The China Teaching Web

“There are very few gays in China,” one of my students explained to me recently. What she was probably trying to say is that there are not very many people in China who have ‘come out of the closet.’ And it is no wonder. While the recent Edison Chen Scandal in Hong Kong may have opened the discussion on premarital sex between a man and a woman in China, the topic of homosexuality still makes people squirm. Unlike other issues where a ‘generation gap’ is evident, the homosexual lifestyle is frowned upon by both the old and younger generations alike in China. In fact, one of my friends recently remarked to me that her parents don’t even really know what homosexuality is and she assured me that if they did know about it, they would most certainly dissapprove.

In Western countries, the anti-gay movement (if it can be called that) is fueled by moral and religious schools of thought. It is somewhat puzzling then that in China, a country utterly devoid of any religious and moral foundation, there would be such a  negative attitude towards the homosexual lifestyle.  I have never heard any of my friends or students refer to homosexuals as ’sinners’ or ‘perverts.’ They do not condemn the lifestyle as evil or wrong; instead they use words such as ’strange,’ and ‘abnormal.’

Quite simply, homosexuality is looked down upon in China because of the honor that is bestowed upon the Chinese male sex. Even now in China, having a baby boy is considered to be a great privilege and blessing. Chinese boys are expected to carry the family name and extend the lineage.  They do this by receiving a good education, finding a kind and reputable girl, and acquiring a good job. The marriage aspect of this parental expectation is especially important in Chinese culture.  If a boy can find a beautiful and intelligent girl and they are able to have children together, he will bring honor and happiness on his family. As you can imagine, there is no room in this cultural script for a homosexual orientation. Recently, a student recently told me that she would “force her future children to be straight” because life would be too hard for a homosexual in China and she wouldn’t be able to handle the shame.  She is probably right; homosexuals do not have a place in Chinese culture.

Lesbians may even be less accepted in China than gay men ; I have never heard any discussion of them. Most of my friends and students seem even more uncomfortable when I try to bring up the topic of ‘homosexual women.’ Some of my students have said that they have seen men holding hands at their universities but I have never heard any information about lesbians. My students tell me that these men who are ‘out’  on their campus are ‘isolated’ from the rest of the students; no one wants to talk to them. I imagine that lesbians are subject to the same treatment.

Some of China’s attitudes on sex may be changing but I do not think that views on homosexuality are going to follow that trend in the near future. The conservative culture in China still has too strong of a hold on people’s perceptions of gay and lesbian orientations. Until these views change, the gay and lesbian population in China will have to do the same as gays and lesbians in the West did for centuries. That is, stay under the radar and hope for a major revolution in the way that people think about sexual orientations.