Chinese Lesbian Cinema

The emergence of lesbian film in the first decade of the twenty-first century symbolizes a breakthrough through the creation of new cinema that opens up a space that was not previously available or accessible in China. These motion pictures present a new breed of characters—namely, lesbians—as well as a new sexual subject on the screen for the first time in the history of Chinese cinema. Blending historicist and comparative approaches, this book begins with a critical genealogy of Chinese homosexual traditions in the first two chapters. This strategy allows the author to examine a number of films individually through contextualizing their historical and cultural articulations and interpretations through the remainder of the book.

The term ‘groundbreaking’ is not strong enough to adequately characterize the insightful contents of Chinese Lesbian Cinema. Utilizing a variety of critical approaches, Liang Shi identifies and explores an important subgenre of underground films that have to date been virtually ignored by media scholars. This book offers incisive analyses of little-seen lesbian-themed films from mainland China, informed by interview responses from their (perhaps unexpectedly) heterosexual, non-activist makers who have little hope of ever reaping profits from their creations. The end result is a must-read text that effectively challenges typical conceptions of lesbian filmmaking as it is characterized in contemporary global discourse.

Liang Shi is associate professor of Chinese language and literature at Miami University.