“Challenging the teleological trajectory of the sexual emancipation model through sociological analysis and compelling storytelling, Sexuality and the Rise of China argues that assessments of social openness cannot reveal the full complexities of inter-Asian constructions of queer lives. Travis S. K. Kong is particularly insightful in demonstrating how the intertwining of the state, politics, and sexuality leads to some unexpected findings about the acceptance or repression of gay rights.” - Lisa Rofel, author of Desiring China: Experiments in Neoliberalism, Sexuality, and Public Culture
“Every generation is marked by its own particular zeitgeist. More than any other scholar of the Sinophone world, Travis S. K. Kong has been able to capture the spirit of multiple generations of gay Chinese men. Here, he explores with deep historical insight and extraordinary empathy a post-90s generation of gay young men across Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, connected by globalization in Asia and divided by an unremitting PRC nationalism and One-China policy.” - David L. Eng, coauthor of Racial Melancholia, Racial Dissociation: On the Social and Psychic Lives of Asian Americans
"The combination of ethnographic detail and nuanced analysis make Sexuality and the Rise of China a fascinating, compelling and highly readable account of the social shaping of tongzhi lives." - Stevi Jackson, Asian Anthropology
"The transnational queer sociology approach used in this study has resulted in a detailed and revealing account of how the post-90s gay generation in Greater China are negotiating their lives, relationships, and identities under the sway of rapid socio-economic and political change. In addition, the study offers a set of innovative and instructive theoretical and methodological ways forward, ones that are locally or regionally sensitive, to research the sociopolitical dimensions of sexuality beyond dominant Western paradigms and sensibilities. Thus, for anyone with research interests in sexuality issues in Greater China and other Asian regions, Kong’s book will become foundational reading. Finally, and in the spirit of transdisciplinarity, the book will provide those of us who are working on queer issues from other backgrounds (for example, in language/discourse studies, anthropology, education studies, or social work) much inspiration."
- Benedict J.L. Rowlett, Journal of Homosexuality
"For anyone working on sexual cultures in East Asia and beyond, this book is essential reading. Its readability and clarity, and profoundly personal style of writing, without compromising on theoretical depth, also make it highly recommended for teaching purposes." - Jeroen de Kloet, China Information
"A bold, insightful contribution to the growing literature on gay sexualities in three Chinese-speaking societies. . . Sexuality and the Rise of China is a highly innovative account both empirically and conceptually. Kong deftly engages with a vast corpus of Western and non-Western literatures while remaining grounded in personal and local narratives. . . . The book also is a vivid ethnographic account that can be assigned to undergraduate as well as graduate students interested in a readable, non-Western perspective on queer sociology." - James Farrer, GLQ
"The book makes an important contribution to the studies of Chinese homosexualities in particular and men and masculinities more broadly. Its rigorous theoretical discussions and richness of ethnographical details make it a pleasant read for both students and scholars interested in gender and sexuality in Asia and in the world today." - Lin Song, Men and Masculinities
"Whether for a general reader who wants to learn more about queer life in Asia or an academic scholar with a research interest in Asian queer studies, this book is definitely worth reading." - Linqiu Li, LSE Review of Books
“This is an especially important work for scholars at the graduate level and beyond who study contemporary Asia, as homosexuality is generally ignored in the literature. But professors at four-year universities looking for well-written examples of queer ethnographies would do well to include the book—or sections of the book—in both introductory sociology courses and upper-level surveys.”
- Michael Kirby, Journal of Urban Affairs
"Sexuality and the Rise of China contributes to the existing literature on LGBTQ+ identities, relationships, and culture, which brings insights to development studies, and East Asian studies. This monograph contributes to a contextualised analysis of the sexual identity, group solidarity, and sexual-minority rights in three societies that encounter the rise of China in the contemporary era, yet with very diverse future paths." - Jung Chen, Journal of Development Studies
"An ambitious book that is broad in its geographical and thematic reach, Travis S. K. Kong’s Sexuality and the Rise of China captures the particular zeitgeist of the sexual and intimate politics of Chinese gay men post the 1990s generation." - Wen Liu, Feminist Encounters
"Sexuality and the Rise of China offers a significant intervention in queer and sociological scholarship, combining traditional empirical methodologies with critical queer theoretical insights. . . . The comparative framework not only deepens our understanding of these locales but also underscores the global relevance of transnational queer sociology." - Charlie Yi Zhang, Asian Journal of Women's Studies
"Sexuality and the Rise of China is destined to become a landmark work sparking fresh rounds of reflection and debate on a wide range of issues. . . . The sophistication of the book’s theoretical interventions, the liveliness and empathy of the individual stories it relates, the complexity of its framing of social contexts, and the passion and persuasiveness of its arguments on challenging topics make the book a must-read for anyone interested in sexual politics in contemporary Chinese societies." - Fran Martin, Contemporary Sociology
"This book presents a thorough examination of the narratives of 90 young gay men residing in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China." - Tharika Thambidurai, Sociological Research Online
"Kong’s book succeeds in transmapping localized gay Chinese bodies against simplification under Western gay modernity and contributes to an expanding
contemporary literature of transnational Asian gender and sexuality studies." - Drew Trinidad, Sexualities
