GLQ:A Joumal of Lesbian and Gay Studies QUALITIES OF DESIRE Imagining Gay ldentities in China Lisa Rofel firsippeoberne con g of people now embraces a gay identity.Perhaps Michael Warner's queer planet has spun out its inexorable prophecy,after all.!In the past five years in China,for example,cosmopolitan cities have witnessed a veritable explosion of people who call themselves gay.Semipublic spaces marked gay have proliferated.Beijing has at least five gay bars;weekly salon discussions;a national hotline;books,maga- zines,and videos from abroad;conferences;and informal gatherings in people's homes.Not a few gay men converse with other gay men from all over the world through the Internet.There is renewed attention in China to a concept of justice in the name of sexual desire.And a transnational scene has opened up in Beijing; gay men and a few lesbians from every global corner reside there.Opening China to capitalism has meant,of course,an influx of foreign capital.Beijing feels like many cosmopolitan cities in its vast array and number of international residents and in the rapid reconstruction of its urban landscape.The influx of foreign-born residents has brought not so much gay tourism,which barely exists in China(in contrast to Thailand),as gay men who come to stay. The Chinese women and men who call themselves gay in Beijing have both urban and rural origins;diverse occupations,ranging from factory workers to accountants and computer engineers;educational backgrounds,from high school to Ph.D.;and class positions,from those who use their elite cadre parents'power to acquire for themselves a nouveau riche status to those who see themselves as "ordinary folk"A few have traveled outside China,either as tourists to the sex mecca of Thailand(in their imagined sexual geography)or as students to North America and Europe in pursuit of advanced degrees.Yet one characteristic marks the women and men who describe themselves as gay:they are predominantly young-thirty or under.Their narrow age range means that most of them came of age after socialism had been dismantled in China. GLQ 5:4 Pp.451-474 Copyright 1999 by Duke University Press Published by Duke University Press
QUALITIES OF DESIRE Imagining Gay Identities in China Lisa Rofel At first blush, it appears to be a foregone conclusion that a global convergence of people now embraces a gay identity. Perhaps Michael Warner’s queer planet has spun out its inexorable prophecy, after all.1 In the past five years in China, for example, cosmopolitan cities have witnessed a veritable explosion of people who call themselves gay. Semipublic spaces marked guy have proliferated. Beijing has at least five gay bars; weekly salon discussions; a national hotline; books, magazines, and videos from abroad; conferences; and informal gatherings in people’s homes. Not a few gay men converse with other gay men from all over the world through the Internet. There is renewed attention in China to a concept of justice in the name of sexual desire. And a transnational scene has opened up in Beijing; gay men and a few lesbians from every global corner reside there. Opening China to capitalism has meant, of course, an influx of foreign capital. Beijing feels like many cosmopolitan cities in its vast array and number of international residents and in the rapid reconstruction of its urban landscape. The influx of foreign-born residents has brought not so much gay tourism, which barely exists in China (in contrast to Thailand), as gay men who come to stay. The Chinese women and men who call themselves gay in Beijing have both urban and rural origins; diverse occupations, ranging from factory workers to accountants and computer engineers; educational backgrounds, from high school to Ph.D.; and class positions, from those who use their elite cadre parents’ power to acquire for themselves a nouveau riche status to those who see themselves as “ordinary folk.” A few have traveled outside China, either as tourists to the sex mecca of Thailand (in their imagined sexual geography) or as students to North America and Europe in pursuit of advanced degrees. Yet one characteristic marks the women and men who describe themselves as gay: they are predominantly young-thirty or under. Their narrow age range means that most of them came of age after socialism had been dismantled in China. CLQ 5:4 pp. 451-474 Copyright 0 1999 by Duke University Press GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies Published by Duke University Press
GLQ:A Joumal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 452 GLQ:A JOURNAL OF LESBIAN AND GAY STUDIES Perhaps the following caveat is superfluous:the argument I present here does not eschew the fact that older women and men engage in homoerotic sex,nor does it promote the idea that people only now have a desire for or engage in sex- ual acts with someone of presumably the same gender.But what seems strikingly different in the 1990s is the construction of an identity around these acts.Listen to these remarks by a forty-year-old friend of mine in China who began to call himself gay five years ago: [Other gay men]don't have time to talk with you.They just want a 'sex relation.2"Let's find a place,hurry up,and fuck."