A look at the sky from the bottom of the well: minorities in China whose mouths are being closed

New Internationalist, Sept, 2004

Discussion of homosexual behaviour in Chinese literature refers back to three classic tales of love from the Zhou period (1100 to 221 BC). This is one:

Sharing the peach

In ancient times Mi Zixia won favour with the ruler of Wei. According to the laws of the state, anyone who secretly used the ruler's carriage was punished by having his feet amputated. When Mi Zixia's mother fell ill, he got into the ruler's carriage and went to see her. When the ruler heard of it, he only praised him saying: 'How filial! For the sake of his mother he forgot all about the danger of having his feet cut off!'

Another day Mi Zixia was strolling with the ruler in an orchard. Biting into a peach and finding it sweet, he gave the remaining half to the ruler to enjoy. 'How sincere is your love for me!' exclaimed the ruler. 'You forgot your own appetite and think only of giving me good things to eat!'

Later, however, when Mi Zixia's looks had faded and the ruler's passion for him had cooled, he was accused of committing some crime against his lord. 'After all,' said the ruler, 'he once stole my carriage, and another time he gave me a half-eaten peach!'

If you gain the ruler's love, you will enjoy his favour. But if he hates you, not only will your wisdom be rejected, but you will be regarded as a criminal and thrust aside. (5)

The Facts (6)

15 million -- the reported estimate of homosexual people in China. Tongzhi remain reluctant to come out. As a consequence, this figure is likely to be an underestimate.

1988 -- tongzhi was coined to describe gays and lesbians in China--tong meaning 'common' and zhi meaning 'will'. The two were put together to translate the word 'comrade' from the Russian, which is how the term was first used in China.

1997 -- the year that sodomy was decriminalized.

2001 -- the year that the Chinese Psychiatric Association dropped reference to homosexuality as a pathological condition.

1 The Falun Dafa Information Centre--www.faluninfo.net See this site or www.clearwisdom.net for case descriptions of those who have died; 2 For copies of Crossing the Border write to Tenzin Tsundue at tenzinfot@friendsoftibet.org; 3 One lakh is 100,000; 4 JB Starr, Understanding China (second edition), Profile Books, London, 2001; Tibet Information Network: www.tibetinfo.net; Free Tibet Campaign: www.freetibet.org; 5 An abridged version of the story that appears in B Hinsch, Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1990; 6 Reuters 7 July 2000; US Citizenship and Immigration, China: Information on Treatment of Homosexuals, website: http://uscis.gov; Ping-Chun Hsiung et al (editors) 'Lexicon' (endnotes) Chinese Women Organizing: cadres, feminists, muslims, queers, Berg, Oxford, 2001.