Queering Honglou meng:The “Lust of Mind” Mode of Male Love &Its Afterlives*

WANG Ke

Abstract:The great eighteenth-century novel Honglou meng 《紅樓夢(mèng)》 (A Dream of Red Mansions) offers a unique vision of male love:contrasting yiyin意淫 (lust of mind) with pifu yinlan 皮膚淫濫 (promiscuous kind of lust), it praises the former as embodied in the male protagonist Jia Baoyu's 賈寶玉 relationships with his four bosom friends.This paper seeks to expound this extraordinary mode of male love,trace its reception and distortion in later derivative works,and draw from it inspirations that may enrich contemporary queer theory and inform LGBT movements in Chinese societies.

Keywords:Honglou meng; homosexuality; “Lust of Mind”; Michel Foucault

“I do not comprehend why it is acceptable for a man to love a woman,but is unacceptable for a man to love a man.Passion is passion whether to a man or a woman.To love a woman but not a man is lust and not passion.To lust is to forget passion.If one treasures passion,he is not lewd.”1（清）陳森：《品花寶鑒》，第一冊(cè)，上海：上海古籍出版社，1991年，第480—481頁(yè)。[CHEN Sen,Pinhua baojian (Precious Mirror for Ranking Flowers),vol.1,Shanghai:Shanghai Classics Publishing House,1991,480—81.] The Chinese original reads:“我最不解今人好女色則以為常，好男色則以為異。究竟色就是了，又何必分出男女來？好女而不好男，終是好淫，而非好色。彼既好淫，便不論色。若既重色，自不敢淫?！?Translated in Bret Hinsch,Passions of the Cut Sleeve:The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (Berkeley,Los Angeles,and Oxford:University of California Press,1990),159.

1.Introduction

News came in August 2016 that a gay film adaptation of the great eighteenth-century novelHonglou meng《紅樓夢(mèng)》(A Dream of Red Mansions)2For English translation of Honglou meng (first 80 chapters) I use CAO Xueqin,The Story of the Stone,3 vols.,trans.David Hawkes (London:Penguin Books,1973—1980).(Henceforth abbr.SS,with volume and page numbers given parenthetically.) For the Chinese text,I use（清）曹雪芹等：《紅樓夢(mèng)》，中國(guó)藝術(shù)研究院紅樓夢(mèng)研究所校注，北京：人民文學(xué)出版社，2008年。[CAO Xueqin et al.,Honglou meng (A Dream of Red Mansions),edited and annotated by Research Institute on A Dream of Red Chambers of Chinese National Academy of Arts,Beijing:People's Literature Publishing House,2008.] For fear of dazzling my audience,I have refrained from specifying page numbers of the Chinese text but have in most cases indicated chapter numbers.All emphasis mine.was to be made in Taiwan,and that recruitment of actors for the major roles was already underway.3The Story of the Stone premiered on 19 October,2018.All major female roles in the original,including the “Jinling shi'er chai”金陵十二釵 (Twelve Beauties of Jinling),are recast as gay men.See the film's Facebook homepage:https://www.facebook.com/thestoryofthestone2016/,[July 5,2017].One anonymous reviewer points out that the film is so loosely based on the novel that it seems only the names of the characters have been preserved.This is not true.Many episodes in the original are incorporated into the plot of the film,including Baoyu's visit to the Land of Illusion (Chapter 5),Daiyu's burial of fallen petals (Chapter 27),Grannie Liu's visit to the Jia Houses (Chapters 39—41),Xiangyun's siesta on a peony-petal pillow (Chapter 62),and Xifeng making a disturbance in Ningguo House (Chapter 68),which an attentive spectator familiar with the novel can easily recognize.Before a year had elapsed,on May 24,2017,the world was rocked when Taiwan's highest court ruled in favor of gay marriage,paving the way for it to become the very first place in Asia to legalize same-sex unions.4See BBC's coverage:http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-40012047,[July 5,2017].While Taiwan's relatively permissive environment has made a queer cinematization possible,on June 30,2017,new guidelines for regulating the content of online videos were implemented in mainland China,in which homosexuality,along with incest,sexual perversion,and sexual assault,falls into the category of “abnormal sexual behaviors,” and its depiction is to be strictly prohibited.5See Xinhua's coverage:http://news.xinhuanet.com/zgjx/2017-07/01/c136409024.htm,[July 5,2017].In addition,in the latest mainland TV adaptation of the novel,launched in 2010,homoerotic themes in the original are considerably toned down.6For an example,see 趙朝永：《〈紅樓夢(mèng)〉“男風(fēng)”文化英譯對(duì)比研究》，《紅樓夢(mèng)學(xué)刊》2014年第4期，第326頁(yè)。[ZHAO Chaoyong,“Honglou meng ‘nanfeng' wenhua yingyi duibi yanjiu” (A Comparative Study of English Translations of A Dream of Red Mansions in Terms of Male Love),Studies in A Dream of Red Mansions 4 (2014):326.]This divergence is telling:though boasting “the longest documented period of tolerance [of homosexuality] in human history,”7Louis Crompton,Homosexuality and Civilization (Cambridge,MA,and London:Harvard University Press,2003),243.the Chinese have been struggling to make sense of this heritage.It is high time we tossed an analytical look at this millennia-old homosexual8In many cases I have refrained from using the terms “homosexual” and “homosexuality” and substituted them with more generic terms like “homoerotic desire” or “male love” for fear of anachronism.When I do use the adjective “homosexual,” it merely denotes “pertaining to same-sex love” with no essentialist claims.As first put forward by Michel Foucault and later championed by,among others,David M.Halperin,the coinage and adoption of the term “homosexuality” in the late nineteenth century signal a “paradigm shift” that gave rise to an altogether new concept.See David M.Halperin,One Hundred Years of Homosexuality (New York and London:Routledge,1990),15—18.For the original insight,see Michel Foucault,The History of Sexuality,vol.1,trans.Robert Hurley (London:Penguin Books,1998),43.For a discussion of different views on this issue of terminology,see Giovanni Vitiello,The Libertine's Friend: Homosexuality &Masculinity in Late Imperial China (Chicago and London:The University of Chicago Press,2011),13—14.tradition,andHonglou mengwould serve as a good starting point.

