“同性恋”——畸形的爱情？ / "Homosexuality"

In May 2017, Taiwan announced that same-sex marriage was legal, stirring a wave of reaction across China and the world, and Taiwan became the first region in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

In recent years, we have constantly heard voices from all sides saying “homosexuality is not a disease,” and “homophobia” has become a phrase that draws criticism…

How much do you really know about homosexuality? Do you still find it bizarre, disgusting, something to be avoided at all costs — or do you try to understand it?

The premise of understanding is knowing. In our impression, in Europe and North America people generally hold enlightened views of homosexuality, while in mainland China — where even same-sex relationships on screen are ruled “unhealthy” — the elimination of prejudice may still be a distant prospect.

So, is the West really so open? And has China really been so “homophobic” from ancient times to the present? Let us first look at the historical development of homosexuality.

▼ Promoting equality @LGBT Token

Ⅰ China

Traditional Chinese culture does not oppose homosexuality; in ancient times it was even more tolerant than the West, and homosexuality was not in conflict with marriage and childbearing.

Confucius said: “The three hundred poems of the Book of Songs — in a word, their thoughts contain no depravity.” That homosexuality could enter poetry shows that, in Confucius’s eyes, it was a perfectly normal emotion.

1.1 The Age of Yan and Huang (the legendary emperors)

The earliest origins of homosexuality in China can be traced back to the Yellow Emperor, the progenitor of the Huaxia people.

Ji Yun (Ji Xiaolan) of the Qing dynasty recorded in Notes from the Thatched Cottage of Close Scrutiny: “Various accounts say that the practice of catamites began with the Yellow Emperor, but this is probably a fabrication.”

The term “luantong” (catamite) originally meant a beautiful youth — “luan” means fair of face — and from the Northern and Southern Dynasties it came specifically to refer to young men who had sexual relations with men.

▼ Can homosexuality in China be traced back to the Yellow Emperor?

But while he mentioned the notion that same-sex desire began with the Yellow Emperor, he also held that this claim was based on the habit of attributing things to the ancients, and was not sufficient as evidence. Moreover, since it still cannot be confirmed whether the Yellow Emperor ever existed, the reliability of this claim is diminished further still.

▼ Portrait of the Yellow Emperor @A History of the Qin: The Yellow Emperor and His Daydream

1.2 The Han Dynasties

Emperor Ai of Han favored male companions, which was hardly news among the imperial clan of the Han era.

The Book of Han · Biographies of the Favored records: “In Emperor Gaozu’s time there was Ji Ru, and in Emperor Hui’s time there was Hong Ru. These two men had no special talent, but were favored and honored merely for their charm and flattery, sharing the ruler’s bed.”

Emperor Cheng of Han had a favored minister, Zhang Fang, of whom the histories say: “He shared the emperor’s bed, and was loved beyond compare.” Emperor Gaozu Liu Bang loved Ji Ru; Emperor Wen loved Deng Tong; Emperor Wu loved Han Yan…

By the time of Emperor Ai of Han, this “tradition” was naturally carried on, and the one he favored was named Dong Xian.

The Book of Han · Biographies of the Favored: “(Dong Xian) was beautiful and pleased with himself. When Emperor Ai saw him from afar, he delighted in his looks, and loved him more each day. When they went out, Dong rode with him; when they were within, he attended at the emperor’s side. He often lay with the emperor. Once, during a daytime nap, the emperor wished to rise, but Dong Xian had not woken; not wishing to disturb him, the emperor cut off his own sleeve and rose — such was his tenderness.”

Thereafter male favorites were referred to by the terms “the cut sleeve” or “the pleasure of the cut sleeve,” and “the passion of the cut sleeve.” (Dictionary of Chinese Historical Allusions, 2010.10.6)

This passage tells of Emperor Ai of Han’s love for Dong Xian. One day, when Emperor Ai woke and wished to go to the morning court, he found his sleeve pinned beneath Dong Xian; unwilling to wake him, the emperor drew his sword and cut off the sleeve. From then on “the passion of the cut sleeve” became another name for homosexuality.

▼ “The passion of the cut sleeve” @Sohu

1.3 The Wei, Jin, and Northern and Southern Dynasties

A New Account of the Tales of the World, chapter nineteen, records how Shan Tao’s wife spied on Xi Kang and Ruan Ji sharing a bed.

Among Ruan Ji’s eighty-two poems Singing of My Cares, one is about love between men:

The dashing youths of days gone by, Anling and Longyang. Tender as peach and plum blossoms, dazzling with radiant light. Joyous as the nine springs, deferential as autumn frost. With flowing glances they gave off charm; in speech and laughter they breathed fragrance. Hand in hand they shared their love, night after night wearing the same clothes. They wished to be a pair of birds in flight, wings joined, soaring together. In painted vermilion they made their solemn vow, never to forget each other for all time.

Ruan Ji described love between men so beautifully that at the very least he personally did not reject homosexuality; yet Ruan Ji had a wife and children, and there is no further evidence that Ruan Ji and Xi Kang were homosexual, so this claim too is left without a conclusion.

▼ Xi Kang and Ruan Ji @Huaxia.com

1.4 The Qing Dynasty

From the Qing dynasty onward there are far more verifiable records; in the Qianlong era, homosexuality was a widespread social phenomenon.

Zheng Banqiao also openly admitted his homosexuality in Banqiao’s Own Account: “I am fond of sensual pleasure, and especially enjoy the ways of catamites.” In this book, he himself mentions his “passion of the cut sleeve.”

