Manchu Decadence

By Edmund Backhouse

In 1898 a young Englishman walked into a homosexual brothel in Peking and began a journey that he claims took him all the way to the bedchamber of imperial China's last great ruler, the Empress Dowager Tz'u Hsi.  The man was Sir Edmund Backhouse, and his controversial memoirs, Décadence Mandchoue, were published for the first time by E

• Language: English
• Publisher: Earnshaw Books Ltd
• Release date: Feb 20, 2022
• ISBN: 9789881998316

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CHAPTER I

PEKING INTERLUDE

OR

CASSIA FLOWER

HE, IF SUCH there be, who peruses the following pages may deem that they are from the pen of a depraved, peradventure even if a talented, man; yet it is the simple truth that what is recounted hereafter and in subsequent papers from my pen, emanates not from unholy lust nor refined decadence so much as from instinctive curiosity and the spirit of Shakespeare’s sonnets. I have known men who in the accepted sense of the adjective were called, ay and were, depraved; but in morality religion has the last word; and religion is inspired by sentiment and not by intelligence. It speaks to the senses and thus brings us down to a common level; whereas intelligence engages in disputation and argument. He, who would judge his neighbour, should first ask pardon for himself. These are simple, but everlasting, verities.

Matters of love are profound secrets.

Who among us is pure enough to cast the first stone?

Anatole France

"We shall know if hell be not heaven;

We shall see if tares be not grain;

And the joys of thee seventy times seven

Our Lady of Pain."

Swinburne

(But Lady should be changed into the male gender for me, though both exist in my dual nature.)

On an April afternoon of 1899, my Chinese chariot (in those halcyon days rickshas were unknown) deposited me armed with a note of introduction from Prince Ch’ing, himself homosexual in the active and passive form of the word, at the gate of the Hall of Chaste (!) Joys in Stone Lane where were many brothels and more than one Secret Establishment, or Resort of Catamites. This type of bawdy-house was, at that time, tacitly recognized by the authorities and naturally had to pay very heavy taxes as well as irregular impositions which were freely levied by the then head office of the police. The managing director of the establishment was a charming Manchu named Tsai Mu who, in fact, was an imperial clansman, a distant cousin of Emperor Kuang Hsü, and therefore not without a definite connection, who told me that he had to disburse nearly 1,000 Taels in monthly presents, squeezes and legitimate taxes. He was about 35, extremely handsome and had, I believe, been himself in his day a fashionable catamite.

As Prince Kung used to say, remarked Tsai Mu, pederasty is very nice but very costly. (I remember that Li Hung-chang’s eldest son, Li Ching-shu, who only survived his father a short time, is recorded as having said with his latest breath, My chiefest pleasure in life has been to enjoy passive copulation from behind. When in London, in 1921, I recollect reading graffiti in a cultivated hand on the wall of a men’s lavatory at Piccadilly Circus: Have you ever been had by a man? Do so! It’s great!)

Well, said Mr. Tsai Mu, you are a devil and therefore to us here a novelty. You are young and good-looking (!). I shall let you see everything. You foreigners are said to be very lustful, in fact men say that your males have a duplicate sexual equipment; but your eyes may be opened by certain new spectacles, especially as there is nothing faked in this house. Duke Lan is coming here this evening by appointment. I shall tell him that you are here by special recommendation of old Prince Ch’ing, and, as he is my relative and very good-natured, you can just amuse yourself by watching everything he does from the inception to the conclusion. I shall only charge you Taels 50 and you can stay the night and indulge in gambols with any catamite you may prefer, adding a small present say Taels 20 for the favoured one and the attendant. You shall see all the expectants, fourteen in all; Cassia Flower is retained by Duke Tsai Lan for this evening; but he is very intelligent and not shy. You might like him best; he will bathe in perfumed water after Duke Lan has had enough gratification.

Then Mr. Tsai explained to me the tariff: simple or unipartite copulation with the pathic costs Taels 30; reciprocal copulation costs Taels 45; flute savouring (in allusion to the shape of a Chinese flute which resembles the male organ) or fellatio is Taels 10 extra if limited to the pathic; Taels 15 if practiced by the latter on the client intercourse by mouth is Taels 30 inclusive of rose leaves, or what we call Cinnamon Leaves, if applied by the client to the pathic’s anal, pubic and perineal region but if the client requires this labial business on his penis, posterior, etcetera, he must disburse Taels 45. If the client’s passions are dull and he needs aphrodisiac stimulation, rods are available. To be chastised by the selected pathic, charges vary according to the severity of the whipping. Usually, added Mr. Tsai Mu with a meaning grin, twelve strokes make the client call Halt: he must pay a minimum of Taels 12 for a normal flagellation and Tael 1 for the rod which, of course, breaks under use. If he is unsated after twelve strokes, he must pay Tael 1 per blow. But if the client desires to retaliate on the buttocks of the pathic, he must pay an extra Taels 45 as a personal compensation for the catamite’s broken skin and a nominal fee to the establishment of Taels 5 plus Tael 1 for each extra rod as aforesaid. The catamite’s pudenda, testicles, anal region, fundament and perineum are all delicately perfumed and, as goes without saying, kept most scrupulously clean: the pubic and anal hair is clean shaven like the face. Naturally, if the client desires intimate labial contact on his person, he will wish to perform appropriate ablution on his secret parts. An exquisite scent from Java (or Borneo) is available for Taels 5 a bottle; so that the practical and aesthetic side of what might appear gross and physical (even filthy) be not neglected. However, you shall have everything for a fixed tariff of Taels 50, plus a fee for the pleasuring to him whom you deem worthy of your regard. But, if you come back to us, as I hope you may, I shall have to charge you at the same rate as Duke Lan who will probably disburse at least double that figure exclusive of gratuities which are naturally lavish, as he is a unicorn claw (imperial kinsman).

The pathics are trained by practice not to have an erection and are absolutely forbidden to break wind; unless, of course, the client desires to be possessed from behind by them. If they ejaculate during the labial intercourse, the client will usually add a moderate tip in recognition of their virility. Their anuses are all very elastic (anal dilators of various sizes were in regular use) and the most largely developed clients find no difficulty in achieving full penetration and enhancing the climax. Practice renders them all quite impassive to any discomfort, when – as we say – the penis pricketh its forcible way inside (quotation from Dream of the Red Chamber). You probably know, went on Tsai, that for bilateral copulation, our slang phrase is: ‘Turning the bun (so that top and bottom may be roasted)’. (There is a famous chapter in the Dream of the Red Chamber where the hero and his school-friend are caught in the act of reciprocal copulation by another class-mate, who shouts out to the other boys: they are busy at it, turning the bun.)

We were sitting in a charmingly furnished room tastefully hung with practical scrolls and somewhat suggestive pictures. One pair of antithetical scrolls by the late Prince Kung was as follows: To the bird the air, to the fish the water: each enjoys its natural element: To the male his function, to the female hers; who shall speak of violation of propriety? There were albums of indecent pictures on the table; one of exquisite indecency portrayed three males in suggestive postures, the central one being active agent and pathic in simultaneous ecstasy; another painting showed a fair youth after copulation wiping his member with a silken serviette, while the catamite reclines languidly on a yellow rug in an intertwined five clawed dragon pattern. Another scroll was inscribed: Wine and flowers provide us a perpetual spring: Moonlight and lamplight are not necessary to illume our nocturnal joys. Another couplet ran: "He who standeth outside the door is alien from our cult: he who is initiated into our mysteries is the true