Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica 中央研究院近代史研究所

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Vol. 44

ISSN：10294759

Size： 18 K

Other Ordering Methods：MH

Abstract：

本期收學術論文三篇：廖小菁著〈出塵入俗：近代馬來半島的香花齋姑（1930-1970）〉、鄒韻著〈中日對比視角下「同性愛」概念的誕生與流變〉、張皓、江品萱、李柔漪著〈此生已注定？從社會網絡再探關露（1907-1982）的顛躓人生〉，及書評一篇：顧玥撰〈評介The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China〉。

Contents

Articles

Stepping into the Streets: The Xianghua Lay
Nuns in Malaya, 1930-1970

Liao Hsiao-ching

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Xianghua Zhaigu 香花齋姑 (vegetarian women/lay nuns of the “incense and flower” religious tradition) are female ritual experts who perform the xianghua 香花 (“incense and flower,” a local Buddhist ritual tradition in eastern Guangdong) funeral rites in the Chinese Hakka dialect as well as preside over private temples independently or are contracted to manage public temples. In the Malay Peninsula (previously known as “Malaya” before 1957) during the 20th century, the visibility and importance of these ritual experts rivaled that of Buddhist monks and Taoist priests within the religious life of Chinese immigrant communities. The earliest xianghua zhaigu groups in Malaya were primarily from the Meizhou 梅州 region in Guangdong, a renowned emigrant community in modern China. These groups not only exemplified emerging trends of feminization and entertainment within the funeral rituals in South China during the first half of the 20th century, but were also among the few specialized professional women among Chinese female immigrants who migrated to British Malaya in the same period. In the field of religious expertise, they could compete with male practitioners.

Buddhist nuns, they remained celibate and lived in nunneries or temples, deviating from the traditional marital paths of Chinese women in general. Upon migrating from China to Malaya, these single women occupied a distinctive social position, straddling the interface between laypeople and nuns. Their unique social identity, shaped by both religious tradition and occupational culture, often positioned them at the noticeable margins of Chinese immigrant communities. This article utilizes the half-century experience of the xianghua zhaigu groups in Perak, a state of Malaya, as a case study, investigating the historical background, social dynamics, and career status of this female religious community that migrated from South China. Furthermore, it reflects on how modern Chinese single women, upon departing from their birth families and homeland, entered and integrated themselves into overseas Chinese immigrant communities, subsequently establishing their identities and planning their careers.

Keyword：vegetarian women, xianghua (incense and flower) rites, Malayan Emergency, Briggs Plan, single female diasporas

A Comparative Study of the Emergence and Evolution of “Same-Sex Love” in China and Japan

Zou Yun

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At the close of the 19th century, Western sexological theories were introduced to Japan, and by the early 20th century, these ideas were transmitted from Japan to China. This article provides a comprehensive analysis of the emergence and evolution of the concept of dōseiai 同性愛（same-sex love） in both Japan and China, addressing a gap in the historical study of same-sex love in early 20th-century China. By adopting a Sino-Japanese comparative approach, this study sheds light on a previously overlooked aspect of the discourse.

In Japan, the 1911 suicide of a female student became a pivotal moment in the cultural shift surrounding same-sex relationships, leading to the use of dōseiai in print media to describe intimate relationships between female students. This period also saw an extensive translation and publication of Western sexological texts, dōseiai was gradually associated with terms such as dōsei shikijyō 同性色情（same sex pornography
） and dōsei seiyoku 同性性欲（same-sex sexual desire）, concepts borrowed fromsaid writings, thereby being linked with “abnormal sexual desire”.

In China, during the 1910s, the Japanese term dōseiai was introduced as tongxing’ai 同性愛, with a particular focus on relationships between female students and calls for the advocacy of free love between men and women. The 1920s became a crucial transitional period in the process of constructing sexological knowledge. Through the translation of Western sexology and the discussions by intellectuals, it is evident that the concept of “homosexuality” in the Sino-Japanese context differed from its Western interpretation. Initially, the focus was not on male same-sex relationships, but rather on the intimate relationships between female students and new women, which were regarded as social issues.

At the same time, the theories of Edward Carpenter (1844–1929) were introduced into China, where the dual sources of Japanese and English translations contributed to the blending of different cultural interpretations and understandings of Carpenter’s thought. Under the leadership of male intellectuals in China, the concept of “homosexuality” gradually underwent a process of de-genderization, and receiving the influence of leftist thought, it was reshaped into a solidarity-based political sentiment.

Keyword：Edward Carpenter, same-sex love, sexology, modern China, modern Japan

Her Destiny? The Tragic Life of Guan Lu (1907-1982) a Social Network Analysis Approach

Chang Hao, Chiang Pin-hsuan, Lee Jou-yi

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133

Book Review

Book Review on The Fox Spirit, the Stone Maiden, and Other Transgender Histories from Late Imperial China

Gu Clover Yue

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185