Drawing on the daoist philosophy of xing (性) (nature/sexuality), hexie (和谐) (harmony) and tianren heyi (天人合) (the unity between the human world and the non-human world), the lecture Metamorphosis of A Butterfly: Queer Art and Activism in Contemporary China by Dr. Hongwei Bao looks at queer art beyond Western queer theory, modern gay identity, from indigenous and ancient perspectives and addressing questions of sexuality, urban migration and LGBT communities in recent years in China.

Dr Hongwei Bao is Associate Professor in Media Studies at the University of Nottingham, UK, where he also directs the Centre for Contemporary East Asian Cultural Studies. He is also a research associate of the Birmingham School of Art. Dr Bao is the author of three books on Chinese queer culture: Queer Comrades, Queer China and Queer Media in China. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts and the Higher Education Academy in the UK.

The podcast is part of the series KNOT KNOW exploring craft's potential for building solidarity and queering beliefs across Central Asia and China. The program and podcast is supported by Bezirkskulturfonds im Bezirk Mitte.
Audio editing by @berlinology.