InHonglou meng,as in many other vernacular novels from late imperial China,male love spans virtually all social strata with varying degrees of involvement.9For a useful list of Ming and Qing fictional works that feature same-sex love,see 施曄：《中國(guó)古代文學(xué)中的同性戀書寫研究》，上海：上海人民出版社，2008年，第638—647頁(yè)。[SHI Ye,Zhongguo gudai wenxue zhong de tongxinglian shuxie yanjiu (Studies in the Homosexual Writings of Traditional Chinese Literature),Shanghai:Shanghai People's Publishing House,2008,638—47.]At one end of the spectrum are men like Feng Yuan 馮淵,“a confirmed queer and not interested in girls” 酷愛男風(fēng)，不好女色10Variants of this phrase include “酷愛男風(fēng)，最厭女色” ([he] is a confirmed queer and finds girls repellent) and “酷愛男風(fēng)，不甚近女色” ([he] is a confirmed queer and only approaches girls once in a while).See Tze-lan D.Sang, The Emerging Lesbian: Female Same-Sex Desire in Modern China (Chicago and London:University of Chicago Press,2003),309.(SS1:112);many others,like Jia Baoyu 賈寶玉,Qin Zhong 秦鐘,and Xue Pan 薛蟠,keep dubious relations with both sexes;even such an inveterate womanizer as Jia Lian 賈璉 would take the occasional excursion down “the South,”11For a useful (albeit incomplete) catalogue of Chinese terms related to homoeroticism,see Hinsch, Passions of the Cut Sleeve,203.See also Vitiello,The Libertine's Friend,16 and 255—63.“slaking his fires on the more presentable of his pages” 小廝們內(nèi)有清俊的選來出火 (SS1:424—5).In terms of class,men as dignitary as the Prince of Beijing 北靜王 and the Prince of Zhongshun 忠順王 and as humble as mere pages and actors are all passionate practitioners.12The Prince of Beijing and Baoyu are on dubiously intimate terms,which is discussed in more detail below.As for the Prince of Zhongshun,in Chapter 33,he sends his chamberlain to the Jia mansion to demand the actor Jiang Yuhan 蔣玉菡 back,for the latter is “so skilled in anticipating his wishes and so essential to his peace of mind that it would be utterly impossible for him to dispense with his services” 隨機(jī)應(yīng)答，謹(jǐn)慎老成，甚合我老人家的心，竟斷斷少不得此人 (SS 2:143).An example of male love among the lower orders can be found in Chapter 65,where Jia Zhen's 賈珍 page Xi'er 喜兒 (Happy),heavily drunk,mumbles to other young manservants proposing that they should have “a bit of bum-cake”公公道道的貼一爐子燒餅 (an euphemism for anal sex) (SS 3:279).See Hinsch, Passions of the Cut Sleeve,147 and 吳曉龍：《〈紅樓夢(mèng)〉“貼燒餅”考釋》，《紅樓夢(mèng)學(xué)刊》2008年第5期，第336—340頁(yè)。[WU Xiaolong,“Honglou meng ‘tie shaobing' kaoshi” (On the Term “tie shaobing” in A Dream of Red Mansions),Studies in A Dream of Red Mansions 5 (2008):336—40.]But this alone is not enough to distinguishHonglou mengfrom such works asJin Ping Mei《金瓶梅》(The Plum in the Golden Vase) orGuwang yan《姑妄言》(Nonsense),wherein male love is equally ubiquitous,if not more so.13For a detailed comparison of Honglou meng and Guwang yan in terms of male love,see 施曄：《中國(guó)古代文學(xué)中的同性戀書寫研究》，第532—552頁(yè)。[SHI Ye,Zhongguo gudai wenxue zhong de tongxinglian shuxie yanjiu (Studies in the Homosexual Writings of Traditional Chinese Literature),532—52.] A brief discussion of male love in Jin Ping Mei can be found in Vitiello,The Libertine's Friend,39—41.What is unique aboutHonglou mengis its dualization of homoerotic desire and the “l(fā)ust of mind” mode of male love propounded therein.

In the current paper,I first expound the “l(fā)ust of mind” mode of male love inHonglou meng,and then trace its reception (and distortion) in later derivative works (including various sequels,pastiches,and adaptations).In the conclusion I suggest possible inspirations that may be drawn from this unique model that could enrich contemporary queer theory and enlighten LGBT movements in Chinese societies.

Before proceeding any further,a methodological throat-clearing is in order.The prestigious American sociologist David Greenberg divides the social expressions of homosexuality outside of the modern West into four categories:“trans-generational homosexuality,” which involves the determination of social and often sexual roles according to relative age;“trans-genderal homosexuality,” wherein one partner acts and even dresses as a woman,thereby allowing the relationship to be structured according to masculine/feminine roles;“class-structured homosexuality,” where inequality of wealth allows members of one class to purchase the sexual services of another;and “egalitarian homosexuality,”14Alternatively designated as “peer homosexuality.” See Thomas K.Hubbard,“Peer Homosexuality,” in Thomas K.Hubbard,ed.,A Companion to Greek and Roman Sexualities (Malden and Oxford:Blackwell Publishing Ltd.,2014),128—49.under which mode active/passive roles either do not exist,are unstable,or lack reference to social status.15David F.Greenberg,The Construction of Homosexuality (Chicago and London:The University of Chicago Press,1988),25.This typology can generally illuminate the social manifestations of homosexuality in premodern China.16Bret Hinsch makes exemplary use of this framework in his Passions of the Cut Sleeve,11—13.The “transgenerational” and “class-structured” types are the most common in traditional Chinese sources and are often interlocked,as in various forms of male prostitution,master-servant relationships,and the lifelong bonds betweenqi xiongdi契兄弟 (sworn brothers) in premodern Fujian,according to which the “sworn older brother” is expected to pay all the expenses of his “younger brother,” including those incurred by his wedding (to a woman).17For a brief description of the latter,see Vitiello,The Libertine's Friend,27—28.Examples of the “trans-genderal” type can normally be found in societies that include ritualized homosexuality as part of religion,a scenario largely missing in traditional Chinese sources;however,the stylized world of the theater that promotes female impersonation may well fill its place.The “egalitarian” mode is relatively rare except with adolescents and in some literati friendships,but is the most relevant of all four in the following discussion.

2.Dualizing Homoerotic Desire and “Lust of Mind”

In his groundbreaking essay “The Two Worlds ofHonglou meng” Yü Ying-shih余英時(shí)eloquently argues that two worlds in sharp contrast are created in this great novel,namely the “Utopian world” and the “world of reality”18Yü Ying-shih,“The Two Worlds of Honglou meng (Dream of the Red Chamber),” trans.Diana Yu,in Yü Ying-shih,Chinese History and Culture,vol.2,eds.J.Chiu-Duke and M.S.Duke (New York:Columbia University Press,2016),134—51.This essay is based on a lecture delivered at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1973.The Chinese original is余英時(shí)：《紅樓夢(mèng)的兩個(gè)世界》，《香港中文大學(xué)學(xué)報(bào)》1974年第2期，第217—239頁(yè)。[Yü Ying—shih,“Honglou meng de liangge shijie” (The Two Worlds of A Dream of Red Mansions), Journal of the Chinese University of Hong Kong 2 (1974):217—39.]:

These two worlds,as embodied in the novel,are the world of Daguanyuan 大觀園 and the world that existed outside it.The difference between these two worlds is indicated by a variety of opposing symbols,such as “purity” (qing清) and “impurity” (zhuo濁),“l(fā)ove” (qing情) and “l(fā)ust” (yin淫),“falsity” (jia假) and “truth” (zhen真) and the two sides of the Precious Mirror of Romance.19Yü,“The Two Worlds of Honglou meng,” 134.

