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Lord Longyang

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Lord Longyang (traditional Chinese: 龍陽君; simplified Chinese: 龙阳君; pinyin: Lóngyáng Jūn; Wade–Giles: Lung Yang Jun) was the favorite and lover of an unknown king of Wei, often speculated to be either King Anxi[1][2] or King Jia,[3] during the Warring States period of the Zhou dynasty.[1] Little is known about him outside of his relationship with the king.[4]

Story

The story of Lord Longyang is recorded in the Records of the Warring States (traditional Chinese: 戰國策; simplified Chinese: 战国策; pinyin: Zhanguo ce)[5] in a section called "Records of Wei" (traditional Chinese: 魏策; simplified Chinese: 魏策; pinyin: Wei ce),[5] and does not appear in any other sources. The Records of the Warring States is generally considered a work of history.[6] In it, Lord Longyang and the king are in a fishing boat together when Longyang begins to cry. After the king pressures him to say why he is crying, Longyang reveals that he is afraid that the king will be tempted by other, more beautiful men, and lose interest in him. The king then forbids anyone to mention other beauties in his presence under penalty of death.[7][8] As a result of his status as a favorite of the king, Lord Longyang was given a small fief and a feudal title.[9] His story took place sometime between 276 and 243 BCE, and is the second account of a male same-sex relationship in Chinese historical records.[10]

Influence

In his book Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China, Bret Hinsch writes that the story of Lord Longyang serves as an example of both the sexual opportunism and openness of homosexuality in Zhou dynasty courts.[4]

The story of Lord Longyang also influenced later Chinese literature. In the poetry of Ruan Ji, Lord Longyang is used, along with Anling, to figuratively evoke male beauty and love between men, and specifically royal favor.[11][12] The 1632 book The Forgotten Tales of Longyang or The Forgotten Stories of Longyang (traditional Chinese: 龍陽逸史; simplified Chinese: 龍陽逸史; pinyin: Longyang yishi)[13] tells twenty stories of male same-sex prostitution in the late Ming dynasty. In it, the author, known by the nom de plume "Jingjiang's besotted with bamboo recluse," uses the story of Lord Longyang to evoke an earlier golden age characterized by feeling;[14][15] this is juxtaposed with the stories and characters in the collection.[16] The prologue of the late Ming dynasty collection The Rocks Nod Their Heads (traditional Chinese: 石點頭; simplified Chinese: 石点头; pinyin: Shi dian tou)[17] references the story of Lord Longyang, among others, to argue that sexual relationships between men were normal because they had existed since antiquity.[18] In the Ming and Qing collection The Cut Sleeve (a section of the Encyclopedia of Love) the story "Wan the Student," in which Wan falls in love with another male student, Lord Longyang is used (along with Anling) to refer to homosexuality.[3]

The word longyang is also used in China to euphemistically refer to gay men,[19][20] and has been through much of Chinese history,[21][22] serving as a common classical literary term for male homosexuality.[6][23] Longyang is also sometimes translated as "catamite,"[24][25] or used to refer specifically to the passive partner in intercourse.[26][6] The phrase longyang pi (traditional Chinese: 龍陽癖; simplified Chinese: 龙阳癖) or "passion of Longyang" refers to male same-sex attraction or passion.[9][27]

