The anthropology of Chinese masculinity in Taiwan and Hong Kong

In the last few years alone there has been a flood of critical reflection questioning prevailing notions of masculinity in general and Chinese manhood in particular (Braudy 2003; Anderson 2009; Marcell et al. 2011; Schrock and Schwalbe 2009; Barker 2010; Boretz 2011; Liong and Chan 2012; Pascoe 2012; Zhu 2013). Rather than engaging in a comprehensive review of this literature, we wish to focus on several major points in the study of Chinese manhood, mostly in support of our central argument that Chinese manhood has to be studied in its abstract idea of manhood even within the Chinese societies of Hong Kong and Taiwan. The nature and character of manhood in these two Chinese societies hinges upon three contexts: geopolitics, the family system, and the relationship between womanhood and manhood. It follows that Chinese manhood cannot be studied in isolation but must be considered in its relation with womanhood.