Gender and sexuality in modern Chinese history / Susan L. Mann.

"Gender and sexuality have been neglected topics in the history of Chinese civilization, despite the fact that philosophers, writers, parents, doctors, and ordinary people of all descriptions have left reams of historical evidence on the subject. Moreover, China's late imperial government was arguably more concerned about gender and sexuality among its subjects than any other pre-modern state. Sexual desire and sexual activity were viewed as innate human needs, essential to bodily health and well-being, and universal marriage and reproduction served the state by supplying tax-paying subjects, duly bombarded with propaganda about family values. How did these and other late imperial legacies shape twentieth-century notions of gender and sexuality in modern China? In this wonderfully written and enthralling book, Susan Mann answers that question by focusing in turn on state policy, ideas about the physical body, and notions of sexuality and difference in China's recent history, from medicine to the theater to the gay bar; from law to art and sports. More broadly, the book shows how changes in attitudes toward sex and gender in China during the twentieth century have cast a new light on the process of becoming modern, while simultaneously challenging the universalizing assumptions of Western modernity"-- Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Machine generated contents note: Introduction; Part I. Gender, Sexuality, and the State: 1. Family and state: the separation of the sexes; 2. Traffic in women and the problem of single men; 3. Gender relations in politics and law; Part II. Gender, Sexuality, and the Body: 4. The body in medicine, art, and sport; 5. Adorning, displaying, concealing, and altering the body; 6. Abandoning the body: female suicide and female infanticide; Part III. Gender, Sexuality, and the 'Other': 7. Same-sex relationships and trans-gendered performance; 8. Sexuality in the creative imagination; 9. Sexuality and the 'other'; Conclusion: gender, sexuality and, citizenship.

Part I. Gender, Sexuality, and the State -- Family and state: the separation of the sexes -- Traffic in women and the problem of single men -- Sexuality and gender relations in politics and law -- Part II. Gender, Sexuality, and the Body -- The body in medicine, art, and sport -- The body adorned, displayed, concealed, and altered -- Abandoning the body: female suicide and female infanticide -- Part III. Gender, Sexuality, and the Other -- Same-sex relationships and trans-gendered performance -- Sexuality in the creative imagination -- Sexuality and the Other -- Conclusion: gender, sexuality and, citizenship -- Afterword: Gender and sexuality: useful categories of historical analysis?

Print version record.

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