Homosexuality in 18th Century China

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that there is an extensive literature collection from an early Chinese period about homosexual love in private affairs. The author cites writers Li Yu, Shen Defu, Bian er chai and other sources, whose works describe many details of the lives of homosexual couples and relate that homosexuality was held in high fashion. The paper reports that the word for a homosexual, translated form the Chinese, is "favorite"; some other words, which became known for homosexual love were "male wind" and "linked jade disks".

From the Paper:

"The ideal of the ration self, during the late Ming dynasty, was
attempting to know the qing, or sentiment and yu, or sexual desire in the Neo-Confucian concept; and qing was not accepted as an authentic form of self-expression important to life and moral. In literature, qing was intentionally hidden by sentiment from corrupting sexuality. Intermingling the qing and yu interpretively assigned morality to the allegedly pornographic text of the late Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty and transferred desire into the bodies of the text and into the readers themselves, as some scholars have written. It is interesting to note that these supposedly pornographic texts were filled with sentiment as they were with sexual context."

More papers on Homosexuality in 18th Century China:

• Analytical Essay # 142568 : "Self-Strengthening Movement in 19th Century China"
• Analytical Essay # 138969 : "Women, Motherhood and Marriage in 18th Century France"
• Term Paper # 143333 : "Revolution And Rebellion In Nineteenth Century China"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: