In college, I studied 20th-century Chinese pop culture. I always thought it was strange how I could write an entire paper on, say, the relationship between rock music and gay politics in China without ever having talked to either a Chinese rocker or a homosexual Beijinger. Didn't matter if the professor gave me an A- on it, which I recall that she did. In any case, as I perused this collection of Ling Long, a contemporary Chinese women's magazine from the 1930s, I had that same feeling: here is a truly fascinating part of Asian culture that I'm never going to fully grasp, no matter how many books I've read on Chiang Kai Shek or the New Life Movement. Ah, but I guess it never hurts to keep trying. (Later, I actually did meet Cui Jian in person and watch him perform at Central Park's SummerStage.)

Anyway, here are some pics of things that resonated with me: an inset of two women with the caption "Same-sex marriage?," film stars Ruan Lingyu and Anna May Wong, and Ling Long ladies who dig photography.