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Angelwings: Contemporary Queer Fiction from Taiwan
Lesbian and gay--or queer--fiction (known in Mandarin as tongzhi wenxue) constitutes a major contribution to Taiwanese literature, as evidenced by the remarkable number of prestigious literary awards won by many of the authors of the short stories presented here. Indeed, the meteoric rise of this new genre was a defining feature of Taiwan's literary scene in the 1990s. Queer fiction was also instrumental in forming self-identifying subcultural gay readerships, thus serving a significant political function. But most strikingly, this fiction has been immensely popular with general readers in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as in diasporic Chinese communities worldwide. The startlingly fresh, brave voices that speak through these stories attest to the powerful social ferment of the past ten years in Taiwan, which have witnessed a revolution in discourses on sex and sexuality in the public sphere.
Contributors: Chu T'ien-Wen, Qiu Miaojin, Chu T'ien-Hsin, Hsu Yoshen, Lin Yuyi, Lin Chun Ying, Chen Xue, Hong Ling, Chi Tawei, Wu Jiwen.
Contributors: Chu T'ien-Wen, Qiu Miaojin, Chu T'ien-Hsin, Hsu Yoshen, Lin Yuyi, Lin Chun Ying, Chen Xue, Hong Ling, Chi Tawei, Wu Jiwen.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 5, 2019
1. Bodhisattva Incarnate - Chu T'ien-wen
2. Platonic Hair - Qiu Miao-jin
3. A Stranger's ID - Chi Ta-wei
These three intrigued me much more than the other stories found in this collection. However, on the whole, there was nothing particularly amazing here. There is much better queer fiction to be found in Taiwan, you just need to know where to look.
2. Platonic Hair - Qiu Miao-jin
3. A Stranger's ID - Chi Ta-wei
These three intrigued me much more than the other stories found in this collection. However, on the whole, there was nothing particularly amazing here. There is much better queer fiction to be found in Taiwan, you just need to know where to look.
November 5, 2019
Honestly worth it just for Platonic Hair
February 15, 2023
couldn't even finish it, the stories were too boring
April 3, 2026
Qiu Miaojin - “Platonic Hair”
Qiu Miaojin is of course the reason I found this book. So I will first talk about her story in this collection.
The meaning of the title is: I have some idea, but not exactly sure.
The story begins with the two girls, the narrator and Han, stroking each other’s hair as they lay in bed.
Han is a prostitute who the narrator falls in love with.
The ending: I understood the emotion it evoked, but also not exactly sure what it means.
Other Books Read by Author:
Notes of a Crocodile, Last Words From Montmartre; as of present I am either unable to find or unable to translate any of her other rare works.
On feelings and language
One of my favorite passages from Angelwings is
This feeling is then echoed in the final story in the collection, “Rose is the Past Tense of Rise”: “a game with all the innocence and cruelty of an unruly child.” (240)
A second feeling is expressed in these stories: “It’s been a long time now since I’ve written the kind of thing you die as you write. Right now I’m just concentrating on struggling with you, arguing with you, making love with you!” (“Poem From The Glass Womb,” 201)
And the feeling is echoed in “Who is Singing?”: “A flower tended in a bottle, the eyes of a growing infant, these are actually another kind of dying.” (171)
A third feeling is expressed in one of these stories: “Sometimes he felt like some ancient fish washed by the waves at last into a sea within a dormant volcano, his eyes witnessing daybreak over a new world. His unquiet body, too, welcomed the dawn of a new life.” (“Rose is the Past Tense of Rise,” 243)
The use of different languages (mandarin, taiwanese, english translation) is also beautiful, and reminds me of the effortless switching between languages in CMBYN (“Stones on the Shore,” 110). There is also examples of voice that I love in parts of these works.
”The Boy in the Pink Orchid Tree”
I think it is my second favorite story in this book (p. 163). Part of what I loved about this story was the form of the romance, which took a very , very restrained, hidden form.
The story begins with the main character and narrator, an unnamed boy, setting the scene of the story (which is a memory): an all-boys school, in the spring of the year he graduated. There is a small commentary on the education system: “It seems adults have the strange idea that no matter how bad a student from a good school may be, he’s always a little better than a student from a bad school. This is a dangerous way of thinking, but many people hold to it with unwavering faith” (137). Though this is not really important to the point of the story. He then introduces A’Mo, another boy at the school. In terms of their chemistry, A’Mo is older, more popular, physically bigger, and more experienced.
