*The Chinese section of this article is the transcript of the podcast episode 《世界同志骄傲节特别节目：中国文化中的同性之爱》. For the full experience, please visit the episode in English and in Chinese.
大家好，我是小月，欢迎来到今天的节目。今天这期是世界同志骄傲节的特别节目，我们想借这个机会来聊聊中国文化中的同性之爱。
Hello, welcome to today’s podcast. Xiaoyue’s here. Today we have a special episode for the World Pride. We will explore how Chinese talks about Love and Sexual Diversity.
很多人都觉得，同性恋是一个从西方来的现代概念。但其实，中国古代也有很多有名的同性之爱。我们来说几个有名的故事。
Many people think that homosexuality is a modern idea fromthe West. But in fact, there are many same-sex love stories in Chinese history. Let’s have a look at some famous ones.
The first story happened in the Spring and Autumn Period. The duke of the State of Wei had a beloved companion named Mizi Xia (弥子瑕). One day, they were eating peaches together. Mizi Xia found one peach especially sweet. After taking a few bites, he gave the rest of the peach to the duke. Instead of considering it leftover, the duke was deeply touched. He believed Mizi Xia shared the sweetest part because he loved him so much.
后来，人们就用"余桃之爱"来表示男性之间的爱情。有时候，也会简单地说"分桃"。
Later, the story became the expression 余桃之爱 (yútáo zhī ài), literally "the love of the remaining peach." Sometimes people simply say 分桃 (fēntáo), "sharing apeach," to refer to male same-sex love.
The second story comes from the Warring States Period. TheKing of Wei was fishing with his favorite companion, Longyang Jun (龙阳君). At first, Longyang Jun caught asmall fish and was very happy. But after catching a much bigger one, he suddenly started crying. The king asked why. Longyang Jun said, "Now that I've caught a bigger fish, I've let the small one go. I'm afraid that one day, if you meet someone better than me, you'll forget me in the same way." Instead of getting angry, the king reassured him and even ordered that nobody should praise another beautiful person in front of him.
于是，人们也用"龙阳之好"来形容男性之间的爱情。
From then on, people began using 龙阳之好 (Lóngyáng zhī hào) to describe love between men.
The third story is probably the most famous one. It happenedduring the Western Han Dynasty. The emperor Ai of Han, deeply loved a man named Dong Xian. One afternoon, they were taking a nap together. When the emperor woke up, Dong Xian was still sleeping on his sleeve. The emperor didn't want to wake him up. So instead of pulling his arm away, he simply cut off his sleeve.
于是，"断袖之癖"也成了指代男性之间爱情的词。
This story gave us the expression 断袖之癖 (duànxiù zhī pǐ), literally "the passion of the cut sleeve," which later became another traditional expression for male same-sex love.
当然，古代历史记录中的主角大多是男性，所以这些典故描述的都是男性之间的爱情。到了现代，随着社会的发展，中文里也有了越来越多表示多元性取向的词。
Of course, the main characters in these historical stories are all men, so these expressions describe relationships between men. As society has changed, modern Chinese has also developed many new words to describe sexual diversity.
我们先来看两个比较正式的说法。第一个是“同性恋”，字面意思，喜欢相同性别的人。不过，现在大家也喜欢用简称，比如“男同”来指代男同性恋、“女同”等来指代女同性恋。这在日常生活中和网络上都很常见。
Let's start with two formal expressions. The first one is 同性恋 (tóngxìngliàn, homosexuality). Literally, it means "a person who loves someone of the same sex." Today,
people often use shorter forms in daily conversation. For example: 男同 (nántóng) instead of 男同性恋 means "gay." 女同 (nǚtóng) instead of 女同性恋 refers to "lesbian." These abbreviations are very common in daily life, and online as well.
第二个词是“性少数”，字面意思，在性别、性取向方面占少数的人。这个词强调的是一个更大的群体，除了同性恋，也包括双性恋、无性恋、跨性别者等等。新闻、学术文章、公益活动中一般都会用到这个词。
Another term is 性少数(xìng shǎoshù), which literally means "sexual minority." Unlike 同性恋, this is a broader term. It includes not only homosexual, but also bisexual, asexual, transgender people and other sexual or gender minorities. You'll often see this term in news, reports, academic writing and public campaigns.
