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Platinum Bible of the Public Toilet is the first English-language collection of short stories by Cui Zi'en, China's most famous and controversial queer filmmaker, writer, scholar, and LGBTQ rights activist. Drawing on his own experiences growing up in socialist and postsocialist China, Cui presents ten queer coming-of-age stories of young boys and men as they explore their sexuality and desires. From a surreal fairytale depicting a ragtag crew of neighborhood boys in the throes of sexual awakening to a chronicle of the gender-bending and homoerotic entanglements of university students to romantic love triangle erotica to a story that examines teacher-student love and the norms of sex and age, Cui centers queer sexuality as a core part of human experience. Richly imaginative and vividly written, Platinum Bible of the Public Toilet portrays the emergence of queer cultures in postsocialist China while foregrounding the commitments to one's erotic and passionate attractions even as they lead to cultural transgressions. This volume includes a preface by and an interview with the author.
List of contents
Series Editors’ Introduction / Carlos Rojas vii
Editors’ Introduction / Petrus Liu and Lisa Rofel xi
Preface / Translated by Petrus Liu xxiii
Uncle’s Elegant Life / Translated by Lisa Rofel 1
Intrigue Like Fireworks / Translated by Fran Martin 10
Some Admire Wisdom, Others Do Not / Translated by Derek Hird 20
Orphans of the Japanese Empire / Translated by Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen 45
The Silent Advent of the Age of Sexual Persuasion / Translated by Petrus Liu 71
Men Men Men Women Women Women / Translated by Yizhou Guo 82
Men Are Containers / Translated by Casey James Miller 117
Fire and Wolf Share a Fondness for Male Beauty / Translated by Yizhou Guo 129
Teacher Eats Biscuits Thin as Parchment / Translated by William F. Schroeder 141
Platinum Bible of the Public Toilet / Translated by Wenqing Kang and Cathryn H. Clayton 153
Interview with Cui Zi’en / Petrus Liu and Lisa Rofel 257
Appendix: Works by Cui Zi’en 273
Bibliography 279
Contributors 283
Place of First Publication 285
About the author
Cui Zi'en. Edited and with an introduction by Petrus Liu and Lisa Rofel
Summary
Cui Zi’en—China’s most famous and controversial queer filmmaker, writer, scholar, and LGBTQ rights activist—presents ten queer coming-of-age stories of young boys and men as they explore their sexuality and desires in contemporary China.