A bit later, he introduces Wang Daren, the Counselor and Chinese teacher. The narrator wants with conviction to declare his field of study as Chinese. What I make of this, is that I know it is one of the hardest fields of study, without even taking into account career. But I know that it can also lead to a good life, like the life of Stoner in John Williams’ novel.
The story’s ending is emotionally messy, I suppose it is what is called a coming-of-age.
The title has a pretty cut and dried meaning, it refers to the boy, who climbed up a pink orchid tree at the story’s climax. As the pink orchid tree shows, it is spring. Which is my favorite season.
Angelwings
What does the title of the entire collection, Angelwings mean? Well, angels could be said to be persons who are “loving, gracious, or lovely," and the angelic sense could be described as “wonderfully pure, sweet.” These definitions both can certainly describe many of the characters in these stories.
Then let’s see what the work itself says about it. Well, there is one story titled “Searching For The Lost Wings of the Angel.” There is also the sense of wonder inspired by the word “Flight” which comes with wings. And To be under (someone's) wing "protected by (someone),” the image is of a young bird and its mother.
There was also an essay in this book, “Who is Singing,” that was not as good as the other essay, but still of course great; but it just was more like something that I could write (p. 176).
Qiu Miaojin is of course the reason I found this book. So I will first talk about her story in this collection.
The meaning of the title is: I have some idea, but not exactly sure.
The story begins with the two girls, the narrator and Han, stroking each other’s hair as they lay in bed.
Han is a prostitute who the narrator falls in love with.
The ending: I understood the emotion it evoked, but also not exactly sure what it means.
Other Books Read by Author:
Notes of a Crocodile, Last Words From Montmartre; as of present I am either unable to find or unable to translate any of her other rare works.
On feelings and language
One of my favorite passages from Angelwings is
“There: That sweet, tiny lover stands far off on the other bank of time’s river, yes? It was before you moved house. You loved each other through many summer vacations and winters that seemed so very long. You were devoted to each other. You never thought of revenge, because there was no question of ‘possession’ or the lack of it; the expression of your feelings was as simple as could be, and amid the rowdy children’s games you exchanged unnoticed smiles between the shadows of others. The way it shook the depths of the heart and soul far surpasses adulthood’s exchanges of copious words and body fluids. You even slept peacefully night after night, not thinking of tomorrow; in any case you were sure of seeing each other every day, and your body was simply incapable of desire and yearning. When she moved house and left, you weren’t heartbroken and you didn’t cry, because you didn’t comprehend what it meant to be no longer physically together. That’s the feeling I’m talking about.” (“A Story of Spring Butterflies,” 96)
This feeling is then echoed in the final story in the collection, “Rose is the Past Tense of Rise”: “a game with all the innocence and cruelty of an unruly child.” (240)
A second feeling is expressed in these stories: “It’s been a long time now since I’ve written the kind of thing you die as you write. Right now I’m just concentrating on struggling with you, arguing with you, making love with you!” (“Poem From The Glass Womb,” 201)
And the feeling is echoed in “Who is Singing?”: “A flower tended in a bottle, the eyes of a growing infant, these are actually another kind of dying.” (171)
A third feeling is expressed in one of these stories: “Sometimes he felt like some ancient fish washed by the waves at last into a sea within a dormant volcano, his eyes witnessing daybreak over a new world. His unquiet body, too, welcomed the dawn of a new life.” (“Rose is the Past Tense of Rise,” 243)
The use of different languages (mandarin, taiwanese, english translation) is also beautiful, and reminds me of the effortless switching between languages in CMBYN (“Stones on the Shore,” 110). There is also examples of voice that I love in parts of these works.
”The Boy in the Pink Orchid Tree”
I think it is my second favorite story in this book (p. 163). Part of what I loved about this story was the form of the romance, which took a very , very restrained, hidden form.
The story begins with the main character and narrator, an unnamed boy, setting the scene of the story (which is a memory): an all-boys school, in the spring of the year he graduated. There is a small commentary on the education system: “It seems adults have the strange idea that no matter how bad a student from a good school may be, he’s always a little better than a student from a bad school. This is a dangerous way of thinking, but many people hold to it with unwavering faith” (137). Though this is not really important to the point of the story. He then introduces A’Mo, another boy at the school. In terms of their chemistry, A’Mo is older, more popular, physically bigger, and more experienced.
A bit later, he introduces Wang Daren, the Counselor and Chinese teacher. The narrator wants with conviction to declare his field of study as Chinese. What I make of this, is that I know it is one of the hardest fields of study, without even taking into account career. But I know that it can also lead to a good life, like the life of Stoner in John Williams’ novel.
The story’s ending is emotionally messy, I suppose it is what is called a coming-of-age.
