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Homosexuality in Ancient China
Homosexuality has been documented in China since ancient times. Two notable royal examples come from a formulaic expression, yútáo duànxiù . Yútáo, or "the leftover peach", recorded in Hanfeizi, speaks of Mi Zixia , a beautiful youth cherished by Duke Ling of Wei who once shared an already bitten but very delicious peach with the duke, who appreciated the gesture (although once the growing Mi Zixia lost his beauty, the duke looked back on this event and said Mi was being insincere). Duànxiù, or "breaking the sleeve", refers to Emperor Ai of Han's act of cutting his sleeve, on which his adored male concubine Dongxian was sleeping, in order not to wake him.
Scholar Pan Guangdan came to the conclusion that nearly every emperor in the Han Dynasty had one or more male sex partners. There are also descriptions of lesbians in some history books. It is believed homosexuality was popular in the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. Chinese homosexuals did not experience high-profile persecution compared to homosexuals in Christian Europe during the Middle Ages.
In some areas, same sex love was particularly appreciated. There was a running joke in the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) that the province of Fujian was the only place where high class gentry and merchant love for male courtesans was prominent. However, writers from Fujian protested this stereotype; Xie Zhaozhe (1567–1624) wrote that "from Jiangnan and Zhejiang to Beijing and Shanxi, there is none that does not know of this fondness." Even the European Jesuit missionaries—such as Matteo Ricci (1552–1610)—took note of this and what they deemed "unnatural perversions", distressed over its often open and public nature. The historian Timothy Brook writes that this was not the only concern of the Jesuits, since "the celibate Jesuits were rich food for sexual speculation among the Chinese." Most homosexual behavior with a male courtesan or "singing boy" was associated with the luxurious and decadent behavior of the highest elite among the gentry and merchant classes. It is known that some of these men were not entirely homosexual, since some of them pursued their female maids as often as they did their serving boys.
The Qing official Zhu Gui (1731-1807), a grain tax circuit intendant of Fujian in 1765, intending to improve the moral shortcomings of the people under his jurisdiction, promulgated a "Prohibition of Licentious Cults," criticizing the respect the people of Fujian paid to such cults (yinci). One cult which he found particularly troublesome was the cult of Hu Tianbao. As he reports,
The image is of two men embracing one another; the face of one is somewhat hoary with age, the other tender and pale. [Their temple] is commonly called the small official temple. All those debauched and shameless rascals who on seeing youths or young men desire to have illicit intercourse with them pray for assistance from the plaster idol. Then they make plans to entice and obtain the objects of their desire. This is known as the secret assistance of Hu Tianbao. Afterwards they smear the idol's mouth with pork intestine and sugar in thanks.
Same-sex love was also celebrated in Chinese art, many examples of which have survived the various traumatic political events in recent Chinese history. Though no large statues are known to still exist, many hand scrolls and paintings on silk can be found in private collections.
In the year 1944, the scholar Sun Cizhou published a work stated that one of the most famous ancient Chinese poets, Qu Yuan, was a lover of his King. Sun cited the poetry of Qu Yuan to prove his claim. In Qu Yuan's most important work Li Sao (Sorrow of parting), Qu Yuan called himself a beautiful man (or woman, mei ren). A word he used to describe his king was used at that time by women to characterize their lovers.
The first law against homosexuals in China went into effect in 1740. There was no record in the history as to how effectively the law was enforced. The more devastating event for Chinese homosexuals was, ironically, the enlightenment that came after the Self-Strengthening Movement, when homophobia was imported to China along with Western science and philosophy.
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A remarkable thing is the prominence of friendship between men and women in the ancient Chinese culture. There are many examples in the classic novels, especially in Water Margin, a book about very deep and long lasting male friendships. These bonds were based on revolutionary comradeship in war, instead of homosexual tendencies. However, other works depict less Platonic relationships. In the seminal novel Dream of the Red Chamber, there are examples of males engaging in both same-sex and opposite-sex acts. A good deal of ancient Chinese poetry was written in the female voice and portrayed semi-sexual relationships between teen-aged girls, before they were pulled apart by marriage. Male poets would also use the female narrative voice to lament being abandoned by a male comrade or king.
There is also a tradition of erotic literature, which is less known as it is supposed that most such works have been purged in the periodic book burnings that have been a feature of Chinese history. However, isolated manuscripts have survived. Chief among these is the anthology "Bian er Zhai", Cap but Pin, or A Lady's Pin under a Man's Cap, a series of four short stories in five chapters each, of passion and seduction. The first short story, Chronicle of a Loyal Love, involves a twenty-year-old academician chasing a fifteen-year-old scholar and a bevy of adolescent valets. In another, "Qing Xia Ji" Record of the Passionate Hero, the protagonist, Zhang, a valiant soldier with two warrior wives, is seduced by his younger friend Zhong, an unusual arrangement as it is usually the older man who takes the initiative with a boy. The work appeared in a single edition some time between 1630 and 1640. (en.wikipedia.org)
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