The Tongzhi Discourses in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

• In Event: Homophobia and its Representations: Families, Identity and Identification

Abstract

This paper investigates what it means to be gay in contemporary Chinese societies (mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan). This study also aims to illuminate the complex and often contradictory discursive practices shaping the perceptions of same-sex eroticism in the three Chinese societies. The Chinese tongzhi discourse and the localized self-empowerment tactics and coming-out strategies indicate the culturally constructed nature of identity and challenge the Western model of gay rights movements as the universal paradigm

Author

• Wanhsiu Tsai, University of Miami