Lian Xiangban
Lian Xiangban is a story about female homosexuality written in 1651 by Li Yu (author) in his 41.
Background
This story is about female homosexuality in a patrilineal society. It suggests the female homosexuality is appreciated in ancient China (as the male do get the benefit from it).
It is called 'fragrance of beauty'. The story is about two girls, Cui Jianyun (Chinese: 崔笺云; pinyin: Cuī Jiànyún) and Cao Yuhua (Chinese: 曹语花; pinyin: Cáo Yǔhuā), who adored each other after their intercourse by writing poems and wanted to be together all the time.
Story
Cui Jianyun, the scholar Fan Jiefu (Chinese: 范介夫; pinyin: Fàn Jièfū)'s wife, went to a temple to pay respect after her honeymoon. She happened to meet another young lady, Cao Yuhua, who was 2 years younger than her. Cui Jianyun was fond of Cao Yuhua's body fragrance; Cao Yuhua admired Cui Jianyun's talent of composing poems. So they made the promise of being together the whole life in front of Buddha. Then Cui Jianyu set up to make Cao Yuhua be her husband's concubine, so that they can "dream together during the night; do the makeup together in the morning; be together every moment inside the house"(宵同梦,晓同妆,镜里花容并蒂芳,深闺步步相随唱).
Performance
This story has been on Peking opera stage in 1954, and it is re-compiled into Kun Opera in 2010, which is 400 birthday anniversary of Li Yu (author).