The Chinese Tradition

The book, Passions of the Cut Sleeve, by Bert Hinsch, was a landmark in uncovering for the English-speaking the long tradition of homosexuality in China. It is evident from Hinsch's research that homosexuality was known and recorded from even before Qin Shihuangdi's time, and it was a significant current through Chinese history.

Social attitudes towards homosexuality varied from time to time. There were periods when it was almost fashionable, especially when the emperor was homosexual, but other times, particularly during the Qing dynasty, the government tried to prohibit it.

Here are some morsels from the book:

The first excerpt is a story from the over 2,000 years old! It comes from the Eastern Zhou era, 770-256 BCE. It clearly describes a committed homosexual relationship, and is one of the most romantic stories from that period. The tale also has a very Chinese flavour towards the end, bringing in the natural -- trees and branches -- yet imbuing it with supernatural spirit, in order to press home the point.

When Pan Zhang was young, he had a beautiful appearance and bearing, and so people of that time were exceedingly fond of him. Wang Zhongxian of the state of Chu heard of his reputation and came to request his writings. Thereafter, Wang Zhongxian wanted to study together with him. They fell in love at first sight and were as affectionate as husband and wife, sharing the same coverlet and pillow with unbounded intimacy for one another.

Afterwards, they died together and everyone mourned them. When they were buried together at Lofu Mountain, on the peak a tree with long branches and leafy twigs suddenly grew. All of these embraced one another! At the time people considered this a miracle. It was called the "Shared Pillow Tree".

The Chinese bureaucracy was almost fanatic about keeping official records. Evident from their efforts is that many emperors had male lovers. The official histories recorded that 10 Han emperors, almost a continuous line from 206 BCE to Year 1 CE, had one or more male favourites. The historian Ban Gu noted for example, that "by nature, the (Han) Ai Emperor did not care for women." Instead, his love was for Dong Xian, and the following passage about them was to become the most well known episode in the Chinese tradition:

The Ai Emperor was sleeping in the daytime with Dong Xian stretched out across his sleeve. When the emperor wanted to get up, Dong Xian was still asleep. Because he did not want to disturb him, the emperor cut off his own sleeve and got up. His love and thoughtfulness went this far!

For centuries, educated men looked to their male friends for emotional sustenance and intellectual companionship, impossible in arranged marriages with illiterate women or fleeting liaisons with facile courtesans. Most poets of the Tang and Song period rhapsodised on the theme of friendship, but sometimes, we can sense that they were writing about much more than that, as in this poem by the masterful Bo Juyi (772-846 CE), addressed to his friend Qian Hui. It was written as a souvenir of a frosty winter night they had shared:

Night deep -- the memorial draft finished; mist and moon intense piercing cold. About to lie down, I warm the remnant last of the wine; we face before the lamp and drink. Drawing up the green silk coverlets, placing our pillows side by side; like spending more than a hundred nights, to sleep together with you here.

Bo Juyi's greatest affection was for fellow bureaucrat Yuan Zhen. Since both were state officials, they had no control over where they were posted, and often ended up far apart. Although they kept in touch through letters, Bo Juyi expressed some of his despondency in his poetry:

This year you were appointed Censor;
two months ago you went to Luoyang.
Since parting I still have not smiled,
and dust fills my wine cask and ladle.
A scented breeze -- night fragrance ended;
cassias and rain -- the last blossoms fall.

Autumn's intent, one sighing solitude,
our beings apart, both lonely and forlorn.
How much more so, aging in the bright sun;
we have repudiated our Green Mountain pact.
Who knows my heart as I think of you?
It's a captive falcon and a caged crane.

The Green Mountain pact was a vow they had made to each other to live together after retirement.

But homosexuality went well beyond the literati. It could be found in other sections of society, e.g. merchants, soldiers and tradesmen. And like today, it wasn't always a question of love. It was very often just a matter of sexual gratification. In the case of the latter, persons of higher social standing usually took those of lower social standing, such as servants, as their sex partners. It was also quite common for adults to take teenage boys. Even monks were doing it to their novices as can be gathered from the following joke. The context here is of a novice who was not too happy about being used as the passive anal partner by his superior.

An old priest went into a bamboo garden and he was taking a great shit when his ass got pierced by a bamboo shoot. The novice who was looking on clasped his hands (in reverence) and said, "Amida Buddha, it's Heaven's reward!"

Of course there is a fine line between having sex with subordinates and rape. From as early as the Qin period, there was a law against rape which applied equally to assaults on men and women. Another law was promulgated during the Song, though it was not seriously enforced. It was the Qing however, who took the most active steps against male rape, but by phrasing their law broadly, they also restricted consensual homosexual acts as well. Probably the Qing (1644 - 1911 CE) were reacting against what they considered the licentiousness of the preceding Ming era (1368 - 1644 CE), demanding greater social discipline in general. The Qing Kangxi Emperor was very homophobic. He executed three of his son's male lovers.

From the 19th Century on, Chinese culture began to be influenced by the West as traders and missionaries came in. The Victorian attitudes towards sex and homosexuality in particular, seeped in. As a result, much of the long Chinese tradition of homosexuality has been forgotten, and today, people would be shocked to learn, for example, that in Fujian province, male-male relationships were so well accepted that there was even a custom of homosexual marriage. In the union, the older partner would be referred to as "adoptive older brother" (qixiong) and the younger one as "adoptive younger brother" (qidi). The qidi would move into the qixiong's household, where he would be treated as a son-in-law by the qixiong's parents. The qixiong was completely responsible for the qidi's upkeep, and if they were wealthy enough, they even adopted young boys whom the couple would raise as their sons.

All this is part of Chinese history!

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