This powerful assertion has since inspired new avenues forHongxue紅學(xué) (“Redology”,the study ofHonglou meng) as well as aroused much controversy.20For a brief summary of criticisms of Yü's “Two Worlds” theory,see 陳維昭：《紅學(xué)通史》，上卷，上海：上海人民出版社，2005年，第295—303頁(yè)。[CHEN Weizhao, Hongxue tongshi (A Comprehensive History of Redology),vol.1,Shanghai:Shanghai People's Publishing House,2005,295—303.] His opponents typically argue that Yü has painted too idealized a picture of Daguanyuan to take into account the ferocious internal power struggle actually happening in the garden,and that his essay has misled many to take positivism for the single greatest obstacle to the development of “Redology.”Despite heated dispute,Yü's dichotomous characterization proves a useful tool especially for making sense of the author's complicated attitude toward the relationship between “l(fā)ove” and “l(fā)ust.”

In Chapter 5,the fairy Jinghuan xianzi警幻仙子 (Disenchantment) offers the following theorization of “l(fā)ust”:

In principle,of course,all lust is the same.But the word has many different meanings.For example,the typically lustful man in the common sense of the word is a man who likes a pretty face,who is fond of singing and dancing,who is inordinately given to flirtation;one who makes love in season and out of season,and who,if he could,would like to have every pretty girl in the world at his disposal,to gratify his desires whenever he felt like it.Such a person is a mere brute.His isa shallow,promiscuous kind of lust.

But your kind of lust is different.That blind,defenceless love with which nature has filled your being is what we call here “l(fā)ust of the mind.” “Lust of the mind” cannot be explained in words,nor,if it could,would you be able to grasp their meaning.Either you know what it means or you don't.(SS1:146)

淫雖一理，意則有別。如世之好淫者，不過悅?cè)菝玻哺栉?，調(diào)笑無饜，云雨無時(shí)，恨不能盡天下之美女供我片時(shí)之趣興，此皆皮膚淫濫之蠢物耳。如爾，則天分中生出一段癡情，吾輩推之為“意淫”?！耙庖倍?，惟心會(huì)而不可口傳，可神通而不可語達(dá)。

Although thisyiyin意淫21This term seems to be a borrowing from the ancient Chinese medical treatise Huangdi neijing 《黃帝內(nèi)經(jīng)》(Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine).In the original medical context it simply means “excessive desire.” See Li Zhaoguo,trans.,Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine: Plain Conversation,vol.2,bilingual ed.(Beijing:World Publishing Corporation,2005),524—25.I thank one of my anonymous reviewers for drawing my attention to this text.(lust of mind) is supposedly inexplicable in words,we may catch a glimpse of it reading between the lines.According to Disenchantment,“[e]very act of love,every carnal congress of the sexes is brought about precisely because sensual delight in beauty has kindled the feeling of love” 巫山之會(huì)，云雨之歡，皆由既悅其色，復(fù)戀其情所致也.The age-old pretension of philanderers that “it is woman's beauty alone that inspires them,or loving feelings alone,unsullied by any taint of lust”以“好色不淫”為飾，又以“情而不淫”作案 is debunked by Disenchantment as sheer hypocrisy and hoary platitude.Therefore,love is not only compatible with lust (read “sensual delight” or even “carnal congress”) but inextricably entangled with it.What differentiates it from its antithesis,that “shallow,promiscuous kind of lust” 皮膚淫濫,is that those gifted with “l(fā)ust of mind” are able to sublimate sensual delight into spiritual love while those lechers belonging to the latter category are too preoccupied with quenching their carnal desires to consider anything transcendental.In light of Yü's dualization theory,this contrast is much more significant and realistic than simply contrasting “spiritual love” with “bodily lust.” It is exactly in this former sense that Baoyu is dubbed “the mostlustfulperson...in the whole world” 天下古今第一淫人 (SS1:145).

This opposition is highly reminiscent of the two types of love that Pausanias speaks of in Plato'sSymposium:on the one hand there exists a “common love,” inspired by Aphrodite Pandemos,which affects men of little worth who lavish their affections indiscriminately on women and boys,and who are more given to bodies than to souls;on the other hand,there is a “heavenly love,” inspired by Aphrodite Urania (a derivative of which,uranism,was adopted by nineteenth-century Hellenists as a precursor of the word “homosexuality”),which is the feeling of the noble lover of boys,whose respectable intentions would drive himself to court his boy in every possible way so as to assure the latter of the serious nature of his love.According to Plato this noble love is reserved exclusively for the truly noble lover of boys,and in his idealized vision of male love,carnal pleasure of any form is unacceptable.22Plato,Symposium,trans.Alexander Nehamas and Paul Woodruff,in Plato: Complete Works,eds.John M.Cooper and D.S.Hutchinson (Indianapolis and Cambridge:Hackett Publishing Company,1997),457—505.This speech is found in 465—69.As has been shown above,it is exactly this “heavenly” (read Platonic) love that Disenchantment dismisses as sheer hypocrisy.The dualization of lust inHonglou mengis more like a further differentiation within the realm of “common love.” As convincingly argued by Eva Cantarella,Plato's “heavenly love” is no more than a philosopher's vision,and in Greek reality it was the norm for the lover and his boy to be sexually involved.23Eva Cantarella,Bisexuality in the Ancient World,trans.Cormac ó Cuilleanáin,2nd ed.(New Haven and London:Yale University Press,2002),17—22.

Exemplars of that “shallow,promiscuous kind of lust” include,unsurprisingly,Xue Pan and Jia Lian,who practice male love merely to gratify their carnal desires.Among Xue Pan's memorable exploits are the uproar in the classroom (Chapter 9) and his pursuit of Liu Xianglian which ends with him taking a fearful beating by the latter (Chapter 47).One is also reminded of Jia Lian's predicament,“what with fear of his jealous wife on the one hand and fear of his fancy boys on the other” 內(nèi)懼嬌妻，外懼孌童 (SS1:425;Chapter 21).By contrast,the “l(fā)ust of mind” as reflected in Baoyu's relations with his male friends has a much subtler pattern.

3.Baoyu's Four Bosom Friends

Throughout the first 80 chapters of the novel,Baoyu has four major intimate male friends,namely Qin Zhong,Liu Xianglian 柳湘蓮,Jiang Yuhan 蔣玉菡,and the Prince of Beijing,and the narratives of their homoerotic encounters follow more or less the same pattern that tallies perfectly with Disenchantment's theorization and that comprises three elements:(1) a connoisseurial appreciation of each other's exquisite and androgynous outer beauty on the first meeting,(2) a vaguely hinted-at sexual relationship,and (3) evidence of the two's spiritual union.

Qin Zhong,in his first appearance,is portrayed as “a youth who,though somewhat thinner than Baoyu,was more than his equal in freshness and liveliness of feature,in delicacy of complexion,handsomeness of figure,and grace of deportment,but whose painful bashfulness created a somewhat girlish impression” 一個(gè)小后生……較寶玉略瘦些，眉清目秀，粉面朱唇，身材俊俏，舉止風(fēng)流，似在寶玉之上，只是怯怯羞羞，有女兒之態(tài) (SS1:177).The scene of their first encounter is especially affectionate:

When Baoyu first set eyes on Qin Zhong it had been as though part of his soul had left him.For a while he stared blankly,oblivious to all around him,while a stream of idle fancies passed through his mind.

