A connoisseur of Chinese prints to begin with and intrigued by the fine set of prints he had acquired, van Gulik began collecting information and materials on the sex life of the Chinese in traditional society, referring particularly to Taoist manuals on the conjugal arts and to fiction and poems throughout the ages that described relations between men and women.
高羅佩本就對中國版畫有研究，如今又無意間得見刻工頗稱精細的秘戲圖冊，於是引發了他對中國傳統社會兩性生活的興趣，開始廣為蒐集資料，參考漢初至明末的古籍，特別是道家的房中術和歷代描寫男女關係的詩歌小說。