...For many years this problem has made my head ache.To be a 'gay,'they [other gay men]are not capable of recognizing what,finally,it is all about.What should one need? This [question]gives other people an especially bad feeling:[imitating a voice ofdisapproval]"You people,all you want is a'sex relation'with other people.You aren't able to think about anything else."So I was like that, too.But after a period of time,I didn't especially want to go [to the park]. Also,I myself thought,as I was getting more mature and more cultured [wenhua],that 'gay'should have a culture [wenhua];it is a kind of culture. The emergence of gay identities and practices in China is tied,in certain critical respects,to transnational networks of lesbians and gay men.The initiation in 1994 of work on AIDS,with specific outreach to gay men,by one courageous individual who was subsequently sacked by the government led to networking both in and out- side China.The arrival of hundreds of lesbians from around the world at the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Women's Conference,held in Beijing,also galvanized semipublic explorations of gay identities.The opening of the national gay hotline in China in the summer of 1997 by a diverse group of Chinese and Western gay men dramatically enabled conversations across China and the world.The presence of for- eign gay men and lesbians in China who both create and participate in gay networks means that the transnational quality of gayness in China is both visible and visceral. Not all Chinese women and men who identify as gay pass through these transnational spaces.Many deliberately stay away,either because they are wary of foreigners or because they believe that these spaces are themselves tainted with unrespectability.Some find it impossible to have equal or deep relationships with foreigners.Lou Wei,a twenty-five-year-old trained in business economics,told me in an interview that"foreigners are using Chinese people.If the police were to surround the [cafe],you have a foreigner's passport.Who takes responsibility?If, for example,they find something written on human rights,who takes responsibil- Published by Duke University Press
452 GLQ: A JOURNAL OF LESBIAN AND GAY STUDIES Perhaps the following caveat is superfluous: the argument I present here does not eschew the fact that older women and men engage in homoerotic sex, nor does it promote the idea that people only now have a desire for or engage in sexual acts with someone of presumably the same gender. But what seems strikingly different in the 1990s is the construction of an identity around these acts. Listen to these remarks by a forty-year-old friend of mine in China who began to call himself gay five years ago: [Other gay men] don’t have time to talk with you. They just want a ‘sex relation.’2 “Let’s find a place, hurry up, and fuck.” . . . For many years this problem has made my head ache. To be a ‘gay,’ they [other gay men] are not capable of recognizing what, finally, it is all about. What should one need? This [question] gives other people an especially bad feeling: [imitating a voice of disapproval] “You people, all you want is a ‘sex relation’ with other people. You aren’t able to think about anything else.” So I was like that, too. But after a period of time, I didn’t especially want to go [to the park]. Also, I myself thought, as I was getting more mature and more cultured [wenhua], that ‘gay’ should have a culture [wenhua]; it is a kind of culture. The emergence of gay identities and practices in China is tied, in certain critical respects, to transnational networks of lesbians and gay men. The initiation in 1994 of work on AIDS, with specific outreach to gay men, by one courageous individual who was subsequently sacked by the government led to networking both in and outside China. The arrival of hundreds of lesbians from around the world at the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Women’s Conference, held in Beijing, also galvanized semipublic explorations of gay identities. The opening of the national gay hotline in China in the summer of 1997 by a diverse group of Chinese and Western gay men dramatically enabled conversations across China and the world. The presence of foreign gay men and lesbians in China who both create and participate in gay networks means that the transnational quality of gayness in China is both visible and visceral. Not all Chinese women and men who identify as gay pass through these transnational spaces. Many deliberately stay away, either because they are wary of foreigners or because they believe that these spaces are themselves tainted with unrespectability. Some find it impossible to have equal or deep relationships with foreigners. Lou Wei, a twenty-five-year-old trained in business economics, told me in an interview that “foreigners are using Chinese people. If the police were to surround the [cafk], you have a foreigner’s passport. Who takes responsibility? If, for example, they find something written on human rights, who takes responsibilGLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies Published by Duke University Press
GLQ:A Joumal of Lesbian and Gay Studies IMAGINING GAY IDENTITIES IN CHINA 453 ity?It devolves onto everyone Chinese."Conversely,not all foreign gay men who live in Beijing want to be with Chinese men.Some rarely have erotic interchanges with Chinese men.Other gay foreigners lead lives reminiscent of colonialism, occasionally engaging with native Chinese men as sexual partners but having little interest in what the encounter means for these men.This transnational scene is not,in any case,simply about bodies marked by nation and race that mingle indiscriminately.Most important,these interactions are embodied ways of per- forming gayness,and they entail competing notions of what it means to be gay. Still,the temptation to conclude that a singular"global gay identity"has come into existence and that China offers one more instantiation of it appears vir- tually irresistible.This article is an effort to forestall the rush toward a discourse of globalization,or at least to reconfigure our understanding