Search Results - Jingsheng Zhang

Zhang Jingsheng

Zhang Jingsheng (188818June 1970), often referred to by his popular nickname Dr. Sex, was a Chinese philosopher and sexologist. Born Zhang Jiangliu to a merchant family in Raoping County in eastern Guangzhou, Zhang attended Whampoa Military Primary School, where he became a militant supporter of the Tongmenghui. After he was expelled from Whampoa he met with revolutionaries and entered the Imperial University of Peking. Zhang became an enthusiastic advocate of European ideas of social Darwinism, scientific racism, and eugenics, changing his personal name to Jingsheng, "competition for survival". He was an active member of the Beijing Tongmenghui cell alongside Wang Jingwei, but declined a political post in the aftermath of the 1911 Revolution, instead studying in France.

Zhang received a doctorate from the University of Lyon for a thesis on Jean-Jacques Rousseau, one of his major philosophical inspirations. On recommendation from Cai Yuanpei, he became a professor at Peking University soon after his return to China in 1920. He published his first two books in the early 1920s, where he outlined a society based around aesthetic principles, advocating a form of positive eugenics to overcome what he perceived as the weaknesses of the Chinese race. In 1926, he published ''Sex Histories Part I'', a sexology text based on stories of sexual encounters he gathered from the public. Zhang was ridiculed by much of the Chinese press for the book. A number of unauthorized pornographic sequels spawned from the popularity of the work, leading to confusion on which books were Zhang's original work.

Zhang left teaching and settled in Shanghai shortly after the release of ''Sex Histories''. He founded a "Beauty Bookshop" in Shanghai, which published sexual education texts and translations of European literature and philosophy. He also edited a monthly periodical he named ''New Culture''; this saw significant censorship from the Shanghai Municipal Police due to the inclusion of a sexual advice column run by Zhang. In 1929, he returned to France to work as a translator after his business efforts in Shanghai failed. Four years later, he returned to his home county of Raoping, and became involved in local politics. He was persecuted by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution and died while in confinement. Provided by Wikipedia