ABSTRACT
Thus Lu Xun wrote in an essay in 1928. For the master of the May Fourth enlightenment, female impersonation represents the ultimate oddity in the Chinese practice of gender aesthetics:
Man and woman are meant to attract each other. Eunuchs are not our concerns in this regard because nobody would fall in love with them; they are de-sexed […]. Female impersonators, however, come across as being most extraordinary because they don’t always let us feel at ease. They appear to be the opposite sex from the perspective of either men or women. Men see in them women and women see in them men. They are thus forever on display behind the windows of photo studios, and in the hearts of the Chinese people.2