“How perfect he is! Who would have believed there could be such perfection? Now that I have seen him I know that I am just a pig wallowing in the mud,a mangy dog! Why,why did I have to be born in this pretentious aristocratic household? Why couldn't I have been born in the family of some poor scholar or low-grade clerk?Then I could have been near him and got to know him,and my life would have been worth living.Though I am so much richer and more nobly born than he,what use are my fine clothes but to cover up the dead and rotten wood beneath? What use the luxuries I eat and drink but to fill the cesspit and swell the stinking sewer of my inside? O rank and riches! How you poison everything!”

At the same time,Qin Zhong,struck by Baoyu's rare good looks and princely bearing and—even more perhaps—by the golden coronet and embroidered clothing and the train of pretty maids and handsome pages who attended him,was thinking:

“No wonder my sister raves about him whenever his name is mentioned! Why did I have to be born in a poor respectable family? How I should have liked to get to know him:to have shared moments of warmth and affection with him! But it was not to be!”

Each,plunged in reverie,for a while said nothing.Then Baoyu asked Qin Zhong about his reading,and Qin Zhong replied—a full,frank reply,without the trappings of politeness:and presently they were in the midst of a delightful conversation and were already like old friends.(SS1:178-9)

那寶玉自見了秦鐘的人品出眾，心中似有所失，癡了半日，自己心中又起了呆意，乃自思道：“天下竟有這等人物！如今看來，我竟成了泥豬癩狗了?？珊尬覟槭裁瓷谶@侯門公府之家，若也生在寒門薄宦之家，早得與他交結(jié)，也不枉生了一世。我雖如此比他尊貴，可知錦繡紗羅，也不過裹了我這根死木頭；美酒羊羔，也不過填了我這糞窟泥溝?！毁F’二字，不料遭我荼毒了！”秦鐘自見了寶玉形容出眾，舉止不凡，更兼金冠繡服，驕婢侈童，心中亦自思道：“果然這寶玉怨不得人溺愛他?？珊尬移谇搴?，不能與他耳鬢交接，可知‘貧窶’二字限人，亦世間之大不快事?！倍艘粯拥暮紒y想。忽然寶玉問他讀什么書。秦鐘見問，因而答以實(shí)話。二人你言我語，十來句后，越覺親密起來。

Each feels ashamed of his unworthiness,regrets that he could not have met the other earlier,and the two instantly become the best of friends—all classic signs of love at first sight.The feelings they harbor for each other are unmistakably far beyond friendship and are described in a language typically employed in accounts of heterosexual love as in traditionalcaizi jiaren才子佳人 (“Scholar and Beauty”) fiction.Just as Wang Xifeng 王熙鳳 observes,Baoyu has truly met his “match” (SS1:177)! Then a sexual relationship between the two is hinted at.Toward the end of Chapter 15,Qin Zhong is surprised by Baoyu during his liaison with Zhineng 智能 (Sapientia) the nun,and,in exchange for Baoyu's discretion,offers to do “anything” the latter wants,to which Baoyu suggestively replies:“Wait until we are both in bed and I'll settle accounts with you then” 等一會(huì)睡下，再細(xì)細(xì)的算賬 (SS1:299—300).Yet the narrator refrains from elaborating on how the “accounts” are to be settled:

As for the“settling of accounts” that Baoyu had proposed to Qin Zhong,we have been unable to ascertain exactly what form this took;and as we would not for the world be guilty of a fabrication,we must allow the matter to remain a mystery.(SS1:300)

寶玉不知與秦鐘算何賬目，未見真切，未曾記得，此系懸案，不敢纂創(chuàng)。

There is no way of knowing all the details of Boayu's relationship with Liu Xianglian,probably due to later omission.24Many important episodes are missing from the extant versions of the novel,probably because of later editing in the course of copying,or Cao Xueqin never had the chance to fill in the blanks.See 施曄：《中國(guó)古代文學(xué)中的同性戀書寫研 究》，第541頁(yè)。[SHI Ye,Zhongguo gudai wenxue zhong de tongxinglian shuxie yanjiu (Studies in the Homosexual Writings of Traditional Chinese Literature),541.]In the extant versions of the novel,Liu Xianglian appears for the first time only in Chapter 47,where Baoyu treats him rather affectionately and asks him if he has recently visited Qin Zhong's grave (the latter has died from a beating administered by his father in Chapter 16).Liu claims to have taken meticulous care of their late friend's grave despite his dire poverty.Baoyu,also concerned with Qin Zhong,has had lotus pods offered at his grave.In Chapter 66,when they meet again after about a year,we are told they are “always wonderfully at ease in each other's company” 如魚得水 (again a phrase typically used to describe a heterosexual and usually sexual relationship) and Liu Xianglian feels comfortable enough to ask Baoyu about private family matters (SS3:302).The closeness of the trio is therefore apparent,though other details of their relations are nowhere to be found in any extant version.

In Chapter 28,Baoyu meets the female impersonator Jiang Yuhan 蔣玉菡 at a banquet hosted by Xue Pan:“Much taken with the actor's winsome looks and gentleness of manner,Baoyu impulsively took his hand and gave it a squeeze” 寶玉見他嫵媚溫柔，心中十分留戀，便緊緊的搭著他的手 (SS2:61).Again a language typical of heterosexual romance is employed,and that “squeeze” might even carry a sexual connotation.They go as far as to exchange theirhanjinzi汗巾子 (cummerbunds),a token of unusual intimacy.Later Baoyu is willing to help him escape from the Prince of Zhongshun at great personal risk.25Pai Hsien-yung believes that Jiang Yuhan runs away in order to be with Baoyu.See 白先勇：《賈寶玉的俗緣：蔣玉菡與花襲人——兼論紅樓夢(mèng)的結(jié)局意義》，《聯(lián)合文學(xué)》1986年第15期，第25—30頁(yè)。[PAI Hsien-yung,“Jia Baoyu de suyuan:Jiang Yuhan yu Hua Xiren:jianlun Honglou meng de jieju yiyi” (Jia Baoyu's Mortal Entanglement:Jiang Yuhan and Hua Xiren,with Some Remarks on the Meaning of the Ending of A Dream of Red Mansions),Unitas 15 (1986):25—30.] Shi Ye,out of more practical concerns,deduces that Jiang Yuhan would not dare defy the Prince of Zhongshun for Baoyu's sake;he must have fallen for someone much more powerful and prestigious,a man like the Prince of Beijing himself,and Baoyu is acting as a mere intermediary.See 施曄：《中國(guó)古代文學(xué)中的同性戀書寫研究》，第539頁(yè)。[SHI Ye,Zhongguo gudai wenxue zhong de tongxinglian shuxie yanjiu (Studies in the Homosexual Writings of Traditional Chinese Literature),539.]In Chapter 33,the prince's chamberlain is sent to the Jia mansion to demand the actor back,and he is aware of the exchange of keepsakes.At this point Baoyu reflects:

“If he knows even a private thing like that,” he thought,“there's little likelihood of my being able to hoodwink him about anything else.I'd better get rid of him as quickly as possible,before he can say any more.” (SS2:144)

