Private Material Culture

Chinese Erotic Paintings are a special kind of existence in Art History.It belongs to our cultural heritage but at the same time it is different from the literati paintings system;it exists within history but at the same time outside ’history’(research theme).Erotic paintings are generally hidden from our plain sight,it was covered by rich resources in literature and emperor files.I will coin Chinese Erotic Paintings as ’dark side of cultural heritage’,it has its own logic and system which is different from traditional literati system’history of art under sunshine’.’Dark side of cultural heritage’ has no vivid evidence and its pieces are shattered all around;it is not possible to form a clear picture about it.This dark side is like an ice berg buried deep down the ocean,we only see its peak.Although the historical discourse of the ’ dark side of cultural heritage’ is not possible,it nonetheless filled the void of ’desire’ in art history.Desire has always been absent from Chinese Art History,this article aims to treat erotic paintings as a kind of cultural heritage that it helps us to better understand the structure of the whole Qing dynasty and rediscover the charm of images.