Mr and Mrs Guan had been married for no more than a few weeks when they began noticing Mr Guan's tendency to sweat profusely during sex. Both newlyweds were 28 years old, and had made love everyday since their wedding. Mr Guan's qi (or life energy) appeared to be at an all-time high. Relatives warned them not to overindulge in sex, echoing centuries of ancient wisdom that holds moderation as the key to longevity.
Ancient sex wisdom permeates centuries of Chinese history right from the beginnings of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770 BC-256 BC). These pearls have not been forgotten, though they are mostly offered as subtle tokens of advice from family members on subjects such as marriage and family planning. Chinese sex wisdom derives largely from Taoism, an ancient school of philosophy spelled out by Laozi in the 8th Century BC. Taoism stresses the necessary balance between the negative, lunar female yin and the positive, sun-like male yang to achieve optimum harmony and pleasure. The overwhelming characteristic of Chinese sex wisdom however is qi, largely attributed to the positive male yang. To this day, Chinese sex therapists and sexologists argue for some existing Taoist teachings, many advocating moderation as the key to a fulfilling sex life. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't.
According to Mrs Guan, Mr Guan originally abided by traditional practices, allowing sex to last a long time. "We'd have sex after long hours of foreplay. We always used to come together," she told Metropolitan. However, Mr Guan began fretting that his qi was decreasing due to perspiration. This helped kill their love life's momentum. The couple cut down to having sex once every three days, usually in their car, which they find more exciting. Lying together as they often do in their Volkswagen sedan, Mr and Mrs Guan paint a modern picture of the ancient concept wu wei, a unity of yin and yang suspended between heaven and Earth. Their balance however is secretly undermined by Mrs Guan's confession that worries about qi and other factors have bogged down their sex life and led to her faking orgasms to please her husband.
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