“這話他如何得知！他既連這樣機(jī)密事都知道了，大約別的瞞他不過，不如打發(fā)他去了，免得再說出別的事來?！?/p>

Once again carnal knowledge is suggested,yet once again the narrator takes pains to avoid any direct description of sex acts.26There can also be found hints of carnal knowledge between Baoyu and girls other than Xiren 襲人 (Aroma),who seems to be the only unequivocal sexual partner of Baoyu's throughout the novel (Chapter 6).An example can be found in Chapter 31 where Qingwen晴雯 (Skybright) jeers at Baoyu:“I still remember that time you got Emerald to help you bathe.You must have been two or three hours [sic.] in there,so that we began to get quite worried.We didn't like to go in while you were there,but when we did go in to have a look afterwards,we found water all over the floor,pools of water round the legs of the bed,and even the mat on the bed had water splashed all over it.Heaven only knows what you'd been up to.We laughed about it for days afterwards” 還記得碧痕打發(fā)你洗澡，足有兩三個(gè)時(shí)辰，也不知道作什么呢。我們也不好進(jìn)去的。后來洗完了，進(jìn)去瞧瞧，地下的水淹著床腿，連席子上都汪著水，也不知是怎么洗了，笑了幾天 (SS 2:115).As with Baoyu's homoerotic encounters,the narrator takes pains to avoid any direct description of sex acts.

The Prince of Beijing is said to be “a youth still in his teens—a young man of great personal beauty”年未弱冠，生得形容秀美 (SS1:285).Even Baoyu sees him as “an arrestingly handsome young man” with “l(fā)uminous eyes” and “finely chiseled features” 面如美玉，目似明星，真好秀麗人物,and the prince in turn admires Baoyu's “flowerlike face and coal-black eyes” 面若春花，目若點(diǎn)漆 (SS1:288).Not only does the prince invite Baoyu to “converse with” him from time to time “to improve his education” 常去談會(huì)談會(huì)，則學(xué)問可以日進(jìn)矣 (SS1:289),he also lavishes Baoyu with such valuable and considerate gifts as His Imperial Majesty's rosary (Chapter 15) and a full set of rainwear (Chapter 45).In return Baoyu would rather endure a sound beating than give up his name.(Chapter 33) As for the more private aspects of the two's friendship,the only clue we have is in Chapter 24 where Baoyu is said to have “gone off first thing that morning to call on the Prince of Beijing” 一早便往北靜王府里去了,with whom he would stay all day.(SS1:482—3) This relative reticence might have been due to the Chinese habit ofwei zunzhe hui為尊者諱 (avoiding mentioning the private lives of your superiors).

At this point,it should be apparent that Baoyu and his four friends form two “l(fā)ove triangles”—one between Baoyu,Qin Zhong,and Liu Xianglian (as indicated in the episode from Chapter 47),the other between Baoyu,Jiang Yuhan,and the Prince of Beijing (as indicated by the passing-on of the cummerbund from the prince to Jiang Yuhan and then to Baoyu).Their relationships have some striking features:first,it is largely regardless of relative class status since it involves people as eminent as the prince and as humble as actors;secondly,it is free of jealousy since it exists in the form of “l(fā)ove triangles”;thirdly,it does not exclude carnal pleasures with deliberately vague assignment of sexual roles;lastly,it is an integral part of their social life.27Goyama Kiwamu 合山 究 creatively interprets Baoyu's same-sex affairs as a symptom of Gender Identity Disorder (GID).His theory,though meticulously argued,overlooks the subtlety and significance of the love between Baoyu and his friends.See his『紅樓夢(mèng)』―性同一性障礙者のユートピア小說，東京都：汲古書院，2011。[Goyama Kiwamu,“Kouroumu”:Seidouitsusei syougaisya no utopiasyousetsu (Honglou meng:A Utopian Novel for Patients of Gender Identity Disorder),Tokyo:Kyuko shoin,2011.] Another study along this positivist pathological line is Dore J.Levy,“‘Why Bao-yu Can't Concentrate':Attention Deficit Disorder in The Story of the Stone,” Literature and Medicine 13,no.2:255—73.Given these distinct features,this mode of male love approximates Greenberg's “egalitarian homosexuality.”28Such cases are quite rare in traditional Chinese writings on male same-sex love,since in most cases a hierarchical division between the penetrant and penetrated roles is obvious.Li Yu's play Lianxiang ban 《憐 香 伴》(Women in Love),which is about a lesbian passion between two upper class ladies,and the novella “Qingxia ji”《情俠紀(jì)》(Love and Chivalry) in the Ming collection Bian er chai 《弁而釵》(Caps and Hairpins),which celebrates the heroic love between two Confucian knight-errants,are two cases in point.For brief discussions of the two,see respectively Patrick Hanan,The Invention of Li Yu (Cambridge,MA and London:Harvard University Press,1988),15 and Vitiello, The Libertine's Friend,72—78.

By comparison,in Xue Pan and Jia Lian's same-sex relations featuring that “shallow,promiscuous kind of lust,” sexual roles are always determined by relative age and social status with “presentable” pages or female impersonators acting as the quintessential passive partner;their relations are jealousy-ridden,are defined by carnal pleasures,and are at best a pet diversion to the dominant partner.Therefore they can largely be illuminated by Greenburg's “trans-generational,” “class-structured,” and “trans-genderal” modes.

Notably,conflicts occur time and again between the two modes of male love,with Xue Pan as the personification of that “shallow,promiscuous kind of lust” interfering constantly in Baoyu's same-sex relations.In Chapter 47,Xue Pan attempts to seduce Liu Xianglian,only to receive a sound beating from the latter.Another example is found in Chapter 34:trying to exhort Baoyu after the fearful flogging,Xue Baochai 薛寶釵recalls “the terrible trouble [Xue Pan] made for [Baoyu] that time over Qin Zhong” 當(dāng)日為個(gè)秦鐘，還鬧的天翻地覆 (SS2:157).Presumably Xue Pan made quite a scene through jealousy of Baoyu's intimacy with Qin Zhong,but this important episode is nowhere to be found in any of the extant versions.

