Circular, transitory, permanent: state and migration pathways among the intranational migrant gay men in China. Issue 3 (4th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Luo, Muyuan
• Is Part Of: Gender, place and culture. Volume 28:Issue 3(2021)
• Page Start: 326
• Page End: 346
• Publication Date: 2021-03-04
• Subjects: Chinese state -- gay men -- migration pathway -- sexual migration -- queer migration; Human geography -- Periodicals; Feminism -- Periodicals; Géographie féministe -- Périodiques; 305.305
• DOI: 10.1080/0966369X.2020.1715349
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0966-369X

Abstract

Abstract: Drawing on life-history interviews conducted with Chinese intranational migrant gay men in Shenzhen, a rising migrant metropolis in South China, this article examines the pathways of Chinese intranational sexual migration, with a special focus on the state's complicated role. I identify three patterns of migration pathway—circular, transitory, and permanent migration—to capture the tempo-spatial complexity in the Chinese gay men's migratory trajectories. These categories suggest the important role played by migrants' sexuality and class in shaping their migration pathways. They also allow me to observe how China's state-sponsored rural-urban divide entangles with Shenzhen's population governance policies in shaping the Chinese migrant gay men's lived experiences and migration pathways in tempo-spatial terms. By emphasizing the state's complicated role, this article opens up possibilities to theorize sexual migration from a Southern perspective.