References and Allusions to Male Same-Sex Relations in Chinese Literature
I am tired at this point of reading and watching Danmei/Dangai and be exposed to the same “cut sleeve” reference to allude to male same-sex attraction and relationships.
Don’t get me wrong, I thank the creative team and the writers for finding such a unique (?) way of bypassing censorship but there are so many more literary and historical references that they could use to allude to same-sex attraction. I’m kinda over the same old “Cut Sleeve” reference. 😖
Here are some of the most popular allusions used by writers in Chinese literature to reference male same-sex desire.
The Four Male Love Icons of Chinese Literature
I’m pretty sure that, if you are into Chinese history, folk, literature, etc, you have heard of the four beauties of ancient and imperial China. You have the four most beautiful Chinese women and the four most handsome Chinese men.
The same thing is true for the tradition of male same-sex love. Those are:
Mizi Xia (彌子瑕) and Duke Ling of Wey (衛靈公)
Lord Longyang (龍陽君) and King Anxi of Wei (魏安僖王）
Prince Zixi, Lord of È (鄂君子皙), and the Yue man (越人)
Emperor Ai of Han (漢哀帝) and Dong Xian (董賢)
Other literary allusions include:
Pan Zhang (潘章) and Wang Zhongxian (王仲先)
Lord Chan of Anling (安陵君) and King Xuan of Chu (楚宣王）
Hu Tian Bao (胡天保) as Tu’er Shen (兔兒神)
The four revered bottoms of Chinese literature and history are:
Mizi Xia (彌子瑕)
Longyang (龍陽君)
Dong Xian (董賢)
Chan (纏), Lord of Anling (安陵君)
If you ever come across a poem or prose that mentions any of those names to refer to a male beauty, just know that it’s an allusion to their stories. They were considered the peak of bottom literary reference.
I’d like to think Mama Lan made a choice of leaving love in her boys’ hearts over bitterness. I’d like to think there was an initial attraction between mama Lan and qhj, removed from other social context and ties that they later had to discover. I’d like to think mama Lan found a value in remembering that, as fleeting as it had been. I’d also like to think mama Lan had a hint of sardonic sense of humour while qhj was a blushing fumbling straightforward boy.
Aaaand I made a title art for this comic!!
I’m honestly frustrated how we didn’t get extras dedicated to this and Wei Wuxian’s parents (like in the SVSSS extras) !!
I mean, I love how MXTX explored Wangxian in the extras but filling in the plotholes would’ve been nice too 😤
To be fair I don’t believe this is a plot hole, bec a plot hole indicates that the gap in the knowledge hinders our understanding of the main plot and/or characters. Which it does not in Mdzs.
We’re given all the pieces of information that wx knows about their own parents and how it shaped their personalities. We as readers don’t necessarily need to know all the lores for that insight.
That being said, I do understand where your frustration comes from. After all I did draw 12 pages of comic to address my curiosity of what happened😜
