What do you expect in china? The culture is wholly uncomfortable with gays, and Mao forbid, lesbians.

I’ve had young, intelligent, post-graduate, professionally-qualified, RMB30,000 per-month, chinese colleagues tell me, quite seriously, that china has no “gay people” and if it did have then it’s directly because of “the west”.

My heart goes out to gay people in china. What they must go through, I would imagine, would put all of our own ‘problems’ in perspective.

May 20, 2005 @ 12:31 pm | Comment

You might want to just keep day dreaming of going back….

I would be very trepidatious.

May 20, 2005 @ 12:37 pm | Comment

You may want to read this.

China has become more progressive about gays in recent years, finally ending laws that made being gay illegal. There are now gay bars in the big cities and plenty of gay web sites and even a gay magazine, Men Box. So why they do things like this is unclear. (And in spite of all the progress, it is still a terrible place to be born if you’re gay, especially if you’re born out in the countryside.)

May 20, 2005 @ 12:39 pm | Comment

This kind of blocking surely looks stupid to westerners. Let me share one anecdote with you.

During spring festival, we were watching a TV program where the hostess was holding a lively show, telling teenagers how to look attractive and flirt with opposite sex.

My parents, who are typically very much against CCP, complained, “the current TV program moral standards is declining day by day. The media should provide a good guidance to teenagers. Because of those programs, teenagers only think about how to look sexy, and spend no time for study. ”

So I said, “on one hand, you hate propaganda; on the other hand, you want government to provide good moral guidance to audience. Where is the line?”

May 20, 2005 @ 5:01 pm | Comment

Richard:

You don’t have to come to China to find a society that is uncomfortable with gay people:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/EDUCATION/05/20/student.paper.lawsuit.ap/index.html

This is about a school newspaper in Bakersfield, California. Not to mention, of course, the issue of gay marriage which has been contentious in the US for a year. This, by no means, excuses China’s (or Singapore’s) problems dealing rationally with homosexuality. But trouble begins at home.

May 20, 2005 @ 8:01 pm | Comment

Will, haven’t you seen all my posts slamming this sickening trend in America? China and Singapore are moving forward, we are heading backwards fast.

May 20, 2005 @ 8:26 pm | Comment

A couple of years ago, I went to this very groovy party for a famed cinematographer, in Beijing. There were all sorts of interesting film folks attending, including a young woman who introduced herself and told me that she’d just completed “an underground lesbian film,” a first in China. She couldn’t get distribution in China, not surprisingly, but she was able to make it, she was very open about it, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ended up available in Beijing’s DVD stores.

Things are changing there, that’s for sure.

May 20, 2005 @ 10:21 pm | Comment

One of the things that I noticed in China is that if soembody is different in some way, they are often perceived to be weak or to have something wrong with them.

People in China often seem to still think of being a homosexual as either some kind of mental affectation brought about by ‘not trying hard enough’ to be straight, or as being a menal illness.

This kind of mindset extends to a lot of things, ranging from depresion to a belief in a non standard religion or superstition.

There doesn’t seem to be nearely as much prejudice against foreign homosexuals though. People will accept it in foreigners, but not in Chinese

I blame this on a system that tries to enforce a set standard for being Chinese that has no room for people who are different.

May 21, 2005 @ 12:10 am | Comment

“There doesn’t seem to be nearely as much prejudice against foreign homosexuals though. People will accept it in foreigners, but not in Chinese”

Not to mention in China, even in Japan, go to Japan today forum, some posters said before Japanese are not gay but most white males from US and Britain are gays, and most gays have aids, etc etc…
it may be just silly rhetorics but it shows some people regardless of nationalities are just more ignorant than others.

May 21, 2005 @ 3:35 am | Comment

I’ve been to Japan. You can’t compare it to China in this area. Whether or not the billboards you describe exist, there is a very open and vocal gay community there, not even remotely similar to China’s.

May 21, 2005 @ 10:26 am | Comment

HOW CAN I SUB TO “MEN BOX”? E-MAIL ME DIRECTLY

September 21, 2005 @ 2:14 pm | Comment