References

  1. ^ a b Jiang, Quanhong; Tan, Longyan; Sun, Mei (2020-02-13). Research on Legislation of Homosexuality in China. Atlantis Press. pp. 138–141. doi:10.2991/assehr.k.200205.030. ISBN 978-94-6252-904-5.
  2. ^ Brown, Kendall H. (1991). The Politics of Reclusion: Painting and Power in Momoyama Japan. Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaiì Press. p. 24. ISBN 0-585-34506-6. OCLC 47010676.
  3. ^ a b Vitiello, Giovanni (1992). "The Dragon's Whim: Ming and Qing Homoerotic Tales from "The Cut Sleeve"". T'oung Pao. 78 (4/5): 341–372. doi:10.1163/156853292X00045. ISSN 0082-5433. JSTOR 4528573.
  4. ^ a b Hinsch, Bret (1990). Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-520-91265-6.
  5. ^ a b Pines, Yuri (2002). "Changing views of "tianxia" in pre-imperial discourse". Oriens Extremus. 43: 101–116. ISSN 0030-5197. JSTOR 24047595.
  6. ^ a b c Kang, Wenqing (2009). Obsession: Male Same-Sex Relations in China, 1900-1950. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. p. 23. ISBN 978-988-8052-61-5. OCLC 1148078345.
  7. ^ Zhang, Xuan (2014). Portrayals of gay characters in Chinese movies: A longitudinal look (Master's thesis). Iowa State University. Retrieved 2022-07-09.
  8. ^ Hinsch, Bret (1990). Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-520-91265-6. OCLC 44954898.
  9. ^ a b Stevenson, Mark; Wu, Cuncun (2013). Homoeroticism in Imperial China: A Sourcebook. Routledge. p. 13. ISBN 978-0-203-07744-3. OCLC 827947100.
  10. ^ Ma, Jing Wu (2003-02-25). "From "Long Yang" and "Dui Shi" to Tongzhi: Homosexuality in China". Journal of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy. 7 (1–2): 117–143. doi:10.1300/J236v07n01_08. ISSN 0891-7140.
  11. ^ Zhang, Benzi (2010-06-30). "The Cultural Politics of Gender Performance". Cultural Studies. 25 (3): 294–312. doi:10.1080/09502386.2010.483803. S2CID 143191009.
  12. ^ Owen, Stephen; Swartz, Wendy; Tian, Xiaofei; Warner, Ding Xiang (2017). The Poetry of Ruan Ji and Xi Kang. Berlin: De Gruyter. ISBN 978-1-5015-0387-0. OCLC 999369785.
  13. ^ Wu, Cuncun (2013). "Male Brothels, Urbanization and Xiaoguan Identity in Late Ming Fiction: The Forgotten Tales of Longyang". Abstract Book 1. The 2013 International Conference on 'Chinese Masculinities on the Move: Time, Space and Cultures'. Hong Kong, China: Faculty of Arts, The University of Hong Kong. p. 1.
  14. ^ Wu, Cuncun (2016). Kam, Louie (ed.). The Plebification of Male-Love in Late Ming Fiction: The Forgotten Tales of Longyang. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. doi:10.5790/hongkong/9789888208562.001.0001. ISBN 978-988-8313-71-6.
  15. ^ Vitiello, Giovanni (1996-05-01). "The Fantastic Journey of an Ugly Boy: Homosexuality and Salvation in Late Ming Pornography". Positions: Asia Critique. 4 (2): 291–320. doi:10.1215/10679847-4-2-291. ISSN 1067-9847.
  16. ^ Vitiello, Giovanni (2000). "The Forgotten Tears of the Lord of Longyang: Late Ming Stories of Male Prostitution and Connoisseurship". In Engelfriet, Peter; de Meyer, Jan (eds.). Linked Faiths: Essays on Chinese Religions and Traditional Culture in Honour of Kristofer Schipper. Leiden, Netherland: Brill. p. 227. ISBN 978-90-04-48893-9.
  17. ^ Wang, Xian (2015). "Langxian's Dilemma over the Cult of Martyrdom and Filial Piety: A World of Emptiness in "The Siege of Yangzhou"". Ming Studies. 2015 (72): 46–68. doi:10.1179/0147037X15Z.00000000046. ISSN 0147-037X. S2CID 161442773.
  18. ^ Vitiello, Giovanni (2000). "Exemplary Sodomites: Chivalry and Love in Late Ming Culture". NAN NÜ. 2 (2): 207–257. doi:10.1163/156852600750072259. ISSN 1387-6805.
  19. ^ "A long history of 'cutting sleeves'". South China Morning Post. 2010-01-16. Retrieved 2020-08-18.
  20. ^ Kong, Travis S. K. (2019). Oral Histories of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong: Unspoken but Unforgotten. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. pp. 4, 7. ISBN 978-988-8528-06-6.
  21. ^ Woods, Gregory (1998). A History of Gay Literature: The Male Tradition. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. p. 60. ISBN 0-300-08088-3. OCLC 59453858.
  22. ^ Mungello, David E. (2012). Western Queers in China: Flight to the Land of Oz. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-4422-1556-6. OCLC 804964296.
  23. ^ Kong, Travis SK (2012). "A fading Tongzhi heterotopia: Hong Kong older gay men's use of spaces". Sexualities. 15 (8): 896–916. doi:10.1177/1363460712459308. ISSN 1363-4607. S2CID 143355606.
  24. ^ Xin, Zhaokun (2021-03-01). "The Death of His Husband". Prism. 18 (1): 9–26. doi:10.1215/25783491-8922177. ISSN 2578-3491. S2CID 237976759.
  25. ^ Vitiello, Giovanni (2011). The Libertine's Friend: Homosexuality and Masculinity in Late Imperial China. The University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-85792-3. OCLC 880976492.
  26. ^ Szonyi, Michael (1998). "The Cult of Hu Tianbao and the Eighteenth-Century Discourse of Homosexuality". Late Imperial China. 19 (1): 1–25. doi:10.1353/late.1998.0004. ISSN 1086-3257. S2CID 144047410.
  27. ^ Wu, Cuncun (2012). Homoerotic Sensibilities in Late Imperial China. Abingdon, UK: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-64836-3. OCLC 867267663.
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