Conference on `QUEER COMRADES´: GAY IDENTITY AND QUEER POLITICS IN POSTSOCIALIST CHINA

Wednesday 19 October 2011 4 - 6pm

Cayley Room
Room 152
University of Westminster
309 Regent Street
London W1B 2UW

One of the most interesting phenomena in modern Chinese language is manifested by the semantic change of the term tongzhi (??). Literally `comrade´, tongzhi was the most popular address term in China´s socialist era. Since the 1990s, the term has been used by LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) people in the Chinese-speaking world to refer to sexual minorities. Today, the queer use of tongzhi has dominated Chinese cyberspace. How did the change take place? What does the change mean? Was this simply linguistic change, or does it indicate transformations in bodies, desires, identities and subjectivities under shifting governmentalities?

In this talk, Dr. Hongwei Bao traces the genealogy of the term tongzhi, discusses its political and social implications, and unveils its pertinence for contemporary Leftist politics. Drawing on examples from contemporary Chinese LGBT politics, including the Beijing Queer Film Festival, Shanghai Gay Pride and online queer activism, Bao demonstrates how `comrade´ subjectivity still resides in `queer´ subjectivity; how China´s socialist past still haunts its postsocialist present, and how lesbians and gays in China have found creative ways to use `socialist strategies´ to empower themselves. Tongzhi, or `queer comrades´, therefore, serves as a trope to understand gay identity and queer politics in China today. With this term, Bao urges to rethink the impact of the globalisation of sexualities on China, and the role of Leftist politics in contemporary social movements.

Dr. Hongwei Bao is a British Academy visiting fellow at the Department of Media and Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London. He recently completed his Ph.D. degree in Gender and Cultural Studies at the University of Sydney. Dr. Bao was a visiting scholar at the Hawke Research Institute, University of South Australia in 2010, and a DAAD scholar at the Free University of Berlin (2010-2011). He has taught media and communication, gender studies, cultural studies and Asian Studies at the National Academy of Chinese Theatrical Arts, Beijing, the University of Sydney, and University of Potsdam. Dr. Bao´s research interests include media and popular culture, queer theory, postcolonial theories, transnational and diaspora studies, urban and cultural geography, youth culture, governmentality studies and affect studies.

All welcome

Non-University of Westminster attendees please register with
Dr Derek Hird
Email: d.hird@westminster.ac.uk

For enquiries about the Contemporary China Centre, please contact
Professor Harriet Evans
Tel: 020 7911 5000 ext 7603
Email: evansh@westminster.ac.uk

Contemporary China Centre
Department of Modern and Applied Languages
University of Westminster
309 Regent Street. London, W1B 2UW
www.westminster.ac.uk/asian-studies