Baoyu is most famous for this extraordinary quip:“Girls are made of water and boys are made of mud.When I am with girls I feel fresh and clean,but when I am with boys I feel stupid and nasty”女兒是水作的骨肉，男人是泥作的骨肉。我見了女兒，我便清爽；見了男人，便覺濁臭逼人 (SS1:76).But obviously his four bosom friends are exceptions that prove the rule.This is partly because they are nothing like thoseludu祿蠹 (career worms),eager to pass the royal examinations and secure an official appointment,whom Baoyu despises.(SS1:391) Even the Prince of Beijing,the most dignitary among the five,is described as “a quite jolly,unconventional sort of person who refused to let either his royal birth or the conventions of official life constrain him” 風(fēng)流瀟灑，每不以官俗國(guó)體所縛 (SS1:287).On the other hand,they are all distinguished with fine features comparable to those of a beautiful girl:Jiang Yuhan is a female impersonator while Liu Xianglian is “a keen amateur actor” specializing in “romantic roles” 串的都是生旦風(fēng)月戲文 (SS2:437—8).Moreover,even their names are suggestive:Qin Zhong's name is homonymous with eitherqingzhong情種 (an affectionate person) orqingzhong情鐘 (deeply in love);bothhan菡 (of Jiang Yuhan) andlian蓮 (of Liu Xianglian) are aliases for the lotus,which in the Chinese context symbolizes purity of character despite a corrupting environment29The locus classicus of this motif is the Song Dynasty writer Zhou Dunyi's 周敦頤 short essay “Ai lian shuo”《愛蓮說》(A Disquisition on the Love of the Lotus).An old but excellent translation titled “The Languages of Flowers” can be found in Herbert A.Giles,ed.and trans.,Gems of Chinese Literature (Shanghai:Kelly and Walsh,1922),185.The aforementioned offering of lotus pods at Qin Zhong's grave seems also related to this.;the Prince of Beijing is named Shuirong 水溶 (dissolved in water),a direct echo of Baoyu's “water and mud” theory.Interestingly,Baoyu's female companions seem unable to distinguish them from other vulgar men.For instance,Baoyu tries to pass on the Prince of Beijing's presents to Daiyu twice and is resolutely rejected on both occasions (Chapters 16 and 45).Daiyu says in the first instance:“What,carry a thing that a coarsemanhas pawed over?Idon't want it!” 什么臭男人拿過的！我不要他 (SS1:307;cf.the aforementioned passing-on of the cummerbund).However,the predetermined marriage between Jiang Yuhan and Xiren 襲人(Aroma),Baoyu's intimate maid,as indicated in the predictive verse assigned to the latter (Chapter 5),might suggest the ultimate compatibility of Baoyu's lovers of both sexes,both being made of water rather than mud.30Pai Hsien-yung proposes an alternative interpretation of their marriage:Jiang Yuhan acts as Baoyu's incarnation and enjoys mortal bliss on the latter's behalf.See 白先勇：《賈寶玉的俗緣：蔣玉菡與花襲人——兼論紅樓夢(mèng)的結(jié)局意義》，第27—29頁(yè)。[PAI Hsien-yung,“Jia Baoyu de suyuan:Jiang Yuhan yu Hua Xiren:jianlun Honglou meng de jieju yiyi” (Jia Baoyu's Mortal Entanglement:Jiang Yuhan and Hua Xiren,with Some Remarks on the Meaning of the Ending of A Dream of Red Mansions),27—29.]

Homoerotic fiction beforeHonglou mengas a rule brims with pornographic descriptions while putting up a fa?ade of cautionary tales warning against the danger of promiscuity.31李夢(mèng)生：《中國(guó)禁毀小說百話》，上海：上海辭書出版社，2017年，第150—159頁(yè)，第188—194頁(yè)及第204—210頁(yè)。[LI Mengsheng,Zhongguo jinhui xiaoshuo baihua (A Study of One Hundred Banned Works of Fiction in Late Imperial China),Shanghai:Shanghai Dictionaries Publishing House,2017,150—59,199—94 and 204—10.] See also 施曄：《中國(guó)古代文學(xué)中的同性戀書寫研究》，第535—538頁(yè)。[SHI Ye,Zhongguo gudai wenxue zhong de tongxinglian shuxie yanjiu (Studies in the Homosexual Writings of Traditional Chinese Literature),535—38.]In addition,some stories of Li Yu 李漁offer mock praise of same-sex romances that conform with Confucian ethics.32“Nan mengmu jiaohe sanqian”《男孟母教合三遷》(A Male Mencius's Mother Raises Her Son Properly) in Wusheng xi 《無聲戲》(Silent Operas) upholds womanly virtues while “Cuiya lou”《萃雅樓》(The House of Gathered Refinements) in Shi'er lou 《十二樓》(Twelve Towers) eulogizes loyalty to one's master and the emperor.An English translation of the former by Gopal Sukhu and Patrick Hanan can be found in Li Yu,Silent Operas,ed.Patrick Hanan (Hong Kong:The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press,1990),99—134.The latter is translated in Li Yu,A Tower for the Summer Heat,trans.Patrick Hanan (New York:Ballantine Books,1992),83—115.But this dualization of male love and especially the “l(fā)ust of mind” mode that verges on Greenberg's “egalitarian homosexuality” are peculiar toHonglou meng.

4.Vulgarization of Male Love in Later Derivative Works33All translations in this section are mine.

Sequels toHonglou mengstarted appearing only several years after the publication of the first printed edition (1791).Each of the sequel writers condemns other sequels as nonsense and heresy while claiming to be the sole heir to Cao Xueqin's original.34See for example 李夢(mèng)生：《中國(guó)禁毀小說百話》，第380—382頁(yè)及第419—421頁(yè)。[LI Mengsheng,Zhongguo jinhui xiaoshuo baihua (A Study of One Hundred Banned Works of Fiction in Late Imperial China),380—82 and 419—21.]Unfortunately,most of them are far from what they claim to be.Besides subpar writing skills and cliched plots,they more often than not regress to the well-trodden path of cheap erotica in terms of their treatment of male love.

Meaningfully,many of the sequels focus their narration of male love on Jiang Yuhan,a reasonable choice since (1) he is destined to marry Aroma after the fall of the Jias (Chapter 5) and (2) female impersonators were constantly poked fun at as the quintessential passive role in sex between men.An early example is found in Chapter 23 of Qin Zichen's 秦子忱Xu Honglou meng《續(xù)紅樓夢(mèng)》(Sequel toDream of the Red Mansions,1799)35The year of publication of the earliest extant version of the work according to Li Mengsheng.Same hereinafter.where Aroma regrets marrying the actor:

“Despite Jiang Yuhan's handsome looks...he is after all a lowly man.Worse still,he used to sleep with other [men].Now that I sleep with him,it seems unavoidable that he would,in the heat of the moment,describe my behaviour in the boudoir to his [male] lover[s].If so,how would I look?”...“I say you'd better dismiss the idea [of marrying Baoyu]....‘Better be the head of an ass than the tail of a horse!’ Don't you know the saying?” said Jiang Yuhan.“I assume you are no other than ‘the tail of a horse!’” retorted Aroma bitterly.

“雖說蔣玉函模樣兒風(fēng)流，……到底終覺下賤。況且他原是跟著人睡的人，如今我又跟著他睡，這就保不住他高興了把我枕席間的光景，告訴了他的相知之人，還有什么趣兒了呢？”……蔣玉函道：“我勸你……把這種妄心打退了罷?！畬帪殡u口，勿為牛后’。難道你連這兩句話也不懂的嗎？”。襲人道：“……據(jù)我想來，你才真是個(gè)‘牛后’呢?！?6（清）秦子忱：《續(xù)紅樓夢(mèng)》，北京：北京大學(xué)出版社，1988年，第301—303頁(yè)。[QIN Zichen,Xu Honglou meng (A Sequel to A Dream of Red Mansions),Beijing:Peking University Press,1988,301—3.]

