As urban China has undergone a rapid transformation, same-sex relations have emerged as a significant, if previously neglected, touchstone for the exploration of the meaning of social change. The short fiction in this volume highlights tensions between tradition and modernization, family and state, art and commerce, love and sex. These stories introduce an emerging generation of acclaimed, and at times contraversial, women writers, including Chen Ran, Bikwan Wong and Chen Xue. By presenting fiction from the PRC, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the collection deliberately maps the literary contours of same-sex intimacy in broadly cultural rather than purely political terms. The perceptive and informative introduction surveys the social evolution of female same-sex intimacy in 20th century China, examines how each author engages with her Chinese context, and discusses how the stories compare with earlier representations of Chinese same-sex intimacy in the USA.