The Chinese Queer Diasporic Imaginary

Abstract

Focusing on the theme of Chinese familialism, this chapter recasts the notion of “filiality,” foundational to the familial-kinship system, as a discursive formation, calling attention to the way filiality has been differently maneuvered by different regimes at different historical moments. Foregrounding the strengthened links between filiality and loyalty in the reinforced “family-state” discourse of martial law-era Taiwan, this chapter argues that the family-state discourse is pivotal to what I term the “Chinese queer diasporic imaginary,” symptomatic of the insoluble tension between Chinese tongzhi/queer subjects and their family-based social settings. This Chinese queer diasporic imaginary is expressed through an array of tropes – including niezi, Nezha, AIDS, ghosts, and Chinese/Taiwanese opera – in various queer-themed films, beginning with Outcasts (Yu Kan-ping, 1986).