This is the same kind of off-color humour typical of many folk jokes with catamites or male prostitutes as the butt (pun unintended).37See the chapter on “Homosexual Jokes” in 小明雄：《中國(guó)同性愛史錄》，增訂本，香港：粉紅三角出版社，2013年。[Xiaomingxiong,Zhongguo tongxing'ai shilu (A History of Same-Sex Love in China),Revised ed.,Hong Kong:Rosa Winkel Press,2013.]In Chapter 6 of Linhe Shanren's 臨鶴山人Honglou yuan meng《紅樓圓夢(mèng)》(Fulfilled Dream of Red Mansions,1814),Aroma even asks her husband:“Since you female impersonators habitually offer your ‘backyard flowers' [to guests],would you say that's the same with the front [of a woman]?” 你們做小旦的動(dòng)不動(dòng)獻(xiàn)后庭花，那個(gè)也同前面一樣嗎? To this,Jiang Yuhan replies:“You have to try it to find out” 一樣不一樣，你就試試.38（清）臨鶴山人：《紅樓圓夢(mèng)》，北京：北京大學(xué)出版社，1988年，第34頁(yè)。[Linhe Shanren,Honglou yuanmeng (Fulfilled Dream of Red Mansions),Beijing:Peking University Press,1988,34.]Worse still,Chapter 39 of Langao Zhuren's 蘭皋主人Qilou chong meng《綺樓重夢(mèng)》(Renewed Dream of Flowery Mansions,1805) further develops this theme and passes the sin down to the couple's child,who is a hermaphrodite:

That's it! His father was a female impersonator who naturally made use of the cavity in the rear,while his mother employed the one in the front.Now what he has is two in one,able of both the Southern [homosexual] and the Northern [heterosexual] styles.Our young master is truly blessed—he bought a maid who turns out to be also a rabbit [catamite]!39See n11.

是了，他父親是做戲旦的，自然用著后竅，母親是用前竅的。如今合成一孔，南北兩便。二爺好運(yùn)氣，買了一個(gè)丫頭，卻帶了一個(gè)兔子來哩。40（清）蘭皋主人：《綺樓重夢(mèng)》，北京：北京大學(xué)出版社，1990年，第252頁(yè)。[Langao Shanren,Qilou chongmeng (Renewed Dream of Flowery Mansions),Beijing:Peking University Press,1990,252.]

Another cheap joke with a hint of karmic retribution.

Fortunately,this is not always the case.The following scene with Baoyu's reincarnation Zhu Mengyu 祝夢(mèng)玉 and the actor Baoguan 寶官 from Chapter 35 of Chen Shaohai's 陳少海Honglou fu meng《紅樓復(fù)夢(mèng)》(Repeated Dream of Red Mansions,1799) is at least remotely reminiscent of the original:

Instead of selecting plays from the repertoire,Mengyu beheld to his ecstasy thatdanactor's coquettish and adorable features that beamed with sentiments....Still in full costume,Baoguan came to make a toast.In Mengyu's eye he looked exactly like a lovely young lady.Holding the actor's hands,he gasped in admiration but was barely able to squeeze out the word “You” before coming to a sudden halt.Then he simply took the cup from his hand and emptied it in one gulp.

夢(mèng)玉……且不點(diǎn)戲，看那小旦生得眉目含情，風(fēng)流嬌媚，令人可愛，心中十分歡喜，……寶官帶著裝，上來敬酒?！瓑?mèng)玉看他就活象美貌女兒，拉著他的手嘆道：“你……”，才要說出口來，忽然頓住，接了他的酒一飲而盡。41（清）陳少海：《紅樓復(fù)夢(mèng)》，北京：北京大學(xué)出版社，1988年，第161—162頁(yè)。[CHEN Shaohai,Honglou fu meng (Repeated Dream of Red Mansions),Beijing:Peking University Press,1988,161—62.]

Further development along this path culminates in Chen Sen's 陳森Pinhua baojian《品花寶鑒》(The Precious Mirror for the Appreciation of Flowers,1849),a sixty-chapter saga of love between scholars and actors.42See Hinsch,Passions of the Cut Sleeve,157—61 and Vitiello, The Libertine's Friend,134—36.This pastiche is undoubtedly the closest to the original among all derivative works in terms of its depiction of male love,but it replaces the contrast between the two kinds of

“l(fā)ust” with an oversimplified one betweenqing zhi zheng zhe情之正者 (the right kind of love,namely purely spiritual love) andqing zhi yin zhe情之淫者 (the promiscuous kind of love,namely purely bodily lust),thus losing much of the subtlety.43施曄：《中國(guó)古代文學(xué)中的同性戀書寫研究》，第436—445頁(yè)。[SHI Ye,Zhongguo gudai wenxue zhong de tongxinglian shuxie yanjiu (Studies in the Homosexual Writings of Traditional Chinese Literature),436—45.] Interestingly,Chen Sen's vision happens to be in perfect harmony with Plato's two types of love.

Besides a persistent interest in homoeroticism in a theatre setting,later adaptations tend to make explicit what is merely hinted at in the original.Many efforts were made to complement the missing episodes mentioned above.For example,in Wu Keqi's 吳克岐Gengwu laoren xiugaiben Honglou meng《庚午老人修改本紅樓夢(mèng)》(Old Man Gengwu's Revised Version ofHonglou meng),a lengthy episode is inserted in Chapter 9 in order to clarify exactly what “terrible trouble” Xue Pan made for Baoyu over Qin Zhong.44A manuscript edition of this work dating to the Republican era has survived.張杰：《斷袖文編》，第3卷，天津：天津古籍出版社，2013年，第1565—1566頁(yè)。[ZHANG Jie,ed.,Duanxiu wenbian (A Compilation of Traditional Chinese Sources on Homosexuality),vol.3,Tianjin:Tianjin Classics Publishing House,2013,1565—66.] See also 張杰：《〈紅樓夢(mèng)〉及其相關(guān)著作中的同性戀》，收入《趣味考據(jù)：中國(guó)古代同性戀圖考》，昆明：云南人民出版社，2008年，第299—300頁(yè)。[ZHANG Jie,“Honglou meng ji qi xiangguan zhuzuo zhong de tongxinglian” (Homosexuality in A Dream of Red Mansions and Related Works),in Quwei kaoju: Zhongguo gudai tongxinglian tukao (Pictorial Studies in Homosexuality of Traditional China),Kunming:Yunnan People's Publishing House,2008,299—300.] and 施曄：《中國(guó)古代文學(xué)中的同性戀書寫研究》，第539頁(yè)。[SHI Ye,Zhongguo gudai wenxue zhong de tongxinglian shuxie yanjiu (Studies in the Homosexual Writings of Traditional Chinese Literature),539.]Other works make homoeroticism their sole subject.Lifeng Louzhu's 儷鳳樓主guci鼓詞 (drumsong) pasticheMantou an《饅頭庵》(Wheatcake Priory) has Baoyu dress up as Sapientia and flirt shamelessly with Qin Zhong.45張杰：《斷袖文編》，第3卷，第1566—1573頁(yè)。[ZHANG Jie,ed.,Duanxiu wenbian (A Compilation of Traditional Chinese Sources on Homosexuality),vol.3,1566—73.]

