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.

Cui Zi’en is a film director, writer, and activist. He is Associate Professor at the Film Research Institute of the Beijing Film Academy.

Petrus Liu is Associate Professor of Chinese and Comparative Literature at Boston University.

Lisa Rofel is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Series Editors’ Introduction / Carlos Rojas  vii
Editors’ Introduction / Petrus Liu and Lisa Rofel  xi
Preface / Translated by Petrus Liu  xxiii
Uncle’s Elegant Life / Translated by Lisa Rofel  1
Intrigue Like Fireworks / Translated by Fran Martin  10
Some Admire Wisdom, Others Do Not / Translated by Derek Hird  20
Orphans of the Japanese Empire / Translated by Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen  45
The Silent Advent of the Age of Sexual Persuasion / Translated by Petrus Liu  71
Men Men Men Women Women Women / Translated by Yizhou Guo  82
Men Are Containers / Translated by Casey James Miller  117
Fire and Wolf Share a Fondness for Male Beauty / Translated by Yizhou Guo  129
Teacher Eats Biscuits Thin as Parchment / Translated by William F. Schroeder  141
Platinum Bible of the Public Toilet / Translated by Wenqing Kang and Cathryn H. Clayton  153
Interview with Cui Zi’en / Petrus Liu and Lisa Rofel  257
Appendix: Works by Cui Zi’en  273
Bibliography  279
Contributors  283
Place of First Publication  285