Beijing Comrades

The book begins with a mist, a haze on who the author is. It's a forward to inform the reader how little is known about them. It somehow emboldens the reader to take perspective for themselves. There are rumors Bei Tong is a woman/man/partner/ex lover/fictional/non-fictional but all we really know is that a blog published this story in 1998 and this story became celebrated and circulated with enough fame to reach a book publisher. This forward begins the story with a blurred lens, a distortion of truth, a challenge of belief, and perhaps that is what instantly drew me into the book, a sense that I could unravel the mystery if I picked up enough clues.

Let's start with the obvious, and it's a big obvious: Power dynamics are absurdly and crudely created. The characters meet when they are 16 and 26. They fall into the trope of "they're so much older for their age" right away. AND yes I get that its written as a blog post in 1998. AND yes it is set in 80s. AND yes it could be my western gaze but the only reason it semi-works is that the power dynamics shift dramatically. While the youth and naivety of the younger Lan Yu is used to show the exploitative and deplorable actions of Handong, the book removes all power from Handong continously to show that even when the dynamics continue to shift, he will still love Lan Yu. I think we all would have just preferred him to be 18 in chapter one 🙃.

Handong as the only narrator allows for the reader to hate him about 90% of the time. He is a liar, a gaslighter, a manipulator. However, through all his bad personality traits, he makes a great central character. Through his perspective, we are able to see his actual growth. He is a man that believes he is in absolute dominating control, but the book destroys him, and you as a reader are torn in the battle of wanting him to do better, wanting better to happen for him, and wanting to destroy him.

But the relationship itself? Tender. Moving. Real. The way that the author writes about how normalcy and routine offers a way to build love in a deeper way is unparalleled. This is where the book shines brightest. This book explores the way that the good times, the times when you order in food, shower, and call it an early night, are the nights when you can look at your partner and realize that you have built a life of love.

The sexual portions of their relationship are pretty heavy (both the good and bad... like real bad... like you can skip them tbh). But the sexcual exploration is wonderful when its consensual and fun. A great aspect was that the usual trope is that people in long-term relationships are not having good sex (the book lightly explores this). But Bei Tong takes that trope and flips it; the scenes just kept getting more intense the longer they were together.

I did appreciate that the book took place in 1980s China. The setting was half of the book. Closeted love in Beijing. China its own character, its own setting, it toyed with the characters providing plenty of hiding spots and places to be discovered in. It was oppressive. It was their home. I learned a bit of the changes that China was going through in this time maybeeee it was even lightly educational.

Both characters are naive at the end of the day. Navigating a gay relationship that they have never seen or heard of. They are realizing that being gay is normal. Their happiness is a bubble that you get to experience with them. Isolated from their families, friends, and city, you get to hold their hand in the back of a cab and silently watch them kiss on a hill. I feel like that's the biggest heartbreak of all—that you watch this secret relationship while being off in a corner with them. You become a comrade of their love.

Overall, I would recommend this book to someone who is looking for a gay romance. Someone who wants to feel the ebb and flow of a relationship from afar. The longing. The heartbreak.