Gay and Lesbian Subculture in Urban China [Hardcover]

This book contributes to a critical understanding of how Chinese same-sex identity in urban China is variously imagined; how it is transformed; and how it presents its resistances as China continues to open up to global power relations. Equally important, the book will 1) sharpen knowledge of Chinas recent socio-economic change and political agenda, 2) build a greater awareness of Chinese cultural, sexual and ethical values and 3) offer new perspectives on Chineseness and Chinese same-sex identity.

Uniquely, it explores the emergence of Chinese same-sex identity through understanding the everyday, lived same-sex experience, amid Chinas opening up to cultural, sexual and economic globalisation. This understanding is based on a culturally sensitive framework which accommodates the diverse and sometimes paradoxical articulation of same-sex identity in urban China. It come sto the conclusion that samesex identity in china is articulated in a paradoxical way: open and decentred, but at the same time, nationalist and conforming to state control.

This book will be of interest to scholar and students in Chinese studies, Gender Studies, sexuality and cultural studies.

1. Opening-up to Gay and Lesbian Identities  2. The Problematics of Storytelling  3. Fieldwork: Filtering the Field  4. Speaking of Same-Sex Subjects in Urban China  5. The Gay Space in Chinese Cyberspace: Self-Censorship, Commercialisation and Misrepresentation  6. Modernity and Authenticity  7. Conclusion: The Internal Paradoxes in Beijing

Loretta Ho is a research Associate in the School of Psychology at the University of Western Australia.