatory in schools. We need a "common person's" vernacular version of this novel. Unfortunately the 20th century is seeing the demise of half the world's languages. This chinese classic needs to be updated in the English speaking world.

The CHIN P'ING MEI (A Sprig of Plum Blossum in a Golden Vase) is the great Chinese novel that speaks across the centuries and cultural boundaries. In English, this work is a four volume, 100 chapter, 450K word novel. It is attributed to Wang-Shih-cheng who died in 1593. It was first published in 1610, but was suppressed by Imperial Edict during the first years of the Ching Dynasty (1644-1912), and ever since then has been on the hit list of the Chinese censor, whether he be an imperial mandarin, a religious zealot of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, a revolutionary iconoclast, or a Communist official. Hypocrisy and obscurantism have long reaches as well as strange bedfellows. This long time underground classic reflects Chinese culture and history like a flawless mirror. The novel is set on the Shantung Peninsula during the Empire of the Great Sung in the reign of Hui Tsung (1101-1126). Hsi-men Ching, an inheritor of a vast fortune that his father derived from a pharmacy business, is the main character of the novel. As a member of the leisure class, Hsi-men engages in extensive intimate erotic activities, gives and attends elaborate parties, engages in giving and receiving gifts, bribes officials for an assortment of favors, participates in an occasional business venture, exploits a family connection at the Imperial Court to secure an appointment as a military judge, and forms a "brotherhood" with nine of the town's rascals to spice up his parties and his brothel visits. Hsi-men's household consisted of over 30 persons: six wives and their maids, his servants and employees and an assortment of relatives and associates who come and go. From that rich assemblage, the story grows and branches. Golden Lotus, Hsi-men's fifth wife, is the femme fatale of the novel. "Beautiful is this maiden; her tender form gives promise of sweet womanhood, But a two-edged sword lurks between her thighs, whereby destruction comes to foolish men. No head falls to that sword; its work is done in secret, Yet it drains the very marrow from men's bones." The novel is replete with erotic scenes which Egerton has rendered tastefully into English by a judicious use of archaic spellings, clever metaphors and subtle analogies. The entire novel can be considered a documentation of the author's conclusion that of the four great evils: women, wine, wealth and ambition, that wealth and women were by far the most destructive.

A review on The Golden Lotus - translated by Clement Egerton I started reading it secretively, because I was told it was a very erotic Chinese novel, one knows about, but one does not read. But I was curious and what a treasure I came across once I started reading. It is truly a story about deception, crime, virtue and above all Chinese customs. It gives an interesting inside into everyday life before the Chinese revolution. The proper handling of affairs after the birth of a child, wedding arrangements, the preparations and conduct of a funeral; how to behave when you are invited and what to has to be done when you are the host. And no matter whether you are a good person or a cheater these things have to be followed and conducted in a certain way and they give us an interesting insight in the way of life, their moral point of views and their meaning of life altogether. In all the fiction novels I read up to then, the roles of the hero and heiress, of the good and the bad guys were clearly defined. In the Golden Lotus you will find no such thing. Nobody is all good or bad, they all have their burden to carry and they do it to the best of their abilities. The society and its unwritten rules and regulations are very complex. Even so it might not look like it on the surface everybody, whether born into the rich or the poor world has a chance. Because of the morale of the story, most of the characters choose the easy way by lying and cheating their way through life. And because the final truth is, the way you treat your fellow men, that way you will be treated too, in the end only the... but that would be spoiling it. What I found so interesting was the way that everyday things were conducted. It is corruption pure in almost everything. Yet it is done with so much sophistication and ingenuity that you cannot help yourself admiring it. Everybody has a price, and just in case that it might not work there is always blackmail or even murder. And because the official justice system is just as corrupt you might just get away with it in this life. But the Chinese do believe in reincarnation and there is the catch. The message that comes across is so beautifully hidden between the lines, yet so clear. It does not matter where you are put in life its what you make of it. If you are good your next life will be so much better. In this case however one of the main characters is so bad that Buddha personally has to take care of him in the end. I found it a fascinating story and can only highly recommend it.

I find the novel boring mainly because at four volumes, it is way too long and slow-moving for me. The novel itself is interesting, with a lot of sexual exploits by the protagonist. Pearl S. Buck called it the "greatest physical love novel" of China. Still you might be better off reading the condensed version of the novel.