The cut sleeve¹

The “cut sleeve” [duan xiu] tradition stems from the Han emperor Ai (Ai‐di), who, rather than disturb his sleeping partner, cut off his sleeve and thus started a courtly revolution in fashion signalling one's sexual preference.

revisited: A brief ethnographic interview with a male homosexual in mainland China

This paper focuses on a brief interview with a self‐disclosed male homosexual from a Western province in mainland China. While others have reported on homosexuality in China, the sources of information have generally been nonreactive (letters and clinical case notes). To the author's knowledge, this is the first documented face‐to‐face interview with a Chinese male homosexual to reach the Western professional press. Segments chosen for focus include the self‐perceptions of the individual, his sexual orientation and liaisons, and the manner in which he negotiates his alternate lifestyle in a cultural system largely negative to homosexuality in any form. While this example is obviously not representative of homosexuals in China, it does briefly illustrate the kinds of experiences that confront a male homosexual in the post‐Mao Zedong era. Adaptive strategies by this individual also indicate how the expression of a sexual orientation at variance from the norm can be sustained, even in a seemingly closed system.

Key words:

• homosexuality
• China
• ethnography
• sexual culture

Notes

The “cut sleeve” [duan xiu] tradition stems from the Han emperor Ai (Ai‐di), who, rather than disturb his sleeping partner, cut off his sleeve and thus started a courtly revolution in fashion signalling one's sexual preference.