ebook img

Tongzhi Living: Men Attracted to Men in Postsocialist China PDF

257 Pages·2015·5.17 MB·English
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Tongzhi Living: Men Attracted to Men in Postsocialist China

A N T H R O P O L O G Y / A S I A N S T U D I E S / L G B T “Tongzhi Living is ethnographically rich, beautifully written, and T ian t ian Zheng poignantly descriptive of many social spaces in urban China. Through the lens of tongzhi struggles, desires, and community organizing, we witness people working against marginalization, silence, and invisibility.” —Ralph Litzinger, Duke University Tongzhi, which translates into English as “same purpose” or “same will,” was once widely used to mean “comrade.” Since the 1990s, the word TONGZHI LIVING has been appropriated by the LGBT community in China and now refers to a broad range of people who do not espouse heteronormativity. Tongzhi Living offers insights into the community of same-sex–attracted men in the metropolitan city of Dalian in northeast China. Based on her ethnographic fieldwork, Tiantian Zheng reveals an array of coping mechanisms developed by tongzhi men in response to rapid social, cultural, and political transformations in postsocialist China. According to Zheng, unlike gay men in the West during the past three decades, tongzhi men in China have adopted the prevailing moral ideal of heterosexuality and pursued membership in the dominant culture while also endeavoring to establish a tongzhi culture. They are, therefore, caught in a constant tension of embracing and contesting normality as they try to create a new and legitimate space for themselves, paradoxically undercutting the goals they aspire to reach, perpetuating social prejudice against them, and thwarting the activism they believe they are advocating. TIANTIAN ZHENG is professor of anthropology at State University of New York, Cortland. She is author or coauthor of eight books, including Red Lights: The Lives of Sex Workers in Postsocialist China (Minnesota, 2009), winner of the 2010 Sara A. Whaley Book Prize from the National Women’s Studies Association. Men Attracted to Men in UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS Printed in U.S.A. ISBN 978-0-8166-9200-2 Cover design by Mariah Corigan 90000 > Postsocialist China Cover photograph copyright xPACIFICA/Corbis 9 780816 692002 This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:01:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Zheng T O N G Z H I L I V I N G TONGZHI LIVING This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:01:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms This page intentionally left blank This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:01:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Tongzhi Living 4 Men Attracted to Men in Postsocialist China Tiantian Zheng University of Minnesota Press Minneapolis • London This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:01:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms A diferent version of chapter 1 was previously published as “Contesting Heteronormality: Recasting Same-S ex Desire in China’s Past and Present,” Wagadu: A Journal of Transnational Women’s and Gender Studies 12 (2014): 15–4 0; reprinted with permission of Wagadu. An earlier version of chapter 2 was published as “Masculinity in Crisis: Efeminate Men, Loss of Manhood, and the Nation-s tate in Postsocialist China,” Etnografca (2015). Portions of chap- ter 4 were previously published in Cultural Politics of Gender and Sexuality in Contemporary Asia, edited by Tiantian Zheng (University of Hawai`i Press, 2015). Copyright 2015 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval s ystem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Published by the University of Minnesota Press 111 Tird Avenue South, Suite 290 Minneapolis, MN 55401–2 520 http://www.upress.umn.edu Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-P ublication Data Zheng, Tiantian. Tongzhi living : men attracted to men in postsocialist China / Tiantian Zheng. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8166-9199-9 (hc) ISBN 978-0-8166-9200-2 (pb) 1. M en— Sexual behavior—C hina. 2. M en—C hina—A ttitudes. 3. H eterosexual men— China. I. T itle. HQ1090.7.C6Z4734 2015 306.708110951—d c23 2014043038 Printed in the United States of America on acid-f ree paper Te University of Minnesota is an equal-o pportunity educator and employer. 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:01:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms I dedicate this book to Jack Wortman This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:01:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:01:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Contents Introduction: A Walk in the Park 1 1 A Cultural History of Same-S ex Desire in China 33 2 Popular Perceptions of Homosexuality in Postsocialist China 47 3 Te 1s and the 0s: Defning, Socializing, and Disciplining Gender Roles in the Tongzhi Community 75 4 Te Normal Postsocialist Subject: Class, Wealth, and Money Boys 96 5 Organizing against HIV in China 123 6 Embracing the Heterosexual Norm: Te Double Lives of Tongzhi 142 7 Safe Sex among Men: Condoms, Promiscuity, and HIV 163 Conclusion. Maybe Not Marriage: A Future Free of the Closet 184 Acknowledgments 195 Notes 197 Bibliography 209 Index 241 This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:01:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms This page intentionally left blank This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:01:37 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms introduction A Walk in the Park t is 5:00 p.m. on a Friday afernoon. As part of our daily routine, twenty- Ifour-y ear-o ld Tan and I walk to the park together. Soon his boyfriend, twenty-t hree-y ear-o ld Wang, joins us. We sit on one of the benches in the cruising spot and start chatting. Tis cruising spot is located in a corner of a major park in the center of the city, where about twenty to forty men gather and socialize every day. In addition to this park, two other major public parks in the center of the city have tongzhi cruising spots. (I explain the term “tongzhi,” which is used for same-s ex-a ttracted men, in detail later in the chapter.) Te spot that I visit every day is furnished with eight benches, with four on each side facing each other separated by a small path. To the right of the eight benches are two large tables with seats around them, where tongzhi usually gather and play cards, while other tongzhi stand around the players and watch. Next to the two tables is an open space where tongzhi play a Chinese game called featherball with each other.1 Once all the seats are occupied, the rest of the tongzhi have to stand around the benches and tables, conversing with each other. In front of the cruis- ing spot are small woods, which some tongzhi enter at night to engage in sex. Behind the spot is a wall that separates the park from the city. On the right side, past the tables and the open space where the tongzhi play feather- ball, is the dead end of the park. On the lef side is the area where female sex workers stand around soliciting customers, providing scenery as well as fodder for discussion for the tongzhi sitting on the benches. Te cruising spot is visited by tongzhi every day from morning until night, with most tongzhi visitors coming from 5:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m. Tongzhi of all ages gather here not only for dates but also for relaxation where they can laugh, joke, and talk with each other about everything under the sun. Te surrounding public park is frequented by all kinds of people from all walks of life. Loud music and dance noise arise from groups engaged in folk dance, modern dance, tai chi practice, chess playing, and 1 This content downloaded from 128.122.230.148 on Fri, 30 Mar 2018 03:10:27 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.