of sex and globaliza- tion.My concern is at once theoretical and political.The manner in which we imagine transcultural processes of identification shapes the kinds of alliances we create-or fail to create-to address the protean forms of homophobia around the world and,in related fashion,the culturally specific normalizations imposed through sex.I begin,then,with a deliberately provocative problematic:what kinds of investments lead to the assumption that such a subjectivity-a global gay identity -exists?To address that problematic,I examine one prominent assertion of this position,Dennis Altman's"Global Gaze/Global Gays."I then argue that the emer- gence of gay identities in China occurs in a complex cultural field representing neither a wholly global culture nor simply a radical difference from the West. Rather,Chinese gay identities materialize in the articulation of transcultural prac- tices with intense desires for cultural belonging,or cultural citizenship,in China.3 This articulation leads to doublings in which globality is haunted by reminders of cultural difference even as desires for the phantasms of cultural belonging face the spectral undoing of discourses launched in the name of globalization. Thus Chinese gay men index neither another exemplar of a global gay identity nor mere local particularity.4 Transcultural processes of gay identification shape the contours of cultural citizenship in China for gay men;conversely, desires for cultural belonging shape the way in which gay men in China construct the meaning of transcultural practices of sex,desire,and sexual identities.In developing this argument,I wed Foucault to anthropology,linking questions about the relationship of knowledge,sex,and truth and the historical contingencies of sexual identities to analyses that problematize culture and space.5 Drawing one map of a sexual "geography of imagination,"to paraphrase Jacqueline Nassy Brown,I hope to invert the premises of sex and globalization that have so quickly colonized our imaginations.6 Published by Duke University Press
IMAGINING GAY IDENTITIES IN CHINA 453 ity? It devolves onto everyone Chinese.” Conversely, not all foreign gay men who live in Beijing want to be with Chinese men. Some rarely have erotic interchanges with Chinese men. Other gay foreigners lead lives reminiscent of colonialism, occasionally engaging with native Chinese men as sexual partners but having little interest in what the encounter means for these men. This transnational scene is not, in any case, simply about bodies marked by nation and race that mingle indiscriminately. Most important, these interactions are embodied ways of performing gayness, and they entail competing notions of what it means to be gay. Still, the temptation to conclude that a singular “global gay identity” has come into existence and that China offers one more instantiation of it appears virtually irresistible. This article is an effort to forestall the rush toward a discourse of globalization, or at least to reconfigure our understanding of sex and globalization. My concern is at once theoretical and political. The manner in which we imagine transcultural processes of identification shapes the kinds of alliances we create-or fail to create-to address the protean forms of homophobia around the world and, in related fashion, the culturally specific normalizations imposed through sex. I begin, then, with a deliberately provocative problematic: what kinds of investments lead to the assumption that such a subjectivity-a global gay identity -exists? To address that problematic, I examine one prominent assertion of this position, Dennis Altman’s “Global Gaze/Global Gays.” I then argue that the emergence of gay identities in China occurs in a complex cultural field representing neither a wholly global culture nor simply a radical difference from the West. Rather, Chinese gay identities materialize in the articulation of transcultural practices with intense desires for cultural belonging, or cultural citizenship, in China.3 This articulation leads to doublings in which globality is haunted by reminders of cultural difference even as desires for the phantasms of cultural belonging face the spectral undoing of discourses launched in the name of globalization. Thus Chinese gay men index neither another exemplar of a global gay identity nor mere local particularity.4 Transcultural processes of gay identification shape the contours of cultural citizenship in China for gay men; conversely, desires for cultural belonging shape the way in which gay men in China construct the meaning of transcultural practices of sex, desire, and sexual identities. In developing this argument, I wed Foucault to anthropology, linking questions about the relationship of knowledge, sex, and truth and the historical contingencies of sexual identities to analyses that problematize culture and space.5 Drawing one map of a sexual “geography of imagination,” to paraphrase Jacqueline Nassy Brown, I hope to invert the premises of sex and globalization that have so quickly colonized our imaginations.6 GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies Published by Duke University Press
