Abstract
Perhaps one of the most fascinating changes in modern Chinese language in the past century is the use of the term tongzhi (). Literally 'comrade', the term is being used in the Chinese-speaking world today to refer to gender and sexual minorities, including LGBTQ people. This article traces a brief history of how the term has been used in modern Chinese history. In doing so, it identifies key moments of political articulation and unravels the socialist politics and revolutionary potentials embedded in each articulation. In particular, it focuses on how the term has been used in the Chinese-speaking world for queer identification and to mobilise transnational activism. Developing the idea of 'queer comrades' as a part of critical vocabulary, this article conjures up the socialist memories and revolutionary impulses that are embedded in contemporary queer subject formation and social movements; it also gestures to the continuing relevance of socialist histories and politics to contemporary queer politics.
Highlights
Perhaps one of the most fascinating changes in the modern Chinese language in the past century has been the use of the term tongzhi (同志)
In developing the notion of ‘queer comrades’ - a creative translation of the term tongzhi as an analytical category, and as part of a critical vocabulary, I aim to conjure up the socialist memories and revolutionary impulses embedded in contemporary queer subject formation and social movements
The two characters that make up the term, tong and zhi, both existed in classical Chinese; they were separate words often used as a collocation
Summary
Perhaps one of the most fascinating changes in the modern Chinese language in the past century has been the use of the term tongzhi (同志). For the first time in modern Chinese history, the ‘comrade’ identity mobilised the term tongzhi for a political purpose - and to construct a radical subjectivity.
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