Being Gay in Old China

By Noel Dallow

The bright spring sunshine filtered gently in through the half-shuttered window and grazed the sleeping Emperor’s face. As it climbed to his eyes, he muttered, groaned, and began to stir. Opening his eyes, a slow smile of remembrance climbed across his face, and he gazed lovingly at the still-sleeping form beside him. Dong-Xian his favorite, and commander of the Imperial Horse (in more ways than one! the Emperor chuckled), lay softly snoring, exhausted by the previous evening’s exertions perhaps. His slim, silk-clad body sprawled across Emperor Ai’s broad, ornate sleeve and as the Emperor made to rise, his movement was arrested. Gazing tenderly at his lover, he reached for the bedside table and the knife that was always there. Rather than wake him, the Emperor carefully cut away the offending sleeve under Dong-Xian leaving him to sleep. His task complete, he quietly went to summon the servant of Imperial Baths.

This story, taking place at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, is the meaning behind the obscure Chinese term for homosexuality: dùanxìu zhī pǐ(斷袖之癖), meaning ‘passion of the cut sleeve’. It all unfortunately ended in tears. When the Emperor, after a mere six years of rule succumbed in 1BC to his frequent illnesses, Grandmother seized the reigns of power (actually, she grabbed the Imperial Seal) and that was the end of poor Dong-Xian and his wife (yes, wife!) A week later they were dead by suicide, honor intact, precious little else.

Another term is fēntáo, or ‘the bitten peach’, which comes from the Warring States period of the Zhou dynasty, several hundred years previous to the last story.

The morning had dawned grey and cool, but now, as the Monarch of Wei strolled through the dewy orchard, chatting with his consort Mizi Xia, the autumn blue sky gleamed brightly. The consort paused beside an apricot tree and carefully selected a choice fruit. As they continued their discussion, he bit into the apricot, cool and pale in the morning. His face lit up with ecstasy at the sweet fullness of flavor that exploded into his mouth and he gave a gasp of pleasure. Suddenly, with bent head he proffered the half-eaten treat to his ruler. The Monarch exclaimed “How sincere is your love for me! You forgot your own appetite and think only of giving me good things to eat!”

There are many stories of Emperors who though they had wives, also had male concubines. The precedent seems to have been set even with the first Emperor, the famous Huangdi who rose at the end of the Warring States around 221BC to become the first supreme ruler of all China. During the powerful Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) the homosexual activities of emperors and ministers were frequently preserved in the historical records. According to the "Historical Record" and "Han Dynasty Records", almost all emperors of the Western Han Dynasty had lovers of their same sex, (the same also being true of Roman Emperors of the time). The lack of tolerance which marks current attitudes towards homosexuality in China was conspicuously absent, the main idea being as long as the practice didn’t get in the way of raising a family then it’s ok. Emperor Ai in the first story did not manage to produce an heir, and neither did his uncle who was the previous Emperor. Primogeniture was obviously an important structure of social stability in China as in the West.

The arts were not devoid of homosexual themes as you can see from the pictures! Ruan Ji (210- 263AD), lover of Xi Kang, was one of the most famous poets to apply his brush to a homosexual theme when her penned (among much more) the following:

In days of old there were many blossom boys --

An Ling and Long Yang.

Young peach and plum blossoms,

Dazzling with glorious brightness.

Joyful as nine springtimes;

Pliant as if bowed by autumn frost.

Roving glances gave rise to beautiful seductions;

Speech and laughter expelled fragrance.

Hand in hand they shared love's rapture,

Sharing coverlcts and bedclothes.

Couples of birds in flight,

Paired wings soaring.

Cinnabar and green pigments record a vow:

"I'll never forget you for all eternity. "

The broad picture of Chinese homosexuality was basically one of tolerance and permissiveness, and as far back as the Shang Dynasty (1600BC- -1046BC) the usual term was “luan2 feng4 he2 ming2” meaning to be a happy couple, in the sense of cosy, satisfied. Buddhism, a religion which had been well assimilated into the Chinese culture for 2,000 years, neither advocated heterosexuality nor denounced homosexuality. The main point was that it (the act of being homosexual) should not disrupt the bearing and rearing of children and so not offend the Confucian code of conduct. Mencius stated however "The joy of eating and sex are natural human desires without association of sin and guilt". It is still a question as to whether our lives should be ruled by desires or ideals, but Confucius was clear when he stated that men and women should live according to traditional gender roles which cut against the general permissiveness.

It wasn’t until 1740 though that legislation was passed actually forbidding same-sex relationships. The edict of 1740 seems to have been concerned with distaste for the Fujianese widespread enjoyment of male love and even its tradition of boy marriage, a temporary arrangement that lasted only until the boy reached maturity and took a female wife. In all this time, it is almost entirely male relationships that are referred to, there being scant reference to lesbian relationships (perhaps because it’s HIStory not HERstory).

In 1865, a law against sodomy was introduced in Hong Kong, which could sentence two consenting male adults to life imprisonment. It was a case of the Victorians extending their fear of sex into legislation and was justified by the reasoning that it went against God’s plan, law or will. This at a time when these same people were gripped by the deepest descent into materialism the world has known! Modern Chinese attitudes were shaped by the wholesale adoption of Western scientific thinking and all the (often unseen) baggage that comes with it in the 1960’s. We think of scientific process as being value free, but that is a crock of shit which deserves its own article some day… Today, norms are gradually shifting back towards permissiveness and individual freedom and choice, but that runs beyond the scope of this article.

A good note to finish on is what a good Taiwanese friend of mine told me recently: there is even a sexuality test for men. Look at your fingernails. OK, hold that position. How are you holding your hand? On the streets in Taiwan, if you keep your hand flat, then you’re straight. If you reverse your hand and curl the fingers down towards themselves to look, you’re gay! Well, like most popular urban-myth concoctions, it probably must be treated with a grain of salt. Happy Alternative Issue!