Queer Resistance

“The People’s Republic of China no longer treats homosexuals as criminals or as mentally ill, but in recent years it has increased repression against its estimated 70 million+ LGBTQ+ citizens. Nonetheless, a vibrant and diverse LGBTQ+ community has managed to create increasing social space and tolerance in order to live the lives they aspire to. In Queer Resistance, based upon a decade of in-depth interviews with large numbers of informants from all walks of life, Susanne Choi presents a rich and emotionally moving portrait of the struggles of the LGBTQ+ community in China today.”—Martin King Whyte, John Zwaanstra Professor of International Studies and Sociology, Emeritus, and Associate at the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, Harvard University

“Queer Resistance offers a sensitive, insightful account of the pursuit of queer dignity, joy, and intimacy in contemporary China, equally attuned to everyday acts of resistance and struggles to navigate authoritarian state governance and familial expectations. Choi’s compelling research and clear prose illustrate how efforts to realize sexual autonomy and empowerment unfold amid the complex intersectional inequalities that define Chinese society today.”—Sara L. Friedman, author of Exceptional States: Chinese Immigrants and Taiwanese Sovereignty

“An intellectually courageous and innovative work that sets a new benchmark for the study of LGBTQ+ life in contemporary China. Based on a decade of meticulous research, Choi offers a theoretically rigorous and empirically expansive account of how everyday practices of negotiation and refusal accumulate into consequential forms of resistance under authoritarian rule. This book will shape scholarly debates for years to come and stands to become a foundational text in the fields of sexuality, family, and Chinese social transformation."—Yunxiang Yan, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles

“Choi makes a new contribution to sexuality studies both in the China field and in queer studies. Cautioning against universalizing assumptions about how LGBTQ people challenge heteronormativity, she demonstrates the importance of the intersections of family transformations, economic inequality, and global capitalism to understanding queer life in China today. This is one of the most notable book on sexual minorities in China that I have read in the last decade.”—Lisa Rofel, author of Desiring China: Experiments in Neoliberalism, Sexuality, and Public Culture and co-author of Fabricating Transnational Capitalism