Chinese Male Homosexualities:Memba, Tongzhi and Golden Boy

"Chinese Male Homosexualities is an original study of what happens when the translation of global gayness `fail'. What we get are politically astute insights developed in dialogue between Kong and the Chinese gay men he came to know ... in Hong Kong, London and mainland China. Resolutely anti-essentialist about both gay identity and Chinese culture, Kong convincingly argues that contradictions lie at the heart of queer struggles for rights, community and intimacy ... A must read." Professor Lisa Rofel, University of California, Santa Cruz, USA

"This is a stunning empirical study of sexual worlds that are rarely associated with China, and a highly creative synthesis of the sociology of sexuality and queer theory. A powerful book that will be of interest to China scholars as well as sexuality researchers." Arlene Stein, Rutgers University, USA

This book presents a groundbreaking exploration of masculinities and homosexualities among Chinese gay men. It provides a sociological account of masculinity, desire, sexuality, identity and citizenship in contemporary Chines societies, and within the constellation of global culture.

Kong reports the results of an extensive ethnographic study of contemporary chinese gay men in a wide range of different locations including mainland China, Hong Kong and the Chinese overseas community in London, showing how Chinese gay men live their everyday lives. Relating Chinese male homosexuality to the extensive social and cultural theories on gender, sexuality and the body, post-colonialism and globalization, the book examines the idea of queer space and numerous `queer flows'- of capital, bodies, ideas, images and commodities- around the world.

The book concludes that different gay male identities - such as the conspicuously consuming memba in Hong Kong, the urban tongzhi, the `money boy' in China and the feminized `golden boy' in London-emerge in different locations, and are all caught up in the transnational flow of queer cultures that are at once local and global.

Travis S.K. Kong is Assistant Professor in Sociology at the University of Hong Kong.