Unlike most of his colleagues, historian Chen Yin Que aka Chen Yin Ke 陈寅恪(1890-1969) was spared the worst that communism had inflicted on Chinese intellectuals after 1949.
During the Cultural Revolution (1967-1976), Red Guards broke into homes, burning old books and destroying antiques. Recognised valuables like jewellery were seized and presented to CCP leaders. Mao’s wife was said to have kept a French pendant watch studded with diamonds. A few of the zealots who were secretly less faithful to the cause of the revolution than they appeared, sold the valuables overseas and hid the proceeds. Fortunately for Prof Chen, his life’s work had already been completed before the revolution started in 1967.
In 1954, Prof Chen, a Harvard and Zurich University graduate, was offered the post of Director of History. In his reply to the offer, Prof Chen wrote that the study of history should not be influenced by any form of political bias. Any department that he was asked to lead must not have any individual who was bound by political obligations. It was a daring thing to say, but that was still way before the Cultural Revolution. Prof Chen was well aware of how China’s academia had been arm-twisted by the Party and how compliant his colleagues had been. His last publication, completed in 1963, would shock the then puritanical Chinese society. It was the biography of Liu Ru Shi 柳如是, China’s most talented courtesan who lived in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty.
It was a massive undertaking. The manuscript had 800,000 words detailing the life of this enigmatic woman. It took him 10 years to complete. Towards the end, when Prof Chen was turning blind, he dictated to his assistants and asked them to read back to him. Why write about a courtesan? Some, like the late Prof Liu Xiao Bo 刘晓波, would interpret it as a criticism of his fraternity and a protest against the communist government. Decades had passed from Prof Chen to Prof Liu, but both had colleagues who had practically become whores of the system. They had betrayed their integrity as academics for the sake of promotions and recognition by the powers that be. Prof Chen’s biography of Liu Ru Shi highlighted a problem within Chinese academia that had persisted till this day. Could the so-called intellectuals under the system be considered prostitutes? Could real prostitutes have more pride and dignity than they had?
Liu Ru Shi represented all the ironies and contradictions of late Ming Dynasty China. Virtuous women were uneducated. Those well-versed in music and the arts were courtesans who slept with and entertained scholars. Men of letters could not connect intellectually with their wives. They took artsy concubines to enrich their lives at home. Through interactions with scholars, many prostitutes became accomplished poets themselves. Prof Chen’s publication included all of available works written by Liu Ru Shi. She lived through a tumultuous period that saw the collapse of the Ming Dynasty and the conquest of the short-lived Shun Dynasty by the Manchus. Prof Chen’s work reveals that in spite of being a prostitute, Liu was more willing to sacrifice her life for Ming than many of the intellectuals around her. Even as a prostitute, Liu was selective and principled. She would reject or even pay some crass customers to leave.
Look out for our new book, Better a Whore Than a Concubine by Singaporean writer Chan Joon Yee. This book can be described as a historical romance, dramatised fiction partly based on historical facts.
The oldest profession is illegal or in influencer queen Xiaxue’s words, “frowned upon” in most societies. The good girls are now educated. But prostitution exists in many forms in practically every sector and segment of society, including those that are highly respected and strictly regulated with strong codes of conduct. Perhaps those who spread their legs are not necessarily less dignified than those who betray their own conscience and principles.