GLQ:A Joumal of Lesbian and Gay Studies 454 GLO:A JOURNAL OF LESBIAN AND GAY STUDIES Gay Western Origin Stories Before turning directly to China,I clear some conceptual space for future discus- sion by taking a detour through arguments that assume a global gay identity.One such argument is Dennis Altman's"Global Gaze/Global Gays."I address Altman not because I find his essay the most exemplary but because his position in gay politics has enabled him to garner a large audience.Moreover,I believe that we share a concern with building alliances that do not quash diversity. Altman addresses"the emergence of a western-style politicized homosex- uality in Asia"His essay purports to demonstrate that the ubiquity of Western rhetoric means that many Asian gay men describe their realities and their own feelings through this rhetoric.Altman alludes to the problem of Western gay theo- rists and activists positing the universality of an identity that developed out of cer- tain historical specificities.Yet this initial recognition quickly recedes as he advances the claim that the universality of gay identities is emerging most signifi- cantly among groups in Asia.To make sense of his proposition,Altman places dif- ferent sex/gender orders in Asia on a continuum from tradition to modernity.While acknowledging their coexistence,he denies their coevalness,placing the forms that are culturally marked for him into the category of the traditional and the ones that approach what he conceives of as "western-style"into the category of the modern.Altman then concludes that in Asia"self-identified homosexuals"view themselves as part of a"global community"whose commonalities override cul- tural differences.7 For the most part,.Altman invokes“modern'”and“western-style'”as tropes whose content is self-evident.At various points,however,he alludes to the charac- teristics of what constitutes a presumably universal gay identity:it contests sexual rather than gender norms;replaces the idea of male homosexuals as would-be women with new self-concepts;leads to primary homosexual relationships rather than to marriage with homosex on the side;expresses sexual identity openly; develops a public gay political consciousness(422-23);and creates a sense of community based on sexuality. Significantly,while Altman stresses the global,he never questions the fact of globalization or how to represent it.He merely reads globalization as the spread of Western models of homosexuality.This reading allows for a contradictory con- clusion.Rejecting,on the one hand,the idea that"modern"homosexuality in Asia can be understood in terms of"cultural tradition"and allowing that new gay groups in Asia will "adapt"ideas of universal discourse and Western identity to create something new,Altman concludes,on the other,that the "claiming of Published by Duke University Press
454 GLQ: A JOURNAL OF LESBIAN AND GAY STUDIES Gay Western Origin Stories Before turning directly to China, I clear some conceptual space for future discussion by taking a detour through arguments that assume a global gay identity. One such argument is Dennis Altman’s “Global Gaze/Global Gays.” I address Altman not because I find his essay the most exemplary but because his position in gay politics has enabled him to garner a large audience. Moreover, I believe that we share a concern with building alliances that do not quash diversity. Altman addresses “the emergence of a western-style politicized homosexuality in Asia.” His essay purports to demonstrate that the ubiquity of Western rhetoric means that many Asian gay men describe their realities and their own feelings through this rhetoric. Altman alludes to the problem of Western gay theorists and activists positing the universality of an identity that developed out of certain historical specificities. Yet this initial recognition quickly recedes as he advances the claim that the universality of gay identities is emerging most significantly among groups in Asia. To make sense of his proposition, Altman places different sex/gender orders in Asia on a continuum from tradition to modernity. While acknowledging their coexistence, he denies their coevalness, placing the forms that are culturally marked for him into the category of the traditional and the ones that approach what he conceives of as “western-style” into the category of the modern. Altman then concludes that in Asia “self-identified homosexuals” view themselves as part of a “global community” whose commonalities override cultural differences.7 For the most part, Altman invokes “modern” and “western-style” as tropes whose content is self-evident. At various points, however, he alludes to the characteristics of what constitutes a presumably universal gay identity: it contests sexual rather than gender norms; replaces the idea of male homosexuals as would-be women with new self-concepts; leads to primary homosexual relationships rather than to marriage with homosex on the side; expresses sexual identity openly; develops a public gay political consciousness (422-23); and creates a sense of community based on sexuality. Significantly, while Altman stresses the global, he never questions the fact of globalization or how to represent it. He merely reads globalization as the spread of Western models of homosexuality. This reading allows for a contradictory conclusion. Rejecting, on the one hand, the idea that “modern” homosexuality in Asia can be understood in terms of “cultural tradition” and allowing that new gay groups in Asia will “adapt” ideas of universal discourse and Western identity to create something new, Altman concludes, on the other, that the “claiming of GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies Published by Duke University Press
