BEIJING, July 26 (Xinhuanet) -- The ancient Chinese regarded sexual satisfaction as crucial for both men and women, revealed a Japanese researcher here Tuesday.

    In ancient China, men played a dominant role in social issues, politics, families, and sexual affairs. Women were regarded as passive service providers in sex and their role was to satisfy men.

    However, for more than 1,000 years, "The Art of the Bedchamber" underlined the pleasure, sensitivity and desires of both men and women, said Sumiyo Umekawa, a professor with the Otsuma Women's College.

    Manuals starting from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) noted that females should receive as much pleasure from sexual intercourse as she gave to the man, and introduced practical skills to achieve mutual satisfaction, said Sumiyo, at the 22nd International Congress of History of Science.

    "The Art of the Bedchamber" in ancient Chinese recorded little-known sexual skills and fitness exercises. The earliest art of bedchamber can be traced to Shang and Zhou dynasties (1,600 BC to 221 BC).

    "It was very important to increase female sexual pleasure and bring her to an ecstatic state, for the sake of both men's and women's health and joy," she quoted the manuals as saying.

    However, like other issues dominated by men in ancient China, The Art of the Bedchamber also revealed the selfishness of men, telling men to use aphrodisiacs for their own advantage, said the professor.

    Apart from studying The Art of the Bedchamber, Sumiyo also summarized the functions of aphrodisiacs disclosed in ancient folk records, which include accelerating insemination and pregnancy and the treatment of gynecological and obstetrical diseases.

    "Those aphrodisiacs which cured gynecological and obstetrical illness like irregular menstruation reflected the attention and care of the health and feelings of females in sex," she said. Enditem