Queering Reproduction: Changing Moral Dilemmas for Chinese Non-heterosexual People

This book examines the dynamic understandings and practices of same-sex intimacies, queer parenting, and queer family making in urban Guangdong, China. What does it mean for Chinese non-heterosexual people to go against existing state regulations and societal norms to form a desirable and legible queer family? Based on yearlong ethnographic fieldwork, this book explores the various tactics queer people employ to have children and to form queer or ‘rainbow’ families. It unpacks people’s experiences of cultivating, or losing, kinship relations through their negotiation with biological relatives, cultural conventions, and state legislations. It argues that non-heterosexual people’s tactics of forming and sustaining mutuality/jiban in their loving and parenting relationships both reproduce and transgress assumptions about ‘blood and biology’ and its centrality in the knowledge of kinship, in that way also blurring the symbolic distinctiveness of blood kin and queer relations. Through its analysis, the book offers a new ethnographic perspective for queer studies and the anthropology of kinship. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Guangdong, China, this book asks: what does it mean for Chinese non-heterosexual people to go against existing state regulations and societal norms to form a desirable and legible queer family? Chapters explore the various tactics queer people employ to have children and to form queer or ‘rainbow’ families. The book unpacks people’s experiences of cultivating, or losing, kinship relations through their negotiation with biological relatives, cultural conventions and state legislations. Through its analysis, the book offers a new ethnographic perspective for queer studies and anthropology of kinship. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Guangdong, China, this book explores the various tactics queer people employ to have children and to form queer or ‘rainbow’ families. It unpacks people’s experiences of cultivating, or losing, kinship relations through their negotiation with biological relatives, cultural conventions and state legislations. This chapter explores queer reproductive choices within the evolving landscape of kinship conventions and moral personhood in urban China. The analysis commences by examining the motivations and timing behind the decisions of individuals from diverse age groups and backgrounds to either have children or remain childless. The chapter advocates for a re-evaluation of the symbolic significance of children in the context of reproductive studies. It proceeds to document the existing practices surrounding parenthood among Chinese non-heterosexual individuals and couples, shedding light on the moral dilemmas that often arise. These practices encompass various methods, including having children from prior zhihun (heterosexual) marriages, xinghun (contract) marriages, guoji adoptions (primarily from relatives), and the utilization of assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). The chapter further delves into the evolving moral discourses within queer communities, assessing how these communities evaluate pathways to parenthood.