In short,despite such rare exceptions asHonglou fu meng(Repeated Dream)andPinhua baojian(Precious Mirror),the overwhelming majority of derivative works dating from the late 1790s to the Republican years demonstrate a general tendency to vulgarize the male love theme of the original.Halvor Eifring observes that “[i]f theHonglou mengrepresents a path towards modernity,however,the reception of the novel seems to represent a step backwards,a path away from modernity.” Although his observation is based on an analysis of later developments of Baoyu's relations with the major female characters,it also holds true in the case of male love:the novel's “psychological subtlety” and “poly-semantic complexity” tend to be lost in the various sequels,pastiches and adaptations discussed above,and usually they emphasize different aspects of the novel,to the exclusion of other more significant ones.46Halvor Eifring,“The Honglou meng and Its Sequels:Paths towards and Away from Modernity,” in Paths toward Modernity:Conference to Mark the Centenary of Jaroslav Pr??ek,ed.Olga Lomová (Prague:Karolinum,2008),171—92.

5.Conclusion:“Friendship as a Way of Life”

In the early 1980s,a dying Michel Foucault bemoaned in a series of interviews the paucity of relational choices in contemporary society:

We live in a relational world that institutions have considerably impoverished.Society and the institutions which frame it have limited the possibility of relationships because a rich relational world would be very complex to manage....In effect,we live in a legal,social,and institutional world where the only relations possible are extremely few,extremely simplified,and extremely poor.There is,of course,the fundamental relation of marriage and the relations of family,but how many other relations should exist...!47Quoted in David M.Halperin,Saint Foucault: Towards a Gay Hagiography (New York;Oxford:Oxford University Press,1995),81—82.See also 李銀河：《同性戀亞文化》，呼和浩特：內(nèi)蒙古大學(xué)出版社，2009年，第445—458頁(yè)。[LI Yinhe,Tongxinglian yawenhua (The Homosexual Subculture),Hohhot:Inner Mongolia University Press,2009,445—58.]

According to him,the prevailing relations of power dictate that the possibility of human relations be limited to a manageable scale and under a handful of institutions such as marriage and family.As a result,a large realm of a person's social life—various forms of same-sex relations—remains to be valorized and institutionalized.Therefore society has much to fear about as well as much to gain from a gay lifestyle,since its development may precipitate changes in established routines on an unprecedentedly large scale:“By proposing a new relational right,we will see that non-homosexual people can enrich their lives by changing their own schema of relations.”48Michel Foucault,“The Social Triumph of the Sexual Will,” trans.Brendon Lemon,in The Essential Works of Michel Foucault 1954—1984,vol.1,ed.Paul Rabinow (New York:The New Press,1994),160.In this sense,homosexuality seeks to become a “friendship” and “a way of life,”49Michel Foucault,“Friendship as a Way of Life,” trans.John Johnston,in The Essential Works of Michel Foucault 1954—1984,vol.1,ed.Paul Rabinow (New York:The New Press,1994),135—40.a propensity for an enriched life,achoicethat everyone is free to make,rather than simply an innate predisposition.

This is where Baoyu's “l(fā)ust of mind” magically agrees with the Foucauldian vision of a rich relational society.According to my analysis above,this “egalitarian” male love between Baoyu and his bosom friends is an integral part of their social life—exactly a “friendship as a way of life.” But there is a noticeable distinction between the two:while Foucault's envisagement hinges on the dissolution of current relations of power,Baoyu's rich relational life depends on,as much as it clashes with,the institutionalized relations of family,for in a Confucian society as long as a gentleman performs his duties as a filial son and a loving husband,he is entitled to considerable liberty to constantly mingle with his male friends and to even keep sexual relationships with them.50See Hinsch,Passions of the Cut Sleeve,75—76.Paradoxically,where the two visions agree is also where they disagree.

Family,which harbors Baoyu's same-sex relations,is now the gravest challenge facing Chinese LGBT communities.51周華山：《后殖民同志》，香港：香港同志研究社，1997年，第2章。[CHOU Wah-shan,Hou zhimin tongzhi (Postcolonial Tongzhi),Hong Kong:Hong Kong Tongzhi Research Society,1997,Chapter 2.]This may largely have been a result of the reception and popularization of such terms as “homosexuality” and “homosexual” in China since the early Republican years.52See Wenqing Kang,Obsession: Male Same-Sex Relations in China, 1900—1950 (Hong Kong:Hong Kong University Press,2009) for an account of the importation of Western sexology into China in the early Republican years.According to David Halperin,before the coinage of the term “homosexuality” in 1892,sexual preference for a person of one's own sex was viewed merely as one of a number of deviant sexual behaviours,and this sexual object-choice did not define an individual as a member of a certain subgroup of humans.However,the invention of “homosexuality” (or “sexuality” in general) made possible a new taxonomy of human beings based entirely on the anatomical sex of the persons engaged in a sexual act.People belonged henceforward to one or the other of two exclusive categories,and “sexual identity/orientation” became a given.53Halperin,One Hundred Years of Homosexuality,15—16.Recent campaigns for the legalization of same-sex marriage can be seen as an extreme development of this outlook.It is exactly this either-or logic that has ruled out Baoyu's way of life as an option for contemporary Chinese people (especially male homosexuals).As pointed out by philosopher Zhang Xianglong in a recent essay,same-sex marriage,which “seeks to solidify homosexuality,” runs counter to Confucian ideals of filial piety,and brings to nought the deeply rooted wish of one's parents and grandparents for the family lineage to be carried on.54張祥龍：《儒家會(huì)如何看待同性婚姻的合法化》，收入《家與孝：從中西間視野看》，北京：三聯(lián)書店，2017年，第241頁(yè)。[ZHANG Xianglong,“Rujia hui ruhe kandai tongxing hunyin de hefahua” (A Confucian View of the Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage),in Jia yu xiao: cong Zhong Xi jian shiye kan (Family and Filial Piety:A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Views),Beijing:SDX Joint Publishing Company,2017,241.]Foucault's “friendship as a way of life” can be perceived as a tentative response to this dilemma:

Another thing to distrust is the tendency to relate the question of homosexuality to the problem of “Who am I?” and “What is the secret of my desire?” Perhaps it would be better to ask oneself,“What relations,through homosexuality,can be established,invented,multiplied,and modulated?” The problem is not to discover in oneself the truth of one's sex,but,rather,to use one's sexuality henceforth to arrive at a multiplicity of relationships.55Foucault,“Friendship as a Way of Life,” 135.

To establish friendship as a way of life by dissolving the prevailing relations of power,though hard to achieve overnight,might be a rewarding alternative angle to the current situation,and may even be a more promising way to promote sexual liberation than hasty attempts to legalize same-sex marriage,which is liable to arouse the opposition of more conservative forces.On November 25,2018,Taiwanese voters rejected same-sex marriage in a referendum,dealing a bitter blow to the movement.Although this should not deter lawmakers from enacting legislation,per Constitutional Court ruling,to allow same-sex partners to marry,it should serve as a reminder of the thorny road ahead,as many East Asian countries are regressing in their recognition of LGBT people.56See CNN's coverage:https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/25/asia/taiwan-same-sex-marriage-referendum/index.html,[November 26,2018].This dire situation makes Baoyu's and Foucault's visions more relevant than ever,and on this optimistic note I shall conclude my paper.

Acknowledgement:

I wish to thank Miss Huang Dingru and Miss Bai Shenhao for reading and commenting on various drafts of this paper.I also thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments.