Saturday, September 09, 2006

Ear of the Emperor

When Ms BC of London read the first chapter of The Story of Su Nu she sent me an email: "Brilliant!!! easy, sexy read.......and I really like the girl.... Can't wait to read the next instalment."

Did the Yellow Emperor need an agony-auntie to advise him on how to cope with 1400 wives and concubines? How did Su Nu get the job?

With the Imperial harem guarded by eunuchs she would have found it hard to gain the range of experience that underlies her advice, so its unlikely she “rose through the ranks”.

Su Nu must have lived outside the rules and ‘outside the box’. Was she a captured prize already experienced in the art of the bedchamber? Or did she somewhere and somehow learn secret practices unknown to the imperial court and manipulate, in every sense, her way through the ranks of officials to a position where she had the ear, and more, of the emperor himself?

Or was hers a simpler tale? Perhaps Huang Ti came across her in one of his forays about the kingdom and, entranced by the vision of her innocence bathing in a forest pool, taken her home, where she found the voice of the love-gods speaking through her?

Su Nu Ching,‘The Classic of Su Nu’ and the Formulas ‘Su Nu Fang’ are silent on her personal history. Other sources mention her attributes but are vague about her roots.


Well, it was once upon a time and far away...

Could this be her story? Click to read The Story of Su Nu

or, better, to hear co-author Cathy Rowan read extracts CLICK HERE