GLQ:A Joumal of Lesbian and Gay Studies IMAGINING GAY IDENTITIES IN CHINA 4.55 lesbian/gay identities in Asia or Latin America is as much about being western as about sexuality"(430). Altman's rhetorical strategy might be reduced to a mere problem of contra- diction.Yet the predicament of his argument lies more profoundly in the ambiva- lence of his desire:to assert cultural diversity and the need to respect it while also recuperating identification in a monumentalist history of gay identity,and,con- versely,to further gay rights yet,in pursuing this goal,to elide diversity,articula- tion,and alliance with radical cultural difference,thereby occluding the fault lines of power that emerge in global gay discourses and practices.Four lines of critique,then,suggest themselves:the dynamics of colonial discourse that struc- ture Altman's argument;his concept of culture;his understanding of meaning and referentiality;and,finally,his vision of globalization or universalisms. First,Altman draws lines of radical cultural difference between the West and Asia.His occasional rhetorical gestures to the contrary fade away because he has no way to incorporate them into the main framework of his argument.Altman states,"On the one hand,Asian gay men,by stressing a universal gay identity, underline a similarity with westerners.Against this,on the other hand,the desire to assert an 'Asian'identity,not unlike the rhetoric of the 'Asian way'adopted by authoritarian regimes such as those of China,Indonesia,and Malaysia,may undermine this assumed solidarity"(418-19).Asianness,or a reputed claim to Asianness,can never be more than a distraction,a power move,or a distortion from the originary truths of gayness.Thus gay men in Asia can be either universal or Asian but not both,even as their Asianness continues to leave them in the place of otherness to global gayness.Altman's Western origin story of gay liberation places Asian gays forever in the place of deferred arrival.8 This universalization of particular stories of gay liberation establishes temporal hierarchies that,ironically, forget that the West is an imaginary location that can interpret its located concerns as a world-historical origin point.For Altman,invocations of universalism,whether by Westerners or by Asians,appear to be self-evident and self-referential rather than rhetorical strategy,double-voiced dialogism,the locational politics of repre- sentation,or strategic essentialism. Altman's concept of culture similarly derives from colonial anthropology. One might almost say that he offers a parody of the notion of culture as timeless, bounded,homogeneous,and unchanging.Only a radical imposition of modernity from the outside seems to change these Asian cultures.Moreover,to paraphrase Renato Rosaldo,there appears to be a"stepladder"version of culture and moder- nity here such that the more one looks like the West,the more one sheds any markers of culture.9 The critique of this notion is so well rehearsed in anthropol- Published by Duke University Press
IMAGINING GAY IDENTITIES IN CHINA 455 lesbian/gay identities in Asia or Latin America is as much about being western as about sexuality” (430). Altman’s rhetorical strategy might be reduced to a mere problem of contradiction. Yet the predicament of his argument lies more profoundly in the ambivalence of his desire: to assert cultural diversity and the need to respect it while also recuperating identification in a monumentalist history of gay identity, and, conversely, to further gay rights yet, in pursuing this goal, to elide diversity, articulation, and alliance with radical cultural difference, thereby occluding the fault lines of power that emerge in global gay discourses and practices. Four lines of critique, then, suggest themselves: the dynamics of colonial discourse that structure Altman’s argument; his concept of culture; his understanding of meaning and referentiality ; and, finally, his vision of globalization or universalisms. First, Altman draws lines of radical cultural difference between the West and Asia. His occasional rhetorical gestures to the contrary fade away because he has no way to incorporate them into the main framework of his argument. Altman states, “On the one hand, Asian gay men, by stressing a universal gay identity, underline a similarity with Westerners. Against this, on the other hand, the desire to assert an ‘Asian’ identity, not unlike the rhetoric of the ‘Asian way’ adopted by authoritarian regimes such as those of China, Indonesia, and Malaysia, may undermine this assumed solidarity” (418-19). Asianness, or a reputed claim to Asianness, can never be more than a distraction, a power move, or a distortion from the originary truths of gayness. Thus gay men in Asia can be either universal or Asian but not both, even as their Asianness continues to leave them in the place of otherness to global gayness. Altman’s Western origin story of gay liberation places Asian gays forever in the place of deferred arrival.8 This universalization of particular stories of gay liberation establishes temporal hierarchies that, ironically, forget that the West is an imaginary location that can interpret its located concerns as a world-historical origin point. For Altman, invocations of universalism, whether by Westerners or by Asians, appear to be self-evident and self-referential rather than rhetorical strategy, double-voiced dialogism, the locational politics of representation, or strategic essentialism. Altman’s concept of culture similarly derives from colonial anthropology. One might almost say that he offers a parody of the notion of culture as timeless, bounded, homogeneous, and unchanging. Only a radical imposition of modernity from the outside seems to change these Asian cultures. Moreover, to paraphrase Renato Rosaldo, there appears to be a “stepladder” version of culture and modernity here such that the more one looks like the West, the more one sheds any markers of culture.9 The critique of this notion is so well rehearsed in anthropolGLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies Published by Duke University Press