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heterosexual life (embodied by the new wife). Beijing Comrade caricatures the trope of marriage
to co-opt the conventional gender norms of heterosexuality. Instead of its original meaning
signifying a naturalized relation, the normative convention of heterosexual marriage is deployed
to symbolize the alternate homosexual relation that was denied. Heterosexual marriage, then,
serves as an early point of departure for the text of “Beijing Story” to introduce and focus on
homosexual relations vis-à-vis the homo/hetero binary. This demarcation between the homo- and
heterosexual worlds – between the private and public spheres – is an evocative theme throughout
the novella. This tension is evident when characters act in ways that are attributed to specific
genders, contesting the prevalent homo/heterosexual dichotomy by illustrating shared aspects in
both sexual domains. In this way, the text reinscribes homosexuality within the heterosexual
paradigm, deconstructing gender conventions of opposite-sex relationships and creating a space
for homosexuality to emerge.
The storyline of “Beijing Story” draws parallels in the depiction of Han Dong’s sexual
encounters to the traditional Chinese sexual world where sexual acts of men were defined by
social roles of penetrator/penetrated and superior/inferior, regardless of the sex or gender of his
partner (Chou 2001). Han Dong’s sexual promiscuity with multiple male and female sex partners
can thus be construed as an enactment of his elite position in the social and sexual hierarchy due
to his superior wealth, age, and employment. Han Dong takes care of all of his partners in a
material manner by giving them money and buying gifts, taking on the traditional role of an
active male provider and penetrator to dominate social and sexual intercourse. At one point early
in the story, Han Dong ponders how same-sex relations give him “a strong desire to conquer …
to dominate a man like eating a piece of cake” where “a woman is nothing” in comparison (5).
This statement affirms Han Dong’s position as a dominant male and explains his homosexual
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