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ABSTRACT
This thesis considers Comrade Literature ( 同 志 文 学 tongzhi wenxue), a genre of
contemporary Chinese homosexual (tongzhi) fiction, as it has emerged on the internet in
Mainland China. Although Comrade Literature first emerged in Hong Kong and Taiwan in the
1980s, it was only after the mid-1990s with the advent of the internet that these gay-themed
fiction were disseminated online in Mainland China. There are now hundreds and thousands of
stories designated as “Comrade Novels” ( 同 志 小 说 tongzhi xiaoshuo) archived on various Chinese
websites. This thesis contends that online Comrade stories are not simply an expression of an
underground Chinese gay culture; they are complex cultural texts with deeper meanings as a site
of queer resistance facilitating the intersection of homosexual and heterosexual subjectivities. In
addition to providing a catalyst for the local tongzhi subculture, Comrade fiction in Mainland
China capitalizes on new media platforms to present same-sex desire to the broader public.
A close analysis of four online Comrade stories focuses on the representation of male
same-sex relations, turning a critical eye to the logics of these texts as tongzhi write out of a
heteronormative milieu. The three chapters in this thesis will each examine distinct aspects of
China’s Comrade Literature: 1) gender performance in same-sex romance narratives, 2)
homosexual abjection in Comrade bildungsroman, and 3) the continuum of homosocial and
homosexual intimacy in military Comrade fiction. Collectively, these four works span a stylistic
and temporal timeline that reflect developments in the tongzhi subculture on the Mainland. These
fiction renegotiate the boundary between heterosexual and homosexual behaviors, establishing a
unique tongzhi identity that is at once assimilated into yet differentiated from mainstream
Chinese heteronormative society to challenge hegemonic norms.
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