Heading East For A While

Introduction

The book covers the imperial era of China (221 BCE to 1912 CE) plus a few earlier texts. The subject is “socially defined expressions of same-sex erotic and sexual attraction, enacted or imagined.” This is not “homosexuality” as such. Some texts may depict same-sex acts that don’t derive from erotic desire.

“Attraction” of any type could be considered socially disruptive, especially for those in power, but no significant distinction was made between the disruptive power of same- and opposite-sex attraction. Rather, these are general concerns regarding the impact of attraction/desire on social structures. It must be remembered that all same-sex desire operated within a framework of patriarchy and hierarchy. But there were “no culturally institutionalized forms of homophobia” and no cultural concept of “sexual perversion.” Indeed, certain types of same-sex activity were considered to have a positive health value. Concerns tended to revolve around undue political influence, interference with reproductive relationships and familial obligations, and relationships misaligned with age/status hierarchies.

Specific erotic interactions must be considered within the frameworks of romance, politics, pleasure, family obligations, mysticism, ritual, and play, as well as the social context of the particular relationship (arts, scholarship, military, religious organizations, sex work, court politics).

The collection is organized in five genres: histories & philosophy, poetry, drama, fiction, and miscellanies, with some of these further divided into themes. Each section has an introduction as does each individual text. In general, the authors have not provided detailed commentary on the linguistic and literary context of individual works to keep the length manageable.

The introduction concludes with a discussion of the approach to translation and of the historic context of orientalism which has affected how material of this type has been presented to a Western audience in the past.

History and Philosophy

The introduction discusses the long history of the Chinese textual tradition. Because concerns about sexuality focus on the impact on statecraft and power, almot all reference to same-sex relations in this genre concern rulers. There is no f/f material.

Poetry

The introduction discusses the early development of poetry from a ceremonial context to personal expression. There was no significant tradition of male-female courtly love poetry, although there was a tradition of poetic exchanges between men and courtesans. Ability in poetic composition was considered an essential skill for scholars and officials. Poetry might be composed for both formal and everyday occasions and male friendship was a significant theme. The section is divided into poetry collections (that is, texts passed down as collections) and the work of individual poets. There is no f/f material.

Drama

Plays often featured themes of illusion, confusion, and visibility vs invisibility. These interact with the essentially illusory nature of stage drama, including the use of single-gender acting troupes and the resulting cross-gender performance. Romantic comedy was more commonly a theme in drama than in serious literature. The first part of this section covers three plays while the second part focuses on male same-sex prostitution associated with the opera (i.e., young male sex workers playing female roles on stage). Actors also hosted “nightclub”-like gatherings which supported a (male) homoerotic culture of “flower guides” describing the attributes of the hosts.

There are two texts that have some f/f relevance. The first is a play titled A Male Queen Consort (by Wang Jide, d. 1632) which at first summary appears to include a “mistaken identity apparent f/f romance” similar to some of the male-to-female gender disguise romances in the European tradition. [Note: Compare to Margaret Cavendish’s The Convent of Pleasure or Philip Sidney’s Arcadia.] However on closer reading, although there is a brief moment of a female character being attracted to a character in female disguise, the disguise is quickly seen through an the substantial erotic interactions are all known by the participants to be m/f.

[Note: A key piece of performance background is that Chinese drama had a set of formalized “role types” that might be thought of as equivalent to operatic “voices” in terms of how the performer related to the types of roles they were expected to play. The operatic analogy is my own, not the author’s. “Dan” roles were female dramatic characters played by a male actor. Adding to the gender confusion within the text of this play itself, the primary “dan” role in this case is for a male character who then spends much of the play in female disguise. So this isn’t parallel to a Shakespearean boy-actor playing (female) Rosalind who disguises herself as (male) Ganymede who then play-acts a female romantic role to teach (male) Orlando how to court. It would be more equivalent to a boy-actor playing Sidney’s (male) Pyrocles who disguises himself as (female) Cleophila in order to court (female) Philoclea in the appearance of an Amazon. Are we confused yet?]

