Tongzhi Living: Men Attracted to Men in Postsocialist China

257 Pages·2015·5.17 MB·English

by  Tiantian Zheng

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
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Zheng
T O N G Z H I L I V I N G
TONGZHI LIVING
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Tongzhi Living
4
Men Attracted to Men
in Postsocialist China
Tiantian Zheng
University of Minnesota Press
Minneapolis • London
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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
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I dedicate this book to Jack Wortman
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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
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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
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