▼ Manuscript of Banqiao’s Own Account, now held in the Palace Museum @Tan Xijun

In Cao Xueqin’s Dream of the Red Chamber of the Qing dynasty, Jia Baoyu and Jiang Yuhan already show intimacy beyond the same-sex ordinary in Chapter 33.

Of course, Jia Baoyu’s focus is on the spiritual and the soul; the young lord Xue Pan, by contrast, is about the sensual and the physical, and openly courts Jiang Yuhan.

In the Ming and Qing dynasties, the sons of the wealthy and of officials often kept male favorites and had homosexual inclinations.

▼ Baoyu gives a sash @Dafeng

Female homosexuality in the Qing dynasty could be described as extremely intense.

Minor Records of Travels in Guangdong records: “Over some ten-odd years the customs changed once again, so that ‘sister flowers’ became ‘entwined branches,’ and when two women lived together, one of them would invariably act as if she were the husband.”

The women of the “Golden Orchid Society” were also called self-combed women (women who vowed to remain unmarried). For any woman who entered into a Golden Orchid pact, all marriage engagements were void, and the man’s family could not force her to marry. They swore never to wed a man, and even if forced to marry would not live in the husband’s home or share his bed.

The two allied women would live together, forming a couple and vowing never to betray each other. Before death they would even choose an adopted daughter to inherit both parties’ property, and after death they would be buried together.

▼ Self-combed women @NetEase News

1.5 Modern Times

In ancient China, male homosexuality was “the cut sleeve” and female homosexuality “polishing mirrors,” and society had long held an open attitude toward homosexuality.

But in the modern era, under the demands of ideology in New China, homosexuality became a mental illness and the crime of “hooliganism,” and it was not until the 21st century that the verdict was reversed — though even then it did not fully turn things around.

▼ Calling for legal same-sex marriage @NetEase News

In 1997, the Criminal Law removed the crime of hooliganism, and homosexuality was no longer a crime in China; in 2001, the Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders, Third Edition (CCMD-3) removed “ego-syntonic” homosexuality, and homosexuality was no longer an illness in China.

After the decriminalization and de-pathologization of homosexuality, its situation in China nevertheless remains an uphill struggle.

At a time when the legalization of same-sex marriage is blossoming all over the world, the topic of homosexuality is still a taboo in China.

When will China ever legalize same-sex marriage? We simply do not know.

Ⅱ The West — Greece

In ancient Greek culture, love with someone of the same sex was quite normal and even praiseworthy — a culture that can be seen in Greek mythology.

Greek mythology describes many loves between male heroes; even Zeus, father of the gods, once summoned a handsome youth to spend the night.

Many people have surely heard of “Achilles’ heel” — meaning a person’s weak point. The protagonist of this allusion, Achilles, is also thought to have had feelings beyond friendship for his attendant and youthful close friend, Patroclus.

▼ Achilles bandaging Patroclus’s wound @Gerenwenku

As a hero who fought valiantly in the Trojan War, he was never without Patroclus’s company, and that company gave him strength.

Clearly, in Greek culture, homosexuality was never a shameful topic.

▼ Achilles weeping over the dead Patroclus @360doc.com

In ancient Greece, not only male homosexuality but also female homosexuality was very prevalent at the time. Some female homosexuals took part in war and hunting and married another woman.

Ancient Greece had a highly gifted poetess named Sappho, very famous in her day. In her twenties she founded a girls’ school, teaching her female students poetry and music, and besides this she taught them the art of love. In their day-to-day life together, she gradually fell in love with these young and beautiful female students — so much so that later, even though she had her own family, she ultimately abandoned husband and children to seek her own love.

▼ Sappho’s love @Baidu Baike

Ancient Greece saw a flourishing of same-sex love between teacher and student — the teacher imparting knowledge and dispelling doubts, the student repaying with affection.

So these poems with their strong homoerotic overtones were, at the time, not only not banned but widely recited. In the end, however, Sappho, rejected by a female lover, threw herself into the sea and died young.

The cruel persecution of homosexuality began in the Middle Ages. The Christian church persecuted homosexuality not only because the church promoted asceticism, but also because it held that homosexuality, being against nature, was against God, and therefore more evil than heterosexuality.

At the same time, Christianity believed that under conditions of celibacy and abstinence, monks with monks and nuns with nuns could easily fall into homosexuality, and that if homosexuality were not severely suppressed, the church’s own survival would be endangered. Thus, beyond religious reasons, “anti-homosexuality” also contained dark political elements.

And “anti-homosexuality” was passed down as a kind of received belief, so that in contemporary society a beautiful love once celebrated a thousand years ago has been smeared into something monstrous and demonic.

Fortunately, today more and more people have come to recognize that homosexuality is not a disease. It does not need to be “cured,” nor is it a synonym for “pervert.” Compared with the utterly ordinary matter of free love,

it would be far better to put more effort into resisting pedophilia, stalking, and other sexual crimes that truly threaten people’s safety.

▼ Japan-Pride @LGBT Token

There is still much darkness in the world, and much love too. Since what homosexuality brings to each other is warmth rather than pain, why deprive them of the right to love?

I hope that one day, everyone will be able to love the person they love without a single reservation.

▼ Raised fists @LGBT Token

P.S. Main references for this article: the Baidu Baike entries “History of Homosexuality in China” and “Homosexuality”; “Phoenix Original — Can homosexuality in China be traced back to the Yellow Emperor?”; Dafeng’s “It turns out Zheng Banqiao was homosexual”; Chen Gaofeng. P.P.S. This article was written for a China Thinks Big innovation research project, with the aim of helping everyone understand homosexuality more clearly from every angle. The operator of this account also sincerely wishes the contestants a triumphant campaign and great success!