Queer China: Lesbian and Gay Literature and Visual Culture under Postsocialism, 1st Edition

This book analyses queer cultural production in contemporary China to map the broad social transformations in gender, sexuality and desire. It examines queer literature and visual cultures in China’s post-Mao and postsocialist era to show how these diverse cultural forms and practices not only function as context specific and culturally sensitive forms of social activism, but a... This book analyses queer cultural production in contemporary China to map the broad social transformations in gender, sexuality and desire. It examines queer literature and visual cultures in China’s post-Mao and postsocialist era to show how these diverse cultural forms and practices not only function as context specific and culturally sensitive forms of social activism, but also produce distinct types of gender and sexual subjectivities unique to China’s postsocialist conditions. From poetry to papercutting art, from ‘comrade/gay literature’ to girls love fan fiction, from lesbian films to activist documentaries, and from a drag show in Shanghai to a public performance of same-sex wedding in Beijing, the book reveals a queer China in all its ideological complexity and creative energy. Empirically rich and methodologically eclectic, Queer China skilfully weaves together historical and archival research, textual and discourse analysis, along with interviews and ethnography. Breaking new ground and bringing a non-Western perspective to the fore, this transdisciplinary work contributes to multiple academic fields including literary and cultural studies, media and communication studies, film and screen studies, contemporary art, theatre and performance studies, gender and sexuality studies, China/Asia and Global South studies, cultural history and cultural geography, political theory and the study of social movements. Breaking new ground and bringing a non-Western perspective to the fore, this transdisciplinary work contributes to multiple academic fields including literary and cultural studies, media and communication studies, film and screen studies, contemporary art, theatre and performance studies, gender and sexuality studies, China/Asia and Global South studies, cultural history and cultural geography, political theory and the study of social movements. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series 3 Title 5 Copyright 6 Dedication 7 Contents 8 List of figures 10 Series editors’ preface 12 Acknowledgements 14 List of abbreviations 18 Notes on translation, transliteration and names 19 Introduction: queer China, postsocialist metamorphosis 20 Part I Queer emergence 46 1 Imagining modernity: the (re-)emergence of homosexuality 47 2 Women Fifty Minutes: in search of queer women’s spaces 65 Part II Queer becoming 87 3 Beijing Story: becoming gay in postsocialist China 88 4 Pink Affairs: narrating desire in a girls’ love fan fiction 100 Part III Queer urban space 125 5 ‘New Beijing, new marriage’: performing a same-sex wedding in central Beijing 126 6 The forgotten critical realism: reification of desire in Mu Cao’s poetry 141 Part IV Queer migration 153 7 ‘Shanghai is burning’: becoming trans in a global city 154 8 Life of a butterfly: subjectivation and autonomy in Xiyadie’s papercutting art 170 Epilogue 194 Appendix: Queer history, culture and activism in postsocialist China: a brief chronology (1981–2019) 196 Bibliography 209 Index 224 "This book analyses queer cultural production in contemporary China to map the broad social transformations in gender, sexuality and desire. It examines queer literature and visual cultures in China's post-Mao and postsocialist era to show how these diverse cultural forms and practices not only function as context specific and culturally sensitive forms of social activism, but also produce distinct types of gender and sexual subjectivities unique to China's postsocialist conditions. From poetry to papercutting art, from 'comrade/gay literature' to girls love fan fiction, from lesbian films to activist documentaries, and from a drag show in Shanghai to a public performance of same-sex wedding in Beijing, the book reveals a queer China in all its ideological complexity and creative energy. Empirically rich and methodically eclectic, Queer China skilfully weaves together historical and archival research, textual and discourse analysis, along with interviews and ethnography. Breaking new ground and bringing a non-Western perspective to the fore, this transdisciplinary work contributes to multiple academic fields including literary and cultural studies, media and communication studies, film and screen studies, contemporary art, theatre and performance studies, gender and sexuality studies, China/Asia and Global South studies, cultural history and cultural geography, political theory and the study of social movements"-- Provided by publisher This book analyses queer cultural production in contemporary China to map the broad social transformations in gender, sexuality and desire. It examines queer literature and visual cultures in China's post-Mao and postsocialist era to show how these diverse cultural forms and practices not only function as context-specific and culturally sensitive forms of social activism but also produce distinct types of gender and sexual subjectivities unique to China's postsocialist conditions. From poetry to papercutting art, from 'comrade/gay literature' to girls' love fan fiction, from lesbian films to activist documentaries, and from a drag show in Shanghai to a public performance of a same-sex wedding in Beijing, the book reveals a queer China in all its ideological complexity and creative energy. Empirically rich and methodologically eclectic, Queer China skilfully weaves together historical and archival research, textual and discourse analysis, along with interviews and ethnography. Breaking new ground and bringing a non-Western perspective to the fore, this transdisciplinary work contributes to multiple academic fields including literary and cultural studies, media and communication studies, film and screen studies, contemporary art, theatre and performance studies, gender and sexuality studies, China/Asia and Global South studies, cultural history and cultural geography, political theory and the study of social movements.