Platinum Bible of the Public Toilet is the first English-language collection of short stories by Cui Zi’en, China’s most famous and controversial queer filmmaker, writer, scholar, and LGBTQ rights activist. Drawing on his own experiences growing up in socialist and postsocialist China, Cui presents ten queer coming-of-age stories of young boys and men as they explore their sexuality and desires. From a surreal fairytale depicting a ragtag crew of neighborhood boys in the throes of sexual awakening to a chronicle of the gender-bending and homoerotic entanglements of university students to romantic love triangle erotica to a story that examines teacher-student love and the norms of sex and age, Cui centers queer sexuality as a core part of human experience. Richly imaginative and vividly written, Platinum Bible of the Public Toilet portrays the emergence of queer cultures in postsocialist China while foregrounding the commitments to one’s erotic and passionate attractions even as they lead to cultural transgressions. This volume includes a preface by and an interview with the author.
- Cover
- Contents
- Series Editor’s Introduction / Carlos Rojas
- Editors’ Introduction / Petrus Liu & Lisa Rofel
- Preface / Translated by Petrus Liu
- Uncle’s Elegant Life (舅舅的人间烟火) / Translated by Lisa Rofel
- Intrigue like Fireworks (奸情如焰火) / Translated by Fran Martin
- Some Admire Wisdom, Others Do Not (有人赞美聪慧,有人则不) / Translated by Derek Hird
- Orphans of the Japanese Empire (日本遗民) / Translated by Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen
- The Silent Advent of the Age of Sexual Persuasion (言性时代悄然莅临) / Translated by Petrus Liu
- Men Men Men Women Women Women (男男男女女女) / Translated by Yizhou Guo
- Men Are Containers (男人是容器) / Translated by Casey James Miller
- Fire and Wolf Share a Fondness for Male Beauty (老火和老狼同好男色) / Translated by Yizhou Guo
- Teacher Eats Biscuits Thin as Parchment (老师吃饼薄如纸) / Translated by William F. Schroeder
- Platinum Bible of the Public Toilet (公厕白金宝典) / Translated by Wenqing Kang & Cathryn H. Clayton
- Interview with Cui Zi’en / Petrus Liu & Lisa Rofel
- Appendix: Works by Cui Zi’en
- Bibliography
- Contributors
- Place of First Publication