Does China become queer in the globalized and digitized media era?
Defined by Q. Wang (2015), queer is an umbrella term that encompasses
gender and sexual minorities such as LGBTQ (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual,
Transgender and Queer). China has witnessed enhanced visibility of the queer
community due to digital media development since the late 1990s (Cao and Lu,
2014;
Sun,
2010).
The
decriminalization
and
depathologization
of
homosexuality were announced by China in 1997 and 2001 correspondingly,
arousing waves of LGBTQ activities (Yu, 2019). Nevertheless, it has been
argued that queer cannot develop through media in China due to media
censorship. This essay contends that the development of queer has been
promoted by media in China, manifesting in the local queer culture
dissemination, globalized media influence and the “pink economy”, despite the
existing censorship.
Queer has been developing through the culture dissemination amongst
different districts in China through digital media. According to Zhao (2019),
digital media have made a dramatic contribution to producing knowledge,
establishing identity, and stimulating political and cultural development for the
queer community in China. Take, Zi’en Cui, a queer film director, as an example,
his digital video activism theory suggests that digital filmmaking and screening
functions as forms of arts and activism, which are beneficial to the formation of
the presentation of LGBT cultures, plus the construction of heterodox identities
and areas (Bao, 2015). In other words, the utilization and evolution of digital
media provide the LGBTQ community with an unprecedented opportunity to
foster queer culture, forge identities, and create space in China. Further to that,
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for instance, the local lesbian app Butterfly in Hong Kong (Tang, 2016 ), the
Chinese BBS (bulletin board system) and feminist and lesbian journal G-zine in
Taiwan (Sang, 2003 ), and the online lesbian magazine Les+ in mainland China
(Zhao, 2019) contribute to an expansive queer culture circulation collectively.
To summarize, queer culture dissemination has been fostered by digital media
throughout China, which develops queer ultimately.
In parallel with local queer culture circulation, globalized media dramatically
accelerates the growth of queer in China by introducing Danmei genre media
and global media platforms and tools. Danmei (耽美), defined by Wong (2020),
is an imported word derived from Japanese, featuring Boy’s Love (BL) genre
media. BL genre media has inflated the queer visibility and the imagination of
queer culture in China (Yu, 2019; Zhao, 2020). To illustrate, plentiful BL
cyberliterature is circulated and adapted into dramas or films, depicting queer
identity and bringing overwhelming passion among especially women in China
(Zhao, 2020; Wong, 2020; Ng & Li, 2020). Additionally, the globally accessible
media platforms and tools multiply the convenience of transmitting global
queer culture to China, which can be exemplified by YouTube and Virtual
Private Networks (VPN) respectively. YouTube, a global video website, helps
distribute global queer videos in China, where queer media is forbidden (Zhao,
2019). Moreover, Zhao (2019) states that VPN breaches the political
information blackout in China, enabling the Chinese to access global media
culture. In conclusion, Chinese queerness has thrived through imported BL
media, media platforms and tools.
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Aside from local queer culture propagation and globalized media influence, the
emerging pink economy has favored queer development in China, embodying
in dating apps and queerbaiting in commercial media. In accordance with the
Collins Dictionary of Sociology (D. Jary & J. Jary, 2000), pink economy features
businesses, services and commercial media targeted at queer groups.
Investigated by S. Wang (2019, 2020), Blued, a profitable gay-dating app in
China, is a magnificent example of flourishing in urban areas and e-commerce
merchandising sphere, thus providing mass online space for the queer
community. Furthermore, the commercial application of queerbaiting in more
dramas or films, whose purpose is to attract more audiences and therefore
create more economic benefits, to some extent, increases the visibility of queer
and develops queer eventually. As Ng and Li (2020) explain, queerbaiting
occurs when audiences are implicitly imbued with the illusion that two
same-sex characters are involved with romantic relationships. For example,
Guardian, a popular BL-adapted TV drama, portraying the romantic relationship
between the male characters obscurely, not only evoked fans’ enthusiasm to
pay for it but also drew public attention to queer (Ng and Li, 2020). To conclude,
pink economy is contributing to the development of queer in China.
While someone believes that media boosts the development of queer in China,
others dispute that media will not help queer thrive in China because of queer
media censorship, which prevents queer culture from being circulated.
Numerous examples can validate the censorship. In 2018, the Chinese singing
competition Eurovision erased scenes depicting gay romance; A rainbow flag
on the stage, which symbolizes LGBTQ pride, was blurred on the screen (Zhao,
2018). Likewise, in 2018, the Guardian series was unexpectedly taken down
and a multitude of scenes intimating homosexuality had been deleted or
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modified after the series was available again (Ng and Li, 2020). However, this
censorship will hardly eliminate queer media due to its ambiguity and BL fans’
self-censorship. Zhou (2017) concludes that queer censorship is ambiguous
and difficult to apply since it does not clarify the criteria of defining and
classifying queer media, thus allowing media to reveal queer implicitly.
Moreover, BL fans have developed self-censorship to negotiate with the
censorship system by catering to the “Core Socialist Values” concerning
Chinese political directions, pretending that the male-male romance is “socialist
brotherhood’’ (Ng and Li, 2020). That is to say, their self-censorship protects
the queer media from being banned and queer media censorship cannot
prevent them from imagining the BL romance and circulating queer culture
implicitly.
In summary, media has promoted queer development in China. Queer culture
is disseminated among various districts in China supported by digital media. As
BL genre media, global media platforms and tools such as YouTube and VPN
are introduced to China, queer has flourished rapidly. Pink economy also helps
promote queer by producing online space and propagating queer culture.
Although someone argues the media censorship is a thorny hindrance, the
ambiguous regulation and fans’ self-censorship allow queer culture to develop
implicitly. It is predicted that China will embrace queer in the near future.
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