Queer Marxism in Two Chinas

In Queer Marxism in Two Chinas Petrus Liu rethinks the relationship between Marxism and queer cultures in mainland China and Taiwan. Whereas many scholars assume the emergence of queer cultures in China signals the end of Marxism and demonstrates China's political and economic evolution, Liu finds the opposite to be true. He challenges the persistence of Cold War formulations of Marxism that position it as intellectually incompatible with queer theory, and shows how queer Marxism offers a nonliberal alternative to Western models of queer emancipation. The work of queer Chinese artists and intellectuals not only provides an alternative to liberal ideologies of inclusion and diversity, but demonstrates how different conceptions of and attitudes toward queerness in China and Taiwan stem from geopolitical tensions. With Queer Marxism in Two Chinas Liu offers a revision to current understandings of what queer theory is, does, and can be.

About the Author

Petrus Liu is Associate Professor of Humanities at Yale-NUS College and the author of Stateless Subjects: Chinese Martial Arts Literature and Postcolonial History.

Acknowledgments ix

1. Marxism, Queer Liberalism, and the Quandary of Two Chinas 1

2. Chinese Queer Theory 34

3.The Rise of the Queer Chinese Novel 85

4. Genealogies of the Self 114

5. Queer Human Rights in and aganist the Two Chinas 138

Notes 171

Bibliography 195

Index 225

What People Are Saying

"Liu’s book charts a bold intellectual path for queer studies, Marxist theory, and Chinese studies. . . . The book provides truly transdisciplinary insights on how the normative reproduction of society depends on queer marginalization and social existence. It is in this way that Queer Marxism in Two Chinas demonstrates how queer theory, Marxism, and Chineseness matter to each other." Alvin K. Wong, Twentieth-Century China

"Overall, Liu’s new book is beautifully written, theoretically rich, and intellectually rigorous, enabling a critical lens to scrutinize queer cultural productions and reproductions in Taiwan and mainland China." John Wei, China Review International

"Queer Marxism in Two Chinas is a theoretically rigorous, intellectually stimulating, and conceptually rich book.... The book is an important contribution to both queer studies and China studies, and it is well-positioned to (re)define the emergent field of queer China studies." Jia Tan, Modern Chinese Literature and Culture

"Liu’s approach establishes an innovative set of dialogues between cultural production, social activism, and queer theory that serve as fertile ground for a sustained critique of liberal politics. Given Liu’s eclectic selection of sources and provocative theoretical ambitions, scholarly interest in this work will go far beyond the field of modern Chinese studies; readers drawn to Marxism, queer studies, literature, and cinema will all find much to ponder in these pages." Harlan D. Chambers, Journal of Asian Studies

“A powerful and insightful analysis. . . . Petrus Liu’s book is impressive precisely because it helps us reimagine queer theory, Marxism, and the Chinas, as well as their novel potential reconfigurations.” Calvin Hui, GLQ

"Liu offers a poignant corrective to the relationship between culture and economy for queer Marxism." J. Daniel Luther, Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory

"Queer Marxism in Two Chinas is an important work that promises to radically change perspectives and alter proportions, not least because it brings into clear focus three subjects rarely thought about together and somewhat peripheral in Chinese studies: Marxism, queerness, and Taiwan. The effect is like looking at a non-Mercator map: once you have seen it, the world will never look the same again." Yün Peng, Cultural Critique

"Queer Marxism in Two Chinas is the most exciting book I have read in a long time in the overlapping but distinct fields of queer theory, China studies, Marxism, and cultural theory. We have all been reading so many insightful but depressing books that offer us a feeling of no way out of systems of domination, especially capitalism. This book instead gives us some hope to think about and act on projects of social justice that are expansive in their reach and imagination." Lisa Rofel, Asian Journal of Social Science

"In this quite stunning book, Petrus Liu offers a new intervention into gender and sexuality studies. He establishes queer perspectives as a way of thinking about the doubleness of China, and tracks how sexuality has been produced as a new ethnic identity within an emerging pluralist framework, and how queer Marxism contests this production. Liu argues for a complex materialist social theory that takes into account the relationship between labor power, the reproduction of society, and the material status of sexuality. In the end, he refuses to identify materialism with economic reductionism, showing instead how the reproduction of society requires its cultural articulation, and how the effort to navigate two Chinas produces a non–state-centered form of queer critique. For Liu, queer theorists are in a powerful position to call the theory of the state into question—a move that holds out serious consequences for a new geopolitical reading of Marxism through the powerful framework of sexuality." Judith Butler, Maxine Elliot Professor, University of California, Berkeley

"Petrus Liu charts out not only a bold new agenda for queer studies in postreform China, but also a revitalized Marxism that links questions of sexuality to problems of political economy, economic justice, and social equality transnationally. A provocative and dazzling intervention." David Eng, author of The Feeling of Kinship: Queer Liberalism and the Racialization of Intimacy

Queer Marxism in Two Chinas

About the Author

Table of Contents

What People Are Saying