Focusing on the theme of Chinese familialism, this chapter recasts the
notion of “filiality,” foundational to the familial-kinship system, as a
discursive formation, calling attention to the way filiality has been differently
maneuvered by different regimes at different historical moments.
Foregrounding the strengthened links between filiality and loyalty in
the reinforced “family-state” discourse of martial law-era Taiwan, this
chapter argues that the family-state discourse is pivotal to what I term
the “Chinese queer diasporic imaginary,” symptomatic of the insoluble
tension between Chinese tongzhi/queer subjects and their family-based
social settings. This Chinese queer diasporic imaginary is expressed
through an array of tropes – including niezi, Nezha, AIDS, ghosts, and
Chinese/Taiwanese opera – in various queer-themed films, beginning
with Outcasts (Yu Kan-ping, 1986).
Theatrical Hybridity, Thy Name Is Conflict: A Case Study on Holo Taiwanese Opera Troupe’s Tai Tzu Fu Chou (The Prince’s Vengeful Plan)
