The Production of Queer Cyberspace and “Tongzhi” Organizations in Mainland China

Cao Jin (Professor of Journalism, Fudan University; HYI Associate)
Chair/discussant: Michael Bronski (Professor of Practice in Media and Activism in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Harvard University)

Co-sponsored with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies

This talk will focus on the production of queer cyberspace and the tongzhi grassroots organization, which emerged in the beginning of the twenty-first century as an alternative social organization in Mainland China. Professor Cao’s interest in the topic started with a small project on the Shenlan working group in Tianjin. It has since developed into a more ambitious project, investigating not only similar tongzhi grassroots organizations in other cities (Beijing, Tianjin, and Chengdu), but also the wider implications of the development of this alternative grassroots organization and its involvement with a stigmatized and disadvantaged community group. The production of queer cyberspace will form the basis for more general reflections on the organization of civil society in contemporary China.