What’s It Like To Be Gay In China? with Dr. Travis S. K. Kong

What do 90 young, gay men in mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have in common? They’ve all spent years sharing their stories with this week’s guest: Dr. Travis S. K. Kong. He joins Jonathan as part of our Pride Beyond Borders series to discuss what it’s like to be queer in each of these places—and share his interviewees’ coming out stories, their experiences with sex and dating, and their senses of intergenerational queer community.

Travis S. K. Kong is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author of Chinese Male Homosexualities: Memba, Tongzhi and Golden Boy (Routledge 2011), Oral Histories of Older Gay Men in Hong Kong (Hong Kong University Press, 2019) and Sexuality and the Rise of China: The Post-1990s Gay Generation in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China (Duke University Press 2023).

Curious for more? Check out the rest of our Pride Beyond Borders series:

Is Queerness Divine? (Part One) with Dr. Eziaku Nwokocha

Is Queerness Divine? (Part Two) with Dr. Eziaku Nwokocha

What Are The Global Politics of Drag? with Professor Kareem Khubchandani

And learn about Early China in parts one and two of our conversation with Professor Jue Guo.

Follow us on Instagram @CuriousWithJVN to join the conversation. Jonathan is on Instagram @JVN.

Transcripts for each episode are available at JonathanVanNess.com.

Find books from past Getting Curious guests at bookshop.org/shop/curiouswithjvn.

Our executive producer is Erica Getto. Our producer is Chris McClure. Production support from Julie Carrillo and Emily Bossak.

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