A (Very Brief) History of Queer China

What was it like to be gay in ancient China, and where were all the lesbians?

Sometime in the dying days of the 1^st century BC Emperor Ai of the Western Han woke up from a nap in his palace in the Imperial Chinese capital of Chang’an (modern Xi’an). He wanted to get up, but a heavy weight lay upon his ceremonial sleeve. Turning his head, he saw his male lover, Dong Xian, curled up and still asleep. Dong Xian must have looked very…