The title has a pretty cut and dried meaning, it refers to the boy, who climbed up a pink orchid tree at the story’s climax. As the pink orchid tree shows, it is spring. Which is my favorite season.
Angelwings
What does the title of the entire collection, Angelwings mean? Well, angels could be said to be persons who are “loving, gracious, or lovely," and the angelic sense could be described as “wonderfully pure, sweet.” These definitions both can certainly describe many of the characters in these stories.
Then let’s see what the work itself says about it. Well, there is one story titled “Searching For The Lost Wings of the Angel.” There is also the sense of wonder inspired by the word “Flight” which comes with wings. And To be under (someone's) wing "protected by (someone),” the image is of a young bird and its mother.
There was also an essay in this book, “Who is Singing,” that was not as good as the other essay, but still of course great; but it just was more like something that I could write (p. 176).
February 18, 2025
STONES ON THE SHORE by Hsu Yoshen included in Contemporary Queer Fiction from Taiwan (translated by Fran Martin, 2003) is a realistic gay story that has the elements of gay men and Chinese culture. I'm surprised that it shows a confrontation between a mature mainland Chinese and a less mature Taiwanese man. It likely appeals to Yaoi readers though the elements of the gay genre are there.
October 23, 2022
While I thought Martin's introduction and compilation of works was well thought-out, I lack the familiarity of Taiwanese queer fiction necessary to accurately judge her selection of works. I enjoyed most pieces in the book, but specifically read for Platonic Hair.
June 16, 2025
there's a story in here for many kinds of queer readers, though you probably won't like /all/ of them, a nice insight and can introduce you to some writers whose longer works you can look into. I know I plan to
December 1, 2022
Favorites were "A Story of Spring Butterflies" and the titular "Searching for the Lost Wings of an Angel." Was kind of disappointed in "Platonic Hair" since I enjoyed 邱妙津/Qiu Miaojin's novels.
August 12, 2025
Review to come.
August 12, 2022
DNF @ around 30%
It's been awhile since I tried to read this but I'm trying to catch up on my review writing so I thought I'd put a little note here. I decided to try reading this because I had read Qiu Miaojin's novels and enjoyed them and thought I would check this out as well since she has a story in it.
Her story was decent but honestly nothing nearly as good as her longer works and then one of the stories shortly after hers was just the most incredibly awful biphobic shit that I've ever had the misfortune to read and I decided that I didn't need to keep reading this book. I get that the point of this anthology is to preserve older works from a specific group and also that a lot of them are quite old and I'm not saying that there is no place for preserving a story like that, but I also feel like printing that story in this book with no kind of warning or commentary preceding it is at best incredibly irresponsible and at worst implied agreement with the subject matter.
It's possibly not fair for me to give the whole anthology one star based on that alone but my rating is a reflection of my personal feelings on the book and as a bi person that story made me feel like absolute shit.
It's been awhile since I tried to read this but I'm trying to catch up on my review writing so I thought I'd put a little note here. I decided to try reading this because I had read Qiu Miaojin's novels and enjoyed them and thought I would check this out as well since she has a story in it.
Her story was decent but honestly nothing nearly as good as her longer works and then one of the stories shortly after hers was just the most incredibly awful biphobic shit that I've ever had the misfortune to read and I decided that I didn't need to keep reading this book. I get that the point of this anthology is to preserve older works from a specific group and also that a lot of them are quite old and I'm not saying that there is no place for preserving a story like that, but I also feel like printing that story in this book with no kind of warning or commentary preceding it is at best incredibly irresponsible and at worst implied agreement with the subject matter.
It's possibly not fair for me to give the whole anthology one star based on that alone but my rating is a reflection of my personal feelings on the book and as a bi person that story made me feel like absolute shit.
April 17, 2026
I’m giving 5 stars just to "Platonic hair" it is that serious.
“So you can’t make love with me, even though you really
want to?”
“Mm—I’d be punished!”
“Like a curse?”
“Yes, like a curse!”
“It’s you that doesn’t understand how to love a woman. No—is it
that you don’t dare?”
"To be a woman who loves another woman is to be sharply, heart-piercingly humbled. The humiliation of not knowing what I could possibly give her shadowed my every move."
“So you can’t make love with me, even though you really
want to?”
“Mm—I’d be punished!”
“Like a curse?”
“Yes, like a curse!”
“It’s you that doesn’t understand how to love a woman. No—is it
that you don’t dare?”
"To be a woman who loves another woman is to be sharply, heart-piercingly humbled. The humiliation of not knowing what I could possibly give her shadowed my every move."
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews