Whether or not the Hong Kong-born (British Subject) – Li Shiu Tong (李兆堂) [1907-1996] – was his lover is open to debate – but the weight of evidence does seem to suggest that he was (either Li’s Chinese family understood he was gay and approved of it – or they did not fully comprehend what was happening – and mistook his travelling abroad as being the product of his clever and successful scholarship). Hirschfeld was around 49-years his senior. I will attempt to look-up a reliable Chinese-language biography of Li and translate it for this blog. After the death of Hirschfeld – Li tended to drift toward the idea that LGBTQ identities are partly genetic and partly environmental. Li studied medicine in Shanghai – but never finished his degree – and even studied at Harvard, again without completely his degree. He was obviously very intelligent and managed to leave China and hold his own in the West. Li died in Canada aged 86 – with his younger brother dealing with his affairs. Reports suggest most of his Western property (much of it inherited from Hirschfeld – was thrown into a public skip. Indeed, a passerby is said to have rescued some of it – including the text-books, notes, and even the death-mask of Hirschfeld.
