Who Owned the Bronze Dildo?
This post is a revised and expanded version of an article written in 2018.
The Dildo’s Owner: King Liu Fei of Jiangdu
While searching online for “Emperor Wu of Han,” I came across a story about a bronze phallus discovered in the emperor’s tomb. My first reaction was, “Of course it was Liu Che!” After laughing for a while, I traced the story’s source and found something strange about the claim that it came from “the tombs of Emperor Wu of Han and Liu Bei in Jiangsu Province, China.” Emperor Wu (Liu Che) of the Western Han dynasty couldn’t possibly be buried alongside Liu Bei of the Three Kingdoms period, nor could their tombs—which should be in Chang’an and Chengdu respectively—be excavated in Jiangsu Province. After searching in English and following link after link until I finally reached a Chinese article, I discovered that the bronze dildo was actually a burial object excavated in 2011 from a Han tomb at Mount Dayun in Xuyi County, Jiangsu Province, and the tomb’s occupant was Liu Fei (劉非), the first King of Jiangdu and son of Emperor Jing (Liu Qi). Not Liu Che himself, but I cheered again—after all, he was Liu Che’s older brother!
What kind of person was Liu Fei, buried alongside this bronze dildo? Liu Fei was a robust and valiant figure. When the Rebellion of the Seven States of Wu and Chu broke out in the third year of Emperor Jing’s reign, the fifteen-year-old imperial prince Liu Fei volunteered for military service, received a general’s seal, and participated in the attack on Wu. After the rebellion was suppressed, Emperor Jing renamed Wu’s former territory the Kingdom of Jiangdu and enfeoffed it to Liu Fei. This combative nature persisted into middle age—Liu Fei even volunteered for service when his younger brother Liu Che ascended to the throne as emperor and went to war against the Xiongnu. The Liu Fei depicted in the Shiji and Hanshu loved to display his strength and gathered heroes from all directions. According to the Xijing Zaji, he was so athletic that he could leap over a seven-chi (161cm) folding screen. So he could certainly handle a bronze dildo.
Perhaps burying the dildo in the tomb wasn’t Liu Fei’s own wish. Liu Fei’s son Liu Jian was an immoral and dissolute character. While still crown prince, he had already kidnapped a woman intended to become his father’s concubine and even murdered her father. Before Liu Fei’s funeral was even held after his death, Liu Jian summoned ten of his father’s favorite concubines and had sex with them. It was after this that he placed the dildo in his father’s tomb.
Epilogue: The Aftermath of the Kingdom of Jiangdu
Liu Jian’s wickedness only intensified after he inherited the throne. He enjoyed deliberately capsizing boats to watch people drown, and abused his concubines in various ways (especially sexually), causing the deaths of as many as thirty-five women. Yet he received no punishment for these acts alone. Liu Jian was only impeached by ministers and forced to commit suicide after his treasonous activities were discovered—cursing the emperor, stockpiling weapons, and manufacturing an imperial seal.
Meanwhile, Emperor Wu (Liu Che) made Liu Jian’s daughter, Liu Xijun, a princess and sent her to the Western Regions to marry the ruler of Wusun. This was the first instance of the Chinese empire sending an imperial woman to the Western Regions to establish peace through marriage. Princess Xijun was given only two options, neither of which she could choose for herself: live in the same country as her father Liu Jian, or leave her homeland for a country with a different language and customs, married to an elderly husband with whom she couldn’t communicate. After departing for Wusun, Princess Xijun composed a song longing for her homeland. When her husband later died and his son tried to take her as his own, Princess Xijun petitioned the emperor, hoping to return to Han. However, Liu Che commanded her: “Follow that country’s customs. I intend to attack the Xiongnu together with Wusun.”
May 25, 2018 14:04