One of the most popular shows in China was, Word of Honor, a supernatural martial arts epic that most fans watched not for the fighting, but for the heavily implied, homoerotic relationship between the two young, male leads. This is a boys’ love drama, a genre that has swept East Asia and managed to flourish even under China’s strict censorship against LGBT content. Somehow, for years, boys’ love skirted the censors.

But then, Word of Honor disappeared off the Chinese internet.

Reporter Viola Zhou takes us inside the often fantastic, super-romantic world of boy’s love dramas, and the political and cultural crackdown that’s threatening their existence.

This episode was reported by Viola Zhou and Koh Ewe. Special thanks to Alan Wong.

VICE News Reports is hosted by Arielle Duhaime-Ross and produced by Jesse Alejandro Cottrell, Sophie Kazis, Jen Kinney, Janice Llamoca, Julia Nutter, and Sayre Quevedo. Our senior producers are Ashley Cleek, Adizah Eghan, and Sam Greenspan. Our associate producers are Steph Brown, Sam Eagan, and Adreanna Rodriguez. Sound design and music composition by Steve Bone, Pran Bandi, Natasha Jacobs and Kyle Murdock.

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Boys’ Love, Censored

VICE News Reports