A boy is captured in war and, being very pretty, is given to the Prince (who prefers m/m relations) as a sex toy. The Prince tells him to dress as a woman and join his household as his concubine. The Prince is pleased enough with the boy that he elevates him to the rank of queen consort. It appears that most of the courtiers are well aware of the masquerade, as they joke about it regularly. There is an unmarried princess who is sister to the Prince. The Princess sees the Queen Consort (the boy), not knowing about the masquerade, and is attracted to her. The Princess’s ladies in waiting immediately try to disabuse her about the Queen Consort’s underlying gender, using hints and euphemisms. The Princess becomes suspicious and does some verbal fencing with the Queen Consort about her true nature, suggesting that the Queen acts in a masculine way and may not be what she seems. The Queen Consort is anxious that her performance may have not been convincing enough. The Princess, having determined to her satisfaction that the Queen Consort is actually a man, suggests they have a (heterosexual) affair because there would be no social barriers to two sisters-in-law spending private time together. The Queen Consort is somewhat hesitant, either worried about having been unmasked, or worried about the consequences of deflowering a Princess. The Princess then blackmails the Queen saying she’ll tell her brother (the Prince) that the Queen tried to seduce her if the Queen doesn't agree to the affair. At this, the Queen gives in and they make marriage vows (during which the Queen is reference with male language). One of the ladies in waiting betrays the couple to the Prince. The Prince is furious and is on the verge of having both executed but doesn’t actually want to lose either of them. So instead he approves of the marriage but orders the boy to continue presenting as female within the marriage. The play concludes pointing out how mixed up gender is throughout the play.

The second f/f item in the Drama section is a single act from a 31-act play titled The Loving Perfume Companion (Li Yu, 1611-80). The introduction notes that while depictions of m/m desire had its own conventions and language, as well as borrowing imagery from m/f relations, in this play the two women can only conceive of their relationship either in terms of aspiring to be a m/f couple or by becoming married to the same man. (The romantic possibilities are expanded by reincarnation.) The act included here details their negotiations of the logistics for their partnership, both in the present life and in future incarnations.

Two women—one newly married and one an unmarried woman still living with her parents—meet during a temple visit and fall in love. First they speak in terms of becoming “sworn sisters” and about being reborn in the future as sisters of the same parents, or similarly as brothers. But they note that these arrangements wouldn’t be romantic. They discuss other images, such as being reborn as a pair of butterflies so they could enjoy the love they are denied in the present life.

Moving on to a scenario in which they will be reborn as (destined) husband and wife, each voices her acceptance of having the lesser (female) role. They make a “marriage pledge” as a commitment to this rebirth. For the ceremony, they dress as man and woman to represent the pledge. But as they discuss the logistics, the married woman suggests instead that the younger woman marry her husband as concubine, promising that they would make no distinction of rank between them but can share a household.

They worry that the younger woman’s family would forbid her to become a concubine rather than a primary wife, so they agree that the current wife will change to being her husband’s concubine so the younger woman can marry as a wife with her parents’ approval. After the marriage they would switch roles again, but still promising to treat each other as equal. (Both, at various points, voice quiet doubts about the other carrying through on this promise of equality once she was established as official wife.) The ceremonial pledge they make includes a promise to commit suicide if the deal isn’t carried through as stated, as well as including the commitment to be husband and wife in future incarnations.

Fiction

Fiction was considered a “frivolous” genre, though it borrows form and content from more serious writing, as well as borrowing from storytelling traditions. Fiction tended to play with the themes it borrowed, offering alternate angles on the topics. Homoerotic fiction tended to parody marriage and officialdom. The popularity and content of fiction reflected larger shifts in society. One of the extracts included mentions a f/f story by the same author published elsewhere, but this section contains no f/f texts.

Miscellanies

These sources fill the same niche as European “commonplace books” being a random collection of material by the compiler, either collected or recorded from observation. Only one item has f/f relevance. The scholar Liang Shaoren (1792-?1837) has a note describing “golden orchid societies,” which I will include here in full.

The village girls of Shunde in Guangzhou often make agreements of sisterhood commonly referred to as ‘golden orchid societies’. When these girls are married they refuse to return to their husband’s house after they visit their parents. There are also some unmarried girls who wait until all the other girls in their society are married before they agree to a match. If too much pressure is put on them to marry they can end up committing suicide with their ‘sister’. Even the most capable of officials finds it impossible to eradicate this deplorable practice. There was one investigation commissioner named Li Yun, courtesy name Tieqiao, who was very familiar with this custom when he was serving as magistrate in Shunde. [He ruled that] ‘If any woman refuses to return to her husband’s house, as punishment vermillion will be painted over her father’s and brothers’ eyes and a loud gong [will call attention to them] as they send their daughter back to their husband’s house as punishment. Suicides will simply be ignored.’ The custom experienced a slight slump.

[Note: Wikipedia has a very brief article on Golden Orchid Societies and references some authors who classify these sisterhoods as potentially homoerotic, but other authors consider the primary impetus to be marriage resistance]