China Banned 110 Novels (Worldly Advice · Gods and Demons Volume)

Author: Not Available
Publisher:
Publication Date: Not Available
Features:
- Most Comprehensive: Grand in scale, unmatched both domestically and internationally in its systematic completeness.
- Least Censored: Preserves the original text word for word. Even the rare instances requiring modification are among the least altered versions compared to existing counterparts.
- Best Editions: For works already available domestically, the best versions are selected; for those not yet published in China, high investments are made to import from abroad or Taiwan, thus filling gaps.
- Exquisite Prefaces: Each volume includes a preface: explaining the edition, reasons for prohibition, introducing content, and providing concise evaluations. These prefaces serve as navigators in the vast world of books.
- High Value: This series offers invaluable materials for the study of Chinese fiction and cultural history, possessing significant literary worth and exceptional reading appeal, making it an excellent gift for connoisseurs.
Characteristics of the Forbidden Library Collection:
- Frequently Banned, Rare Masterpieces, Unheard-of Works, First Public Appearance.
Due to the stringent control of feudal rulers over culture and the fact that these novels dealt with the liberation of humanity, freedom, sexuality, and resistance to oppression, they were deemed intolerable by rulers enforcing censorship policies. The feudal authorities, consistently suppressing ideas to the government, implemented cultural control, banning and destroying books, leading to certain uniquely valuable novels being repeatedly censored. Some of these novels were banned immediately after publication, forced into secrecy, and survived in quiet, difficult circulation. Compared to ordinary censored works, these are exceptionally rare and hard to find over centuries—irreplaceable treasures whether for reading or collecting.
This collection gathers 113 rare and extraordinary books from around the world, all selected from among the finest forbidden novels. Hidden for centuries, these works are now brought to light after years of painstaking efforts by hundreds of experts in rescue and compilation, marking their first full-scale domestic release.
Themes of Buddhism, Taoism, Medicine, and Health Preservation, with Moral Lessons on Sexuality, Timeless Value
The novels often explore themes of love—whether teenage longing, extramarital affairs, same-sex intimacy, or lesbian romance. At first glance, they may seem indecent, but upon closer reading, the authors' original intent becomes clear: teaching moderation, not indulgence; warning against vice, not glorifying it—with profound care and wisdom. These works frequently touch on Buddhism, Taoism, medicine, and health preservation, offering (health preservation methods), (bedroom techniques), (beauty formulas), and (awakening pills), encompassing a wide range of secrets. Dutch sinologist Robert Van Gulik's The Sexual Life of Ancient China was compiled from such forbidden novels.
Words fall like rain to depict the coldness of human affairs; they fail to capture the myriad faces of the populace across Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. Tears condense to recount the warmth and cruelty of the world; they cannot finish the stories of men and women.
The 113 works in this collection were banned either due to excessive sexual content or political reasons. Now, after years of meticulous compilation by experts, they are presented in their entirety for the first time in China—strange, novel, secretive, and alluring. Complete, refined, detailed, and fascinating, they are truly unprecedented masterpieces!