

The Kinsey Institute Library contains the only known complete copy of the erotic novel Su E Pian, published in the early 17th century. The book, which is illustrated with 90 engravings, describes the sexual relationship between a young concubine named Su E Pian and Master Wu San Si, the nephew of Empress Wu Ze Tian. The couple performed many sexual acts and gave each one a poetic name. Later Su E attracted the unwanted attention of Minister Di Ren Jie, who claimed that she was the immortal incarnation of the spirit of the moon. Su E, the ‘Lady of the Moon’, eventually left for the Chung Nan Mountains, where she entered a superior supernatural level of being, taking Wu’s spiritual essence with her.