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. "Harvard scholar Hinsch's careful study belies the official Chinese notion that homosexuality is a recent import from the decadent West." ― Publishers Weekly "For the light it shines on social history, on Chinese literature, and on sexuality, this brief study of the literary tradition of homosexuality in China, the most detailed that has appeared to date in any Western language, is a comforting revelation." ― China Quarterly "This is an important book . . . [that] may help to bring about a more accurate awareness among East Asian peoples that hatred of same-sex eroticism is a prejudice that is alien to their rich cultural heritage." ― Journal of the History of Sexuality ""This study sheds light on an important aspect of Chinese social history about which virtually nothing has been written previously, and does so with sensitivity, good sense, and grace. It opens entirely new vistas on the history of sexuality. Readers will learn new and unexpected things not only about Chinese history and homosexuality, but about human nature itself."—John Boswell, Yale University Bret Hinsch  is professor of history at Fo Guang University, Yilan, Taiwan. Passions of the Cut Sleeve Male Homosexual Tradition Chi By Bret Hinsch University of California Press Copyright © 1992 Bret Hinsch All right reserved. ISBN: 9780520078697 Introduction When Western travelers first described Chinese society to their fellow Europeans they lavished ecstatic praise on many aspects of Chinese culture, including efficient government administration, awe-inspiring public works, and the opulent and sophisticated life-styles of the upper classes. Early European commentators even added Chinese moral values to their idealistic panegyric. But one aspect of Chinese society received strident condemnation and scorn from these first adventurers: homosexuality. For them, the popularity of "the abominable vice of sodomy" was an unforgivable flaw in an otherwise admirable society.1 The sixteenthcentury chronicler Galeote Pereira reported, "The greatest fault we do find [among the Chinese] is sodomy, a vice very common in the meaner sort, and nothing strange among the best."2 The perceptive Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci related his disgust at the sights he witnessed in Beijing: "There are public streets full of boys got up like prostitutes. And there are people who buy these boys and teach them to play music, sing and dance. And then, gallantly dressed and made up with rouge like women these miserable men are initiated into this terrible vice."3 Friar Gaspar de Cruz was even more censorious, portraying China as a new Sodom. He composed an apocalyptic tract in which he described earthquakes, floods, and other natural disasters imposed on China by God in retribution for the tolerance shown by the Chinese toward "a filthy abomination, which is that they are so given to the accursed sin of unnatural vice, which is in no wise reproved among them."4 These disapproving Westerners were shocked by the perceived ubiquity and deep roots of homosexuality within Chinese culture. They were correct in sensing the existence of a historical tradition of homosexuality in China that dates back to at least the Bronze Age. It gave rise to highly developed expressions, including wellpatronized meeting places and an accumulation of literature catering to homosexual tastes. Many times homosexuality acted as an integral part of society, complete with same-sex marriages for both men and women. It spanned a range of social classes, from famed emperors and aristocrats to impoverished laborers. In all of these circumstances, homosexuality serves as a convenient mirror for viewing an intimate area of human experience. Unfo