Ròu pútuán

The Carnal Prayer Mat

Cover of the novel, 1705 edition, collection of the University of Tokyo.
Author	Li Yu
Original title	肉蒲團
Country	China
Language	Chinese
Subject	Sexual fantasy
Genre	Erotic literature
Publication date	1657
Media type	Print

Rouputuan, also known as Huiquanbao and Juehouchan, and translated as The Carnal Prayer Mat or The Before Midnight Scholar, is a 17th-century Chinese erotic novel published under a pseudonym but usually attributed to Li Yu. It was written in 1657 and published in 1693 during the Qing dynasty. It is divided into four volumes of five chapters apiece. It was published in Japan in 1705 as Nikufuton with an preface proclaiming it the greatest erotic novel of all time.

The novel had a controversial status in Chinese literature, and has long been banned and censored; recent scholarship treats the work as an allegory which uses its unabashed pornographic nature to attack Confucian puritanism. The prologue comments that sex is healthy when taken as if it were a drug, but not as if it were ordinary food.

The novel's protagonist, Weiyangsheng (未央生; lit. "Unrealised One" or "Unfinished One"), visits a Buddhist temple, where he meets a monk, who notes that he exhibits wisdom but also lust. Weiyangsheng says that the monk's purpose in life is to sit on a zafu (or prayer mat) and meditate, while his desire is to marry a beautiful woman and sit on a "carnal prayer mat" (肉蒲團). The title of the novel comes from this line said by Weiyangsheng.

Weiyangsheng is an egoistic young scholar who often boasts of his aspiration to marry the most beautiful woman in the world. He seeks neither fame nor glory, and prefers to indulge in women and sex. A monk called "Budai Heshang" (布袋和尚; lit. "Monk with a Cloth Sack") once urged him to give up on his philandering ways and follow the path of Buddhism, while his father-in-law, Taoist Tiefei (鐵扉道人), also attempted to persuade him to be more decent, but Weiyangsheng ignored both of them.

On a trip to the capital city, Weiyangsheng encounters Saikunlun (賽崑崙), a bandit, and becomes sworn brothers with him. Saikunlun introduces Weiyangsheng to Tianji Zhenren (天際真人), a Taoist magician, who surgically enhances Weiyangsheng's penis by splicing strips of a dog's penis into it, causing it to be enlarged and become more 'powerful'. With Saikunlun's help, Weiyangsheng gets involved in illicit sexual relationships with many married women, including: Yanfang (艷芳), the wife of Quan Laoshi (權老實); Xiangyun (香雲), the wife of Xuanyuanzi (軒軒子); Ruizhu (瑞珠), the wife of Woyunsheng (臥雲生); Ruiyu (瑞玉), the wife of Yiyunsheng (倚雲生).