ABSTRACT
Transgender/trans studies is contributing to and being fueled by studies in the East of the nondualist philosophy of Daoism, the central teaching of which is the deconstruction of the formidable mind/body dualism. This chapter begins with brief discussion of the contribution and energization; it then relates the question of what a canon of Sinitic trans literature might or could be to the concern of the perdurable influence of Daoism on Sinitic literature and how this influence is a potential and actual portal for scholars interested in the meeting grounds of transgender/trans studies and Sinitic literature. In expanding on the given concerns, I bring them to bear on two staples of Chinese literature, the Ming dynasty Journey to the West (ca. 1592), attributed to Wu Cheng’en, and the Qing dynasty Dream of the Red Chamber (1792), by Cao Xueqin (1710–1763); and a work of contemporary Sinitic literature, Chen Yuhong’s (陳育虹) collection of poetry In Between (2011). Finally, I comment on the intersections between cyborg literature and transgender/trans literature through a reading of Chen Qiufan’s (陳楸帆) (1981–) Waste Tide (2013). The focus of this discussion is a questioning of the anthropocentric biases that have saddled transgender/trans studies. Its scholars have yet to fully address the extent to which the discipline has been overdetermined by both the anthropocentric lens and Western-based theoretical perspectives. Transgender/trans studies scholars are asking questions about these heavyweights, nonetheless. This chapter represents those interrogations. In foregrounding the intersections between transgender/trans* studies and Daoism studies, this chapter also underscores the need to be wary of any presumptuous claim that Daoism in practice reflects more tolerance of transgender/trans identity than does any Western-based philosophy.
