astronomy

Shanghai Lalas

Shanghai Lalas is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Shanghai Lalas rather than just read about it. In short: Shanghai Lalas: Female Tongzhi Communities and Politics in Urban China is a 2012 book written by Lucetta Kam Yip-lo (Chinese: 金曄路; Jyutping: gam1 jip6 lou6; pinyin: Jīn Yèlù) and published by the Hong Kong University Press. It is Volume 1 of the Queer Asia series.

Key takeaways

Shanghai Lalas belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Shanghai Lalas to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Shanghai Lalas from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Shanghai Lalas: Female Tongzhi Communities and Politics in Urban China is a 2012 book written by Lucetta Kam Yip-lo (Chinese: 金曄路; Jyutping: gam1 jip6 lou6; pinyin: Jīn Yèlù) and published by the Hong Kong University Press. It is Volume 1 of the Queer Asia series. The book discusses lalas (Chinese: 拉拉; pinyin: lālā), including female bisexuals, lesbians, and trans women, in Shanghai. From 2005 to 2011, as part of her research, Lucetta Kam interviewed 25 lalas. Most of the women were in their 20s and originated from urban areas. Shanghai-born Lucetta Kam is an assistant professor at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU), and she is involved in LGBT organizations in Hong Kong, where she was raised. Lucetta Kam herself is a lesbian, and Joanna Chiu of the South China Morning Post wrote that Lucetta Kam "needed to work to maintain her distance from her subjects".

Reception Joanna Chiu wrote that the book was "a balanced, richly insightful and succinctly argued study" that "reveals as many truths about the lives of urban lalas as about the shifting forms of social control - and strategies of social transformation - in Chinese society today."

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Shanghai Lalas

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Shanghai Lalas claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Shanghai Lalas before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Shanghai Lalas ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Shanghai Lalas

In research: Shanghai Lalas appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Shanghai Lalas in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Shanghai Lalas is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010s LGBTQ literature, 2012 LGBTQ-related literary works, 2012 non-fiction books, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Shanghai Lalas outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Shanghai Lalas” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Shanghai Lalas in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Shanghai Lalas means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Shanghai Lalas out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Shanghai Lalas in simple terms?

Why does Shanghai Lalas matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Shanghai Lalas?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Shanghai Lalas.