Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China [Paperback]

Bret Hinsch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 29, 1992

The first detailed treatment of the Chinese homosexual tradition in any Western language, Passions of the Cut Sleeve shatters preconceptions and stereotypes. Gone is the image of the sternly puritanical Confucian as sole representative of Chinese sexual practices--and with it the justification for the modern Chinese insistence that homosexuality is a recent import from the decadent West. Rediscovering the male homosexual tradition in China provides a startling new perspective on Chinese society and adds richly to our understanding of homosexuality.
Bret Hinsch's reconstruction of the Chinese homosexual past reveals unexpected scenes. An emperor on his deathbed turns over the seals of the empire to a male beloved; two men marry each other with elaborate wedding rituals; parents sell their son into prostitution. The tradition portrays men from all levels of society--emperors, transvestite actors, rapists, elegant scholars, licentious monks, and even the nameless poor.
Drawing from dynastic histories, erotic novels, popular Buddhist tracts, love poetry, legal cases, and joke books, Passions of the Cut Sleeve evokes the complex and fascinating male homosexual tradition in China from the Bronze Age until its decline in recent times.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Harvard scholar Hinsch's careful study belies the official Chinese notion that homosexuality is a recent import from the decadent West. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Hinsch cites evidence of the homosexual tradition in China derived primarily from literature--novels, poetry, and (often very frank and graphic) humor--and secondarily from historical documents. This evidence reveals societal attitudes toward various facets of the issue, such as superior-inferior relationships, prostitution, and political corruption. Examples from the earlier dynasties are few, and here Hinsch often resorts to reading between the lines; throughout there are conclusions based on supposition or assumptions. Nevertheless, the material is well covered, and monographic treatment of the topic is scanty. Recommended for Chinese and gay studies collections.
- Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (December 29, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520078691
• ISBN-13: 978-0520078697
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #488,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The first of it's kind, May 10, 2005

By 

David D. Evseeff (Taipei, Taiwan, ROC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (Hardcover)

I've seen some somewhat unfair criticisms of this book on here, so I'd like to set the record straight. I'm an American graduate student studying in Taiwan, and my field of studies is Chinese homoerotic literature. It is true that Hinsch's book is a bit outdated, but it was the first of it's kind in English, and I still find many good insights in my own research. Before this book's publication, there was very little research on this topic either in the West or in China/Taiwan. In recent years, a number of scholars have taken up this subject and there have been a number of intruiging articles and books published. Hinsch's work provided the impetus for more research in this field, which is exactly what the author's purpose in writing it was. As for the secondary research material in Chinese that some reviewers believe is superior, I have found it to be exactly the opposite. While there are some books and quite a few articles on the subject in Chinese, they are heavy on primary source material and light on good analysis and lack much application of good literary criticism or theory. This is the advantage that Sinology in the West maintains over research in China/Taiwan. I would definitely recommend that no one overlook or dismiss this excellent book by Dr. Hinsch! By the way, he now does research on women in Chinese history, and has published a book called "Women in Early Imperial China," as well as a number of articles. They are all well worth looking at!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book on the History of Homosexuality in China, May 11, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (Paperback)

There are not many resources on the history of Homosexuality in China and many Chinese will tell you that there isn't a history of it at all. This book spans two thousand years of history to show that there was a gay literary tradition in China. It is really the first work of the kind on China in English. It is full of romantic antidotes, poetry and stories from a time that China, particularly under communist influence has tried to deny or at least forget.

Personally I would like to see an update of this first work or the expansion by another author on other Asian countries like Korea where their homophobia has also prevailed and they have taken to rewriting pages of history.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Just for China Scholars, August 5, 2001

By 

tamiii "tamiii" (San Juan Capistrano, Ca. United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (Paperback)

This delightfully accessible book on an inaccessible topic provides an appetizing read. Bejeweled with wonderful quotations which are variously elegant, erotic, bawdy, and sometimes just simply endearing, the author reviews the two thousand year literary tradition of male same-sex attraction known as the "cut sleeve" (based on a lovely story which I will not spoil by recounting). In the course of this overview, the author provides interesting evidence of the benefits to kinship groups of same-sex relationships as well as the manner in which this tradition harmonized with reproductive marriage. Lastly, he describes how this tradition was lost--though one suspects that his explanation based on western cultural influence does not do justice to indigenous circumstance.