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individuals paranoid of having their homosexuality exposed in fear of social and political ramifications (van der Werff 2010). Nevertheless, contemporary attitudes towards gender and sexuality in Chinese society are rapidly changing (Farrer 2002). At a tongzhi book club event, one participant remarked: People are now more receptive to the idea that not everybody is meant to be heterosexual. However, it is frustrating that you can never hear honest discussion about sexuality in the media. I … look online to learn more about homosexuality and how to cope with being gay in China… I have tried reading books and articles in English, but they … do not speak to the experiences of homosexuals in China… [In contrast,] many Comrade stories can be realistic [and easy to read]… What draws me to them is … the idea that, through fiction, I can temporarily forget about who I’m supposed to be to experience different kinds of emotions and love… Although they are fiction, they give me some insight into how I can conduct my own homosexuality… [and] the nature of same-sex relations. … It would be great if everybody read tongzhi stories so that there can be more tolerance of homosexuality in China (“Discussion1” 2012). This man’s perspective not only highlights that tongzhi often rely on the internet as a source of information about homosexuality, but also reveals how Comrade stories provide a voyeuristic lens through which modern Chinese people review their own lives. To further existing research on online Comrade Literature, this thesis is organized in three chapters. Each chapter takes up different aspects related to how private tongzhi desire becomes visible in public space through gay-themed stories on the Chinese internet: via romance, bildungsroman, and war narrative structures. The central concern is how online male Comrade stories relate to the wider framework of hegemonic norms and queer discourse in contemporary China. The first chapter examines gender performance in tongzhi romance (typically labeled 耽美 danmei or “Boy Love”/“BL”) narratives. This chapter conducts a close analysis of two online Comrade stories, “Beijing Story” 《北京故事》 (1996) and “The Illusive Mind” 《迷思》 (2003), respectively published before and after homosexuality in China was decriminalized in 1997. The analysis reveals how these texts portray fluid gender relations and identities of male Introduction | 24
homosexual characters to destabilize hegemonic gender norms in Chinese society. Both Comrade stories assimilate same-sex to opposite-sex behaviors by positioning homosexual male relations within the heterosexual paradigm. Concurrently, however, they destabilize hegemonic norms of gender and sexuality by accentuating homosexual relations as distinct from and perhaps more ideal than dominant heterosexual practices in modern China. Drawing upon Judith Butler’s notion of gender performativity, this chapter examines the conceptual tension where same-sex and opposite-sex practices are simultaneously homologized yet differentiated. These contrary tendencies coincide in the literary (re)productions of performative masculinity and femininity reinscribed within male tongzhi relations, etching a space for homosexuality to emerge. The second chapter takes up queer abjection in Comrade bildungsroman (often referred to as “Campus Love Tongzhi Stories” 校园同志小说 xiaoyuan tongzhi xiaoshuo). This chapter examines “Huizi” 《辉子》 (1999) as a queerly-inflected bildungsroman depicting young protagonists as their sense of homosexual identity develops, infusing the Comrade story with the twofold potentiality of “coming-of-age” and “coming-out.” By portraying the narrator’s self-conscious sense of identity as one that is in a constant flux of mimesis, integration, and divergence, the story reveals the fictive structure of homo/hetero and masculine/feminine binaries in patriarchal Chinese society. This chapter draws upon Julia Kristeva’s Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection (1982) and Judith Butler’s subsequent work on abjection in Bodies that Matter (1993) to attend to how the “hooligan” body in “Huizi” is presented as abject, recasting the body as an active site that can circumvent regulatory norms. Ultimately, however, “Huizi” rejects a queer utopia in favor of exposing the formidable and perhaps insurmountable obstacles along the path towards accepting a homosexual identity. Rather Introduction | 25
Page 1 and 2: Tongzhi Tales in Mainland China: Ch
Page 3 and 4: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many people have be
Page 5 and 6: TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........
