This week on Sinica, we deliver a salacious podcast that covers everything you always wanted to know about Sex in China, but have been afraid to ask. And with a discussion that stretches from Daoist sex manuals and imperial sex customs to getting jiggy during the Cultural Revolution and even matters like homosexuality in contemporary China, this is a podcast you don't want to miss... unless talking about sex makes you uncomfortable in which case you might actually want to skip it.

For the rest of us, this is a stellar show however. With Kaiser Kuo and Jeremy Goldkorn leading the questioning as usual, in this episode of Sinica we're delighted to be joined by Richard Burger, subject matter expert and author of the book Behind the Red Door: Sex in China. Also joining us for this conversation is Richard's publisher Graham Earnshaw, founder of Earnshaw Books, and one of the most well-traveled expats living in China today.

Enjoy Sinica? If you use an RSS feed reader like iTunes, please remember that you can subscribe to all of our Sinica shows by hooking up to our custom Sinica feed at: http://popupchinese.com/custom/feeds/sinica. We also warmly invite all listeners to download this show as a standalone mp3 file and share with friends and colleagues.
fremicourt
 said on
May 8, 2013
About Homosexuality in China, you spoke about these people who got married, now have a family and therefore endure a lot of stressful situations, due to the fact that they often have a double-life, too. One of my friends is in this situation.

Also, I am not that sure that for the vast majority of gay people, the situation is getting better. I know a lot of gay Chinese, I only met one who was "out", his family knowing the truth about him.

I don't know how representative he is, but I also have an other friend, just graduated, so around his 21/22. He's gay, he knows it. But he said that he strongly believes in the confucean way : "不孝有三，无后为大" (don't have children is the worst thing you can do to your parents). He said that he's ready to self-sacrifice for the (so-called) happiness of his family, and that he can be happy with this sacrifice.
Echo
 said on
May 8, 2013
@fremicourt,

That's really common in China. With all the social pressure, one bad situation happens is that some gay Chinese tell lies to their girlfriends so that they'd marry them. Those deceived wives, we call them 同妻 (同性恋的妻子) in Chinese.

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
fremicourt
 said on
May 8, 2013
(Wow, such an honor to get an answer from Echo!)
Echo
 said on
May 9, 2013
@fremicourt,

别客气 :)

--Echo

echo@popupchinese.com
ihartemis
 said on
May 14, 2013
Great podcast! I can't believe I never discovered you guys before - Sinica is now my go-to weekly listen for Chinese pop culture/current events.

I was wondering if you could post the links to the recommendations mentioned at the end of the show? Particularly Graham's article/books collection?
STOIC
 said on
May 15, 2013
Agree with ihartemis - excellent pod!

One question, what's Muzimei's username on weibo? I thought she had disappeared from the internet the last few years.
STOIC
 said on
May 15, 2013
By the way, her infamous podcast is still lingering on online:

http://vdisk.weibo.com/s/6x3B2

molerat382
 said on
July 9, 2013
Love your podcasts - recommend them to all my friends here in the west of China. Informed and eye opening discussion on sex - but why didn't you wheel out at least one women for this show? - it would have made your discussions about pornography and men "giving women an orgasm" a little more colourful and dare I say balanced.

In general, I am a BIG fan, but I sometimes feel your shows are a bit Beijing biased - and (again) a bit like an old boys club - love Tania, and your other female guests - can we not just have more of them? more often? How about roving about the country somewhat? having some "guest presenters" might get you all better known out here in the boonies of Chengdu and elsewhere.
hullabalo0
 said on
October 9, 2013
Where's this week's effing sinica assholes?
trevelyan
 said on
October 9, 2013
@hullabaloo,

Last week was the National Holidays in China, so Sinica didn't record on Friday. I think Jeremy and Kaiser will be back in the studio this Thursday, so there should be a show again on Friday as usual.

--dave
Mark Lesson Studied