BEIJING: Two men exchange longing glances, a frisson of sexual tension in an on-screen relationship which must otherwise go unspoken — China’s “boys’ love” phenomenon is gripping video streamers, slipping by censors of LGBTQ themes with their subtlety.
The genre rose to prominence in 2018, as adaptations of web novels about same-sex couples, known as “dangaiju”, were increasingly picked up by on-demand services, propelling Chinese actors to stardom.
In “Word of Honor”, a blockbusting adventure from video platform Youku, two handsome martial arts heroes develop a close bond, but refer to each other only as “brothers” as the heavily-insinuated romance between…