Page 7 and 8: Tongzhi Tales in Mainland China: Ch
Page 9 and 10: subscribers. Members of tongzhi web
Page 11 and 12: a new media format rather than work
Page 13 and 14: 恋 tongxinglian) is rarely used wi
Page 15 and 16: [Cultural and Legislative Environme
Page 17 and 18: greatly… I am still in love with
Page 19 and 20: the internet, Chinese people circum
Page 21 and 22: online Chinese homosexual fiction i
Page 23 and 24: famous sex educator Cheng Hao, wher
Page 25 and 26: BC) to the early 1980s, concluding
Page 27 and 28: The book provided insight into the
Page 29: [Online Comrade Literature: Virtual
Page 33 and 34: mainstream literary genres, questio
Page 35 and 36: etween secrecy and disclosure, wher
Page 37 and 38: of gay novels in China’s micro-bl
Page 39 and 40: the Tiananmen Square events in “B
Page 41 and 42: pursuits in social terms, seemingly
Page 43 and 44: ecomes malleable and unidentifiable
Page 45 and 46: independent, are obligated to suppo
Page 47 and 48: Dong is clear about his feelings fo
Page 49 and 50: [“The Illusive Mind”: Abstracti
Page 51 and 52: enthusiasm. In comparison, “The I
Page 53 and 54: these stories predominantly display
Page 55 and 56: Accordingly, the author-narrator’
Page 57 and 58: Nonetheless, “The Illusive Mind
Page 59 and 60: underlie and permeate discourses”
Page 61 and 62: goes together with X to the seaside
Page 63 and 64: that powerful homosexual emotions d
Page 65 and 66: first heartfelt bond between two me
Page 67 and 68: a sense of dread because I could no
Page 69 and 70: normative criteria become abject. A
Page 71 and 72: ‘Huizi’ was my nickname for Li
Page 73 and 74: mimetic behaviors demonstrate the f
Page 75 and 76: Each boy’s distinct personality a
Page 77 and 78: During the years of Huizi’s impri
Page 79 and 80: materiality in the first place (Wil
Page 81 and 82:
thrown into prison the first time,
Page 83 and 84:
[The Comrade Mirror Stage and Self-
Page 85 and 86:
As a result of their intimate same-
Page 87 and 88:
non-procreative homosexual body as
Page 89 and 90:
As Marston Anderson observes in his
Page 91 and 92:
toward respect for the body of the
Page 93 and 94:
Xiaoyang’s experience at the labo
Page 95 and 96:
Heather Love’s book, Feeling Back
Page 97 and 98:
[Tongzhi Reflections: Queer Desire,
Page 99 and 100:
CHAPTER THREE [The Camaraderie Betw
Page 101 and 102:
egime within the figure of the mili
Page 103 and 104:
1964). 43 Aside from ardently comme
Page 105 and 106:
competitions to earn money. After s
Page 107 and 108:
Communist regime - it also specific
Page 109 and 110:
eflections on homosexual friendship
Page 111 and 112:
In contrast, it is only in the seco
Page 113 and 114:
survival reflects Foucault’s noti
Page 115 and 116:
of reiterated acting - one that pro
Page 117 and 118:
But how are military tongzhi figure
Page 119 and 120:
developments in their changing rela
Page 121 and 122:
Although conversation about women c
Page 123 and 124:
In “Commitment,” the romance be
Page 125 and 126:
will “never be separated,” are
Page 127 and 128:
center of the government's power, 6
Page 129 and 130:
that it was just “manually assist
Page 131 and 132:
heteronormative ideals. At the same
Page 133 and 134:
CONCLUSION [From Cozy Nest to Empty
Page 135 and 136:
male homosexuality in four online C
Page 137 and 138:
private spheres of homosexual and h
Page 139 and 140:
manner, reading is integral to writ
Page 141 and 142:
production of online Comrade storie
Page 143 and 144:
estrictions, Chinese netizens have
Page 145 and 146:
Nevertheless, people express hope t
Page 147 and 148:
consumption, but rather than merely
Page 149 and 150:
private sphere, tongzhi are unable
Page 151 and 152:
Bacon, Barbara Schaffer, Cheryl L.
Page 153 and 154:
Chen, Jue. 2004. “The Mystery of
Page 155 and 156:
Deleuze, G. and Félix G. 1980. A T
Page 157 and 158:
Godwin, John. 2010. Legal environme
Page 159 and 160:
Huang, Zhiling and Zhang Ao. 2010.
Page 161 and 162:
Kong, Travis. S. K. 2011. Chinese M
Page 163 and 164:
Liu, Dalian. 2009. Sex Social Scien
Page 165 and 166:
Standing Committee of the First Nat
Page 167 and 168:
Rofel, Lisa. 2007. Desiring China:
Page 169 and 170:
Simon, Scott. 2001. "Sexuality, Cul
Page 171 and 172:
Wen, Xin. 2011. “China’s legal
Page 173 and 174:
Zhang, Yiwu. 2007. “Recent Change
Page 175 and 176:
1. Inciting to resist or breaking t
Page 177 and 178:
September 1999: Judge Zhang Lihua r
Page 179 and 180:
c. 阳光地带 :www.boysky.com
Page 181 and 182:
Appendix IV: Classical Chinese Nove
Page 183 and 184:
Appendix VI: Examples of Tongzhi Mi
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