‘Sisters, Strangers, Friends: Queering the Political Discourse of Love’ A Talk with Ting Guo

Written by Lorraine Pan

Edited by the Taiwan Gazette

Cover photo by Lorraine Pan

Speaker Bios:

Ting Guo is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and a book review editor for the Journal of the American Academy of Religion. She previously worked as a research assistant for the Dahrendorf Programme for the Study of Freedom at the University of Oxford and holds a status-only Assistant Professorship at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. Her research focuses on religion, politics, and gender in modern East Asia and the Asian diaspora. Dr. Guo’s work at the intersection of critical religion, multiple empires, and intraminority solidarity is shaping the affective turn in religious studies. She is currently working on her forthcoming book Politics of Love: Religion, Secularism, and Love as a Political Discourse in Modern China, incorporating her ideas into her talk.

Erin Y. Huang is a scholar of transregional Asian studies specializing in the aesthetics and politics of Chinese, Sinophone (Hong Kong and Taiwan), and Sino-American visual and literary cultures. She earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and a certificate in Feminist Studies from the University of California, Irvine. Huang is the author of Urban Horror: Neoliberal Post-Socialism and the Limits of Visibility (Duke University Press, 2020) and has taught at Princeton University and New York University. She is currently based at the University of Toronto.

On November 29, 2024, Professor Ting Guo, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, gave a lecture titled ‘Sisters, Strangers, Friends: Queering the Political Discourse of Love’ at the University of Toronto. The event, hosted by Professor Anup Grewal of the Department of Historical and Cultural Studies at UTSC, was part of the Jackman Humanities Institute Working Group on ‘Emerging Interventions in Contemporary China Studies’. Professor Erin Y. Huang, a scholar of transregional Asian studies, served as the discussant.

In her talk, Professor Guo explored the concept of ‘queer love’ in the context of Sinophone societies, including China and Hong Kong. She defined ‘queer love’ as a form of sisterhood grounded not in blood relations, but in shared experiences and goals within grassroots feminist movements. This love, she argued, serves as a resistance to the authoritarian hijacking of the word "love," offering a space for personal and collective identity development, as well as emotional support within activist communities.

Guo illustrated this idea through the experiences of Chinese feminist Xianzi and Japanese journalist Shiori Ito, both of whom became figures in the #MeToo movement. Xianzi’s social media account, ‘Xianzi and Her Friends’, represents this concept of 'queer love'—a solidarity among women activists transcending borders and nationalities.

Professor Guo also examined how the term ‘love’ has been politically co-opted by authoritarian regimes. For example, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s portrayal as a loving father figure, alongside Hong Kong’s former Chief Executive Carrie Lam as a ‘mother of the people,’ illustrates the regime’s use of familial love as a tool for political control. In contrast, Guo emphasized how the ‘queer love’ of female activists challenges this narrative, creating a more inclusive and tolerant environment for marginalized voices.

Finally, Guo highlighted how transnational alliances like the Milk Tea Alliance—which began as a youth-led democracy movement between Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Thailand—exemplify the solidarity and collective power of 'queer love' in a global context. She concluded by calling for a broader, more inclusive vision of solidarity that embraces differences across national, racial, and religious boundaries.