GLQ:A Joumal of Lesbian and Gay Studies IMAGINING GAY IDENTITIES IN CHINA 467 proper Chinese cultural citizenship.Suzhi means that the category "Chinese gay"is also based from its inception on exclusions.The primary exclusion of money boys signifies a rejection of the rural.Many urban-born gay men have anxieties,paradoxically,about exploitation by rural migrants and associate money boys with rurality(and also with effeminacy,since in their view acts of prostitution effeminize men).Thus suzhi,like discourses of family and Chinese culture and like various linguistic terms of self-identification among gay men, imbricates desires for proper cultural citizenship and transcultural discourses, in this case those that constitute class subjectivity.The following scene is one example of this articulation. Many had gathered for another weekly discussion at the salon.There was no particular topic,but at some point the issue of suzhi arose.Several gay men declared it a serious problem that plagued gay life in Beijing,because it made it difficult to know where to hang out and how to meet the proper people.There should be suzhi requirements,one man stated,for letting people into these places. Xiaolan,the government economist,got fed up and responded:"Well,I'm not sure what you mean by suzhi.Take me.I'm someone of low quality.I think all of us low- quality people should form a group and talk about our problems being low- quality.Then all of you who are high-quality can form your own group.Then you can come and visit our group and learn what it is like to be a low-quality person. Then we can have some mutual discussions." The perplexity that Xiaolan's irony caused effectively ended that discussion. Discrepant Transnationalisms Clearly,if the passion to pursue the meaningfulness of sexual desire lies at the heart of creating cultural citizenship,the same passion propels some Chinese gay men into transnational networks.Cultural citizenship,as I have argued,is con- structed by articulating desires for cultural belonging,including invocations of universality,with transcultural ideas and practices.We can now return to the more self-conscious moments in which the transnational terrain of gay networks comes into existence in Beijing and view it not as an exemplar of a global gay identity but as a rich,contested field of diverse ways of imagining gayness.The foreign men who move in and out of gay networks in Beijing are from the United States, Canada,England,France,the Netherlands,Mexico,the Dominican Republic,the Philippines,Malaysia,Ethiopia,and Russia,as well as Hong Kong and,occasion- ally,Taiwan.They come on business,as students,or as representatives of interna- Published by Duke University PressIMAGINING GAY IDENTITIES IN CHINA 467 proper Chinese cultural citizenship. Suzhi means that the category “Chinese gay” is also based from its inception on exclusions. The primary exclusion of money boys signifies a rejection of the rural. Many urban-born gay men have anxieties, paradoxically, about exploitation by rural migrants and associate money boys with rurality (and also with effeminacy, since in their view acts of prostitution effeminize men). Thus suzhi, like discourses of family and Chinese culture and like various linguistic terms of self-identification among gay men, imbricates desires for proper cultural citizenship and transcultural discourses, in this case those that constitute class subjectivity. The following scene is one example of this articulation. Many had gathered for another weekly discussion at the salon. There was no particular topic, but at some point the issue of suzhi arose. Several gay men declared it a serious problem that plagued gay life in Beijing, because it made it difficult to know where to hang out and how to meet the proper people. There should be suzhi requirements, one man stated, for letting people into these places. Xiaolan, the government economist, got fed up and responded: “Well, I’m not sure what you mean by suzhi. Take me. I’m someone of low quality. I think all of us low￾quality people should form a group and talk about our problems being low￾quality. Then all of you who are high-quality can form your own group. Then you can come and visit our group and learn what it is like to be a low-quality person. Then we can have some mutual discussions.” The perplexity that Xiaolan’s irony caused effectively ended that discussion. Discrepant Transnationalisms Clearly, if the passion to pursue the meaningfulness of sexual desire lies at the heart of creating cultural citizenship, the same passion propels some Chinese gay men into transnational networks. Cultural citizenship, as I have argued, is con￾structed by articulating desires for cultural belonging, including invocations of universality, with transcultural ideas and practices. We can now return to the more self-conscious moments in which the transnational terrain of gay networks comes into existence in Beijing and view it not as an exemplar of a global gay identity but as a rich, contested field of diverse ways of imagining gayness. The foreign men who move in and out of gay networks in Beijing are from the United States, Canada, England, France, the Netherlands, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, the Philippines, Malaysia, Ethiopia, and Russia, as well as Hong Kong and, occasion￾ally, Taiwan. They come on business, as students, or as representatives of interna￾GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies Published by Duke University Press