还有一些比较有意思的词。比如，“拉拉”和“百合”。“拉拉”来自于lesbian，现在，不少女性同性恋者都会用这个词来介绍自己，所以它听起来比较自然，也比较亲切。而“百合”本来指的是百合花，后来受到日本动漫的影响，慢慢变成了一个文化词汇，表示女性之间的爱情。不过，这两个词还是有一点不同。拉拉用来描述一个人，而百合则更多地用于描述某部作品。
There are also some interesting informal words. For example, 拉拉 (lālā)and 百合 (bǎihé). 拉拉comes from the English word lesbian. Today, many lesbians in Chinese-speaking communities use this word to describe themselves. It sounds friendly and cute. 百合 originally means "lily," the flower. Influenced by Japanese anime and manga culture, it gradually became a word for stories or works about romantic relationships between women. So we see the difference here. 拉拉 usually describes a person while 百合usually describes a type of fiction.
还有一个词，是“同志”。这个词本来是指志同道合的同伴或革命战友，新中国成立之后的很长一段时间内，人们见面时都会说：“同志，你好！” 20世纪八九十年代，香港的LGBTQ+社群开始借用这个词来指代性少数群体，之后，这个用法也慢慢传播了到其他华语地区。
Another interesting word is 同志 (tóngzhì). Originally, 同志 meant "comrade"—someone who shares the same goals and ideals. For many years after the founding of the People's Republic of China, people commonly greeted each other by saying, "同志，你好！"/ "Hello, comrade!" Then, in the 1980s and 1990s, LGBTQ+ communities in Hong Kong began using 同志 as a positive way to refer to sexual minorities. Later, this usage spread to other Chinese-speaking communities.
不管性取向如何，爱情都是一样美好的。当你描述另一半时，除了“男朋友/女朋友”“丈夫/妻子”这些词外，如果你不想强调另一半的性别，也可以用以下几个词：
No matter what our sexual orientation is, love is beautiful. When talking about your partner in Chinese, you don't always have to say "boyfriend," "girlfriend," "husband," or
"wife." If you don't want to emphasize gender, here are three useful words.
第一个词是“对象”。这是一个比较口语的词。你可以向朋友介绍说：“这是我对象。”当然，过年回家，家人也会问你“找对象了没有呀？带回家看看。”之类的。
The first is 对象(duìxiàng). This is a very common and casual word. You can simply say: "This is my Duixiang." /"这是我对象。"And of course during Chinese New Year, many young people hear questions like: "找对象了没有？" /"Have you found someone yet?" or "什么时候带对象回家？"/"When are you bringing your partner home?" Very Chinese…
第二个词是“伴侣”。顾名思义，就是彼此陪伴，一起生活的人，不强调性别，也不强调婚姻状态。你可以说：“我找到了我的灵魂伴侣。”
The second word is 伴侣 (bànlǚ). It literally means "someone who accompanies you through life." It doesn't emphasize gender or marital status. For example you can say: "我找到了灵魂伴侣。"/ "I've found my soulmate."
最后一个词是“爱人”。在中国大陆，爱人一般指自己的配偶。所以，当你向别人介绍说“这是我爱人”时，大家会默认你们已经结婚了。但是，在其他华语地区和一些流行文化中，这个词也可以与婚姻无关，只是指“相爱的人”。
The last word is 爱人 (àirén). This one often surprises Chinese learners. In Mainland China, 爱人 usually means your spouse. So if you introduce someone by saying, "这是我爱人。"/ "This is my Airen." People will usually assume you are married. However, in some other Chinese-speaking regions and in literature or pop culture, 爱人 can simply mean "the person you love," whether you are married or not.
有一个容易和这个词搞混的词，是“情人”，虽然它有时候也表示相爱的人，但更多时候，它会让人想到婚外恋或者秘密恋爱，带有贬义色彩。所以使用的时候要特别小心。
But attention! There is another word that learners often confuse with 爱人: that is 情人(qíngrén). It can refer to the person you love too, but it conveys the meaning of an affair outside marriage or a secret romantic relationship. Yes it usually has a negative meaning. Be very careful when using it.
好了，今天的节目就到这里了。你怎么称呼你的另一半呢？你的文化中有什么有名的同性之爱吗？请留言告诉我吧。
And this is the end of today's episode. How do you refer to your partner in your own language? And are there any famous historical stories about same-sex love in your culture? Tell me in the comment!
