The first vague allusion to homosexuality appears in prehistoric times, during the Shang dynasty (1766-1122 BC). From there, many more, and more explicit, accounts crop up both throughout the period and during subsequent dynasties. Many emperors were known to have had male lovers, and same-sex relations between men appear in one of China ’s greatest literary works, Dream of the Red Chamber. From these, and from accounts written by westerners visiting China during the Qing dynasty, we know, among other details, that marriage between men was common in Fujian Province and that Beijing was positively crawling with male brothels.

There is less in the way of an ancient historical record about lesbian behavior, as women generally could not read or write and led extremely cloistered lives, but mentions of maids within the imperial court, or of Buddhist and Taoist nuns, sleeping with each other do surface here and there. More is known about same-sex female relationships in modern times, much of it tied up with marriage resistance movements in Guangdong and other parts of southern China during the late 1800s and early 1900s, in which women formed organized alliances and took vows never to marry-some of these women are still alive today, living as couples in homes they purchased together.

As you’ll see in the next few pages, there are, in addition to the contemporary terms, many literary euphemisms for homosexuality, which were in use during ancient times. These have all been only recently revived-part of a movement within the gay Chinese community to reclaim a past from which it has been cut off for so long, and to remind us all of a time when there was nothing strange, or even noteworthy, about being gay.

Ancient euphemisms for homosexuality

There are many, many more stories like the few offered below, which during ancient times offered innumerable expressions for homosexuality via allusion to the famed persons involved or to a detail of the story. I am leaving them out, however, in favor of the most well-known and common terms in use today.

断袖余桃 duàn xiù yú táo (dwun show ee taow)

An idiomatic expression referring to homosexuality, derived from ancient Chinese literature. Literally “cut sleeve, leftover peach.” See below for origins.

断袖 dùan xiù (dwun show)

Short for 断袖之癖 dùan xìu zhī pǐ (dwun show jih pee), “the passion of the cut sleeve,” referring to a story about Ai, the emperor of Han (27-1 BC). The story goes that one day he had to get out of bed and, rather than wake his male lover who had fallen asleep on his sleeve, chose to cut off the sleeve of his robe. Thus any phrases involving a cut sleeve refer to homosexuality.

余桃 yú táo (ee taow)

A euphemism for homosexuality, dating to ancient times. Literally “the leftover peach,” referring to a story recorded in Han Feizi (the writings of the philosopher Han Fei, who lived from 280-233 BC) about a beautiful male youth who picked a peach from a tree, bit into it, and found it so sweet that he offered the rest to Ling, the ruler of Wei (534-493 BC), who was touched by the gesture. Thus phrases like 分桃之爱 fēn táo zhī ài (fen taow jih aye), “love of the shared peach,” or really any reference to yú táo or 分桃 fēn táo (fen taow), “sharing peaches,” are expressions that refer to love between men.

龙阳癖 Lóng Yáng pǐ (lohng yahng pee)

Literally “the passion of Long Yang” and a euphemism for homosexuality. Lord Long Yang was a gay nobleman mentioned in the eighteenth-century classic Dream of the Red Chamber. According to the tale, which takes place during China’s warring states period (from sometime during the fifth century BC to 221 BC), Lord Long Yang was fishing with his lover, the ruler of Wei, and suddenly burst into tears. The king asked what was wrong, upon which Long Yang said that catching bigger fish made him want to throw back the smaller ones, which surely meant that, with so many beauties in the world, some day the ruler would discard him in favor of a greater beauty. Romantically, the ruler of Wei then made a public decree that “Anyone who dares to speak of other beauties will be executed along with his entire family.” To this day, Lóng Yáng is sometimes used to refer to a young, pretty boy in a gay relationship, and it is also the name for an international gay Asian network called the Long Yang Club.

男风 nán fēng (nahn fung) or 南风 nán fēng (nahn fung)

The former literally means “male practice” and was more or less a technical term referring to homosexuality during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). The latter was a homophonous, and poetic, play on that word and literally means “southern custom,” also connoting “southern wind.” The euphemism “southern custom” was based on a common belief throughout China that homosexuality originated in, or at least was more common in, the South (mainly Fujian and Guangdong provinces). There is indeed a great deal of documentation of commonly practiced homosexual customs in those areas. For example, it was noted during the seventeenth century that it was usual for upper-class and educated men in Fujian to marry other men. An older man would buy a boy-bride from the boy’s parents, a marriage ceremony was performed, and the older man’s family would financially support the younger man in every way, just as in a traditional heterosexual marriage. The older man was called 契兄 qìxiōng (chee shyohng), literally “sworn older brother,” and the younger one was called 契弟 qìdì (chee dee), “sworn little brother.” There is documentation of some such marriages that lasted as long as twenty years, but typically they only lasted until the younger man reached the standard age for heterosexual marriage, upon which they “divorced” and the older man often paid to secure him a good female bride and otherwise helped establish him in society.

对食 duìshí (dway shih)

Literally “eat facing each other.” The earliest mention of lesbianism in Chinese history was of two women from the harem of the emperor Cheng of Han, who, according to imperial records, always ate facing each other and slept together.

Contemporary terms

Many Chinese simply say “gay” in English. “Gay” is usually understood to mean gay men, while lesbians mainly go by 拉拉 lālā (lah lah). Nonetheless, there are several Chinese terms for homosexuality as well:

同性恋 tóngxìnglìan (tohng sheeng lyinn)

Homosexual.

同性爱 tóngxìng’ài (tohng sheeng aye)

Gay love. Literally “same-sex love.”

同志 tóngzhì (tohng jih)

Gay. Literally “comrade,” the form of address used during revolutionary times and still used today by government officials and older Chinese. First adopted in 1987 by gay rights activists in Hong Kong.

女同志 nǚ tóngzhì (nee tohng jih)

Lesbian. Literally “female comrade.”

大同 dàtóng (dah tohng)

A relatively new term coined by university students, short for 大学生同志 dàxuéshēng tóngzhì (dah shreh shung tohng jih), which means “gay university students.”

断背 duànbèi (dwun bay)

Literally “brokeback,” after Ang Lee’s movie Brokeback Mountain. A euphemism for homosexuality.

Duàn bèi

玻璃 bōlí (bwuh lee)

A euphemism for “gay.” Literally “crystal” or “glass.” Not often used in speech, but known by most gay Chinese people. It comes from the seminal 1980 novel Crystal Boys, by the gay Taiwanese writer Pai Hsien-Yung. The novel’s mention of “crystal boys” is itself a reference to a passage from the classic work Dream of the Red Chamber.