Qiu Miaojin was a pioneering Taiwanese lesbian novelist and a central figure in modern Chinese-language queer literature. Her masterpieces, Notes of a Crocodile and Last Letters from Montmartre, captured the psychological intensity and existential struggle of lesbian identity in post-martial law Taiwan.
"My passion is so intense that it's almost a kind of self-destruction."
Impact
Qiu is credited with inventing the term "Lazi" (from "Lesbian"), which remains the most common slang for lesbians in the Chinese-speaking world today. Her tragic suicide in Paris at the age of 26 shocked the literary world, but her posthumous works became a "Bible" for queer youth. She transformed personal pain into avant-garde art, providing a profound voice for those living on the social and emotional fringes.