Male Dan and Homoeroticism in Beijing during the Ming and Qing Periods

Abstract

This article focusses on the male dan (旦), a type of male actor who performs female roles in Chinese theatre. I argue that the practice’s development from the latter half of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) onwards was not simply due to dramatic progress in artistic proficiency, but also a result of the wider dissemination of homoeroticism in Chinese society, particularly among the scholar-elite. Besides theatrical performance, male dan were also forced to offer escort services to the scholar-elite and well-off patrons. Gender dislocation reflected status vulnerability in these types of homoerotic interactions. Those of means and privilege played the dominant role, while male dan were schooled in feminine attributes in order to cater to the desires of their patrons. The article concludes that such relationships were tolerated in society on condition of the fulfilment of familial duties and constituted a liminal space within and projection of the predominant Confucian family structure, where femininity led to subsidiary social status.