- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: University of California Press; Reprint edition (Dec 29 1992)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0520078691
- ISBN-13: 978-0520078697
- Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 1.6 x 0.2 cm
- Shipping Weight: 363 g
- Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #261,522 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Harvard scholar Hinsch's careful study belies the official Chinese notion that homosexuality is a recent import from the decadent West. Photos.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Hinsch cites evidence of the homosexual tradition in China derived primarily from literature--novels, poetry, and (often very frank and graphic) humor--and secondarily from historical documents. This evidence reveals societal attitudes toward various facets of the issue, such as superior-inferior relationships, prostitution, and political corruption. Examples from the earlier dynasties are few, and here Hinsch often resorts to reading between the lines; throughout there are conclusions based on supposition or assumptions. Nevertheless, the material is well covered, and monographic treatment of the topic is scanty. Recommended for Chinese and gay studies collections.
- Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
- Kenneth W. Berger, Duke Univ. Lib., Durham, N.C.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Like so many aspects of Chinese culture, the origins of the homosexual tradition are both ancient and obscure. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Like so many aspects of Chinese culture, the origins of the homosexual tradition are both ancient and obscure. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
2.0 out of 5 stars
outdated already,
By A Customer
Ce commentaire est de: Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (Paperback)
the book is problmatic. reason (1): it is outdated. it should be updated, when the lesbian and gay texts and contexts in the chinese socieites are so available now. it is dangerous to rely on the book, published in 1990, since so many major LGBT issues happened during the 1990s. (2) the methodology in the book is somehow simplified and naive. it does not read through the material thouroughly enough.i agree that this book has its own historic value, but we need to expect more professional works on the field. actually many good books on the field are in chinese, and they are much more reliable. interested readers should try to approach them.
0 of 2 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
it is better to read the Chinese scholarship,
By A Customer
Ce commentaire est de: Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (Paperback)
If you read Chinese, you can find better books. A good example is Samshasha's Zhongguo Tongxingai Shilu (Chinese Homosexual Histories), available in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Samshasha's work is much richer and more substantial. Compared to Samshasha's work, this book by Bret Hinsch is really light. By the way, Samshasha's book in its first print is published many years before Bret Hinsch. The newer version of Samshasha's book, published in late 1990s, certainly surpasses Bret Hinsch much more. If you want reliable scholarhsip, do not rely on this English book only.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.6 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews) 15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The first of it's kind,
By David D. Evseeff - Published on Amazon.com
Ce commentaire est de: Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (Hardcover)
I've seen some somewhat unfair criticisms of this book on here, so I'd like to set the record straight. I'm an American graduate student studying in Taiwan, and my field of studies is Chinese homoerotic literature. It is true that Hinsch's book is a bit outdated, but it was the first of it's kind in English, and I still find many good insights in my own research. Before this book's publication, there was very little research on this topic either in the West or in China/Taiwan. In recent years, a number of scholars have taken up this subject and there have been a number of intruiging articles and books published. Hinsch's work provided the impetus for more research in this field, which is exactly what the author's purpose in writing it was. As for the secondary research material in Chinese that some reviewers believe is superior, I have found it to be exactly the opposite. While there are some books and quite a few articles on the subject in Chinese, they are heavy on primary source material and light on good analysis and lack much application of good literary criticism or theory. This is the advantage that Sinology in the West maintains over research in China/Taiwan. I would definitely recommend that no one overlook or dismiss this excellent book by Dr. Hinsch! By the way, he now does research on women in Chinese history, and has published a book called "Women in Early Imperial China," as well as a number of articles. They are all well worth looking at!
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book on the History of Homosexuality in China,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
Ce commentaire est de: Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (Paperback)
There are not many resources on the history of Homosexuality in China and many Chinese will tell you that there isn't a history of it at all. This book spans two thousand years of history to show that there was a gay literary tradition in China. It is really the first work of the kind on China in English. It is full of romantic antidotes, poetry and stories from a time that China, particularly under communist influence has tried to deny or at least forget. Personally I would like to see an update of this first work or the expansion by another author on other Asian countries like Korea where their homophobia has also prevailed and they have taken to rewriting pages of history. 12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not Just for China Scholars,
By tamiii "tamiii" - Published on Amazon.com
Achat Amazon vérifié(Quest-ce que cest?)
Ce commentaire est de: Passions of the Cut Sleeve: The Male Homosexual Tradition in China (Paperback)
This delightfully accessible book on an inaccessible topic provides an appetizing read. Bejeweled with wonderful quotations which are variously elegant, erotic, bawdy, and sometimes just simply endearing, the author reviews the two thousand year literary tradition of male same-sex attraction known as the "cut sleeve" (based on a lovely story which I will not spoil by recounting). In the course of this overview, the author provides interesting evidence of the benefits to kinship groups of same-sex relationships as well as the manner in which this tradition harmonized with reproductive marriage. Lastly, he describes how this tradition was lost--though one suspects that his explanation based on western cultural influence does not do justice to indigenous circumstance.
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