In ancient China, inequality between genders was a significant issue. The whole social system was a sex-segregated system. Only males had the ability and the right to get an education, take the civil service examination, and even get the opportunity to work in the the government. The whole school system was aimed at educating elite males. At the meantime women whether elite or not were to remain at home. In the Chinese family, parents primarily chose the heir to carry on their descent line and completely neglected the thought of their daughters carrying it on. In this story Chu Ying-Tai wanted to get an education just like males were at the time, so she dressed up like one and persuaded her parents to let her go to school. Chu was a typical female at this time who broke the tradition of only males getting an education and cross-dressing. …show more content…
That being, Liang fell in love with Chu as soon as she confessed her real gender. It is argued that Liang could not fall in love with Chu as a female so quickly. He only knew her the whole time as a male and brother Shan-Pai. Some have even gone on to say that, Liang could possibly be a homosexual because one doesn’t instantly fall in love with someone after finding out they’re a completely different gender. At the end of the story, when a pair of butterflies flies out from the grave to the sky can be seen as a metaphor of Liang’s queer love of Chu. A pair of butterflies is a metaphor of homosexuality in ancient China. Also, in ancient China,at this time queer relationships were seen as absolutely unacceptable by