Transgender China

by H. Chiang (Editor)

Overview

This volume brings together experts with diverse disciplinary backgrounds in the China field, from cultural studies to history to musicology, to make a timely intervention—from the historical demise of enuchism to male cross-dressing shows in contemporary Taiwan—to inaugurate a subfield in Chinese transgender studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781349343201
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan US
Publication date:	12/11/2012
Edition description:	1st ed. 2012
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

About the Author

DANIEL BURTON-ROSE PhD student in East Asian Studies at Princeton University, USA PUI KEI ELEANOR CHEUNG Researcher and activist for LGBT issues in Hong Kong HOWARD CHIANG Assistant Professor of Modern Chinese History at the University of Warwick, UK LARISSA N. HEINRICH Associate Professor of Literature at the University of California, San Diego, USA HELEN HOK-SZE LEUNG Associate Professor of Women's Studies at Simon Fraser University, Canada CARLOS ROJAS Associate Professor of Chinese Cultural Studies at Duke University, USA SUSAN STRYKER Associate Professor in the Department of Gender and Women's Studies and the Director of the Institute for LGBT Studies at the University of Arizona, USA ALVIN KA HIN WONG Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA CHAO-JUNG WU Assistant Professor in the Chinese Music Department at the National Taiwan University of Arts ZUYAN ZHOU Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Languages at Hofstra University, USA

Table of Contents

Introduction: 'Imagining Transgender China'; H.Chiang How China Became a 'Castrated Civilization' and Eunuchs a 'Third Sex'; H.Chiang Gendered Androgyny: Transcendent Ideals and Profane Realities in Buddhism, Classicism, and Daoism; D.Burton-Rose 'The Androgynous Ideal in Scholarly-Beauty Romances: A Historical and Cultural View'; Z.Zhou 'Transgenderism as a Heuristic Device: On the Cross-Historical and Transnational Adaptations of the Legend of the White Snake'; A.K.H.Wong 'Begin Anywhere: Transgender and Transgenre Desire in Qiu Miaojin's Last Words from Montmartre'; L.N.Heinrich 'Trans On Screen'; H.Hok-Sze Leung 'Writing the Body'; C.Rojas 'Performing Transgender Desire: Male Cross-Dressing Shows in Taiwan'; C.J.Wu 'Transgenders in Hong Kong: From Shame to Pride'; P.K.E.Cheung 'De/Colonizing Transgender Studies of China'; S.Stryker

Editorial Reviews

"Just as transgender keeps open a radical space to rethink gender norms and variances in gay and lesbian studies, transgender in the context of China keeps open a radical space to reconsider Western assumptions about sex, sexuality, identity, and embodiment. Chiang's marvelous collection queers all these fields and areas in unexpected and compelling ways." - David L. Eng, Department of English, University of Pennsylvania and author of The Feeling of Kinship: Queer Liberalism and the Racialization of Intimacy

"This book has an impressive breadth in both historical reach and the cultural forms addressed. From historical investigations of androgyny in classical ethics and religion, eunuchism, and literary and theatrical cross-dressing to critical analyses of trans representations in contemporary popular film and the trans pride movement in Hong Kong, the collection is both intellectually exciting and politically engaged. Showcasing cutting-edge work from a new generation of early-career researchers alongside fresh material from established scholars in the field, Transgender China should be required reading for anyone interested in trans studies, Chinese cultural studies, or gender and sexuality studies in a transnational frame." - Fran Martin, Screen and Cultural Studies Program, The University of Melbourne and author of Backward Glances: Contemporary Chinese Cultures and the Female Homoerotic Imaginary

From the Publisher