Lesbian References in Ancient Chinese Divination Texts

During the Warring States period (BC475-BC221), the Qin state’s divination text Rishu (“Day Book”) appears to contain a reference to female homosexuality.

The Rishu is a type of divination manual that encompasses various aspects of life, including marriage, funerals, exorcisms, and home feng-shui. The section titled “Chuanmen” (“Crossing the Door”) describes the influence that doors built in different directions can have on the household’s occupants. The entry on the “Qu Men” (a door constructed in the southwest corner of a house) reads:

“Qu men: its master will prosper. Women will couple with women of the same household. This is called a ‘guarded door.’ If unchanged for three years, a great shaman will emerge.”

Scholar Xie Minghong noted that the phrase “women will couple with women of the same household” is not simply referring to close female relationships, but rather to romantic or sexual relationships between women.

In other words, the full implication of the passage is: if a house has its door in the southwest corner, the wife brought into the household and the women already living there may become a couple.

The author also points out that the character 媀 (used in this passage as an alternative to 耦, meaning “pair”) seems to have been an ancient character used to refer to lesbian relationships.

If this interpretation is correct, it would significantly predate previously known references to female same-sex relationships in Chinese historical records—such as Empress Chen and the female shaman Chufu in The Stories of Emperor Wu of Han, or the “paired eating” relationship between the palace maid Daofang and the palace official Caogong described in the Biographies of the Empresses’ Families in the Book of Han.

Diagram from the paper “Magico-Religious Culture in the Rishu Manuscripts from Shuihudi” by Zhang Qiongwen

References:

1. Reading Notes on Qin Bamboo Slips from Peking University (Vol. 5) by Xie Minghong