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omance novel formula: man meets woman, man loses woman, man and woman realize their true
love for each other and end up together. The irony is manifest when readers recognize the gay
male lovers each display distinct masculine and feminine traits. Certainly, when stripped to the
core, all romantic relationships – in highs and lows, in security and jealousy, in passion and
monotony – share the same recognizable emotional experiences as in Lan Yu and Han Dong’s
relationship. By borrowing the heterosexual romance plot, the novella creates a fictional world
where same-sex relations can be normative rather than aberrant, central rather than marginal.
Throughout the story, the narrator draws attention to Lan Yu as a man characterized by
recognizable feminine traits, breaking down public stereotypes of gay people in China and
problematizing his gender identity. Lan Yu is introduced as a college boy who was “not too tall
and ordinary looking” and described as a “pure,” “extremely intelligent, and sensitive” virgin.
This characterization defies the misconception of homosexuals as immoral criminal “hooligans”
or pathological barbarians (2, 4; Chou 2001). As previously discussed, Chinese homosexuals
under the Communist regime were pathologized as mentally ill, demonized as deviants, and
considered threats to public order in China, particularly during the 1980s “Strike Hard” ( 严 打
yanda) campaign (Chou 2001). Even today, same-sex attracted individuals do not receive legal
recognition and are still relegated to hidden hiding places marked by shame and stigma. At the
same time, however, the narrator’s depiction of Lan Yu as having conspicuously feminine traits
with “a delicately pretty face,” “fair and smooth skin,” and “long lashed bright eyes” invokes the
ubiquitous stereotype of an effeminate gay man (2, 4, 8). The contrary representation of Lan Yu
where he both challenges yet reinforces distinct homosexual stereotypes speaks to Butler’s
argument that all social and gendered life is inherently performative. This is further emphasized
when Han Dong formulates a “theory about Lan Yu thinking about himself as a girl” because “it
was true that Lan Yu loved [him] a little like a woman” (15). In this manner, Lan Yu’s gender
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