The Homosexuality in China
This article is written by Wei, founder of Easy Tour China, and collated by Paul, an expat in Yangshuo and founder of Yangshuo Bamboo Leaf Hotel.
The history of homosexuality in China
Homosexuality has been in China throughout the history. An old idiom says young and pretty men were same as sexy women and could corrupt an emperor. Some far-fetched story attributes the start of homosexuality to one of the legendary founding fathers of Chinese civilization, the Yellow Emperor.
During Spring and Autumn period (770-476 BC), homosexuality was tolerated as different schools of thoughts flourished, creating a more liberal society. The story of a service man sharing of a peach with a King gave birth to the euphemism to homosexual people: Peach Sharing.
During Han Dynasties, Emperor Liu Xin was enamored by Mr. Dong Xian and promoted him to the service in court. On one morning, Emperor Liu Xin woke up for his daily court service but found his sleeves were buried under the body of Dong Xian. Emperor Liu took out his short sword and cut his sleeves. That story created another idiom used for homosexuality: Love by sleeve-cuttingBetween the 3rd and 6th Century, historical records carry the story of a Wei Kingdom emperor dressed one of his favorite men in woman clothes and asked him to shave well. The emperor then traveled and slept with him on many occasions.
In the following dynasties, more historical records or novels described the existing homosexuality among the nobles, the rich and the well-educated. In the last dynasty, Qing, noble or rich men always kept a performing art group, most noticeably in the Peking opera, where all the performers were male and some performers’ role was to render a female presence in the opera. Some of these young performers became lovers of their patrons. Other poor young male performers would go to the Eight Great Hulong Alleys of Beijing to sleep with rich men for money.
Unlike Gays, Lesbians have been well tolerated throughout Chinese history. And when it happened that one sacrificed herself for her loved one, the act was usually praised. In Guangzhou, there was the Jinlan Cult, where two women claimed to be Jinlan (sisters of different family name) and lived together. They did get married to man and bear children, but were usually found sleeping with their Jinlan sister. And when one passed away, the inheritance went to the other sister, not the man she was married with. And two Jinlan sisters, when both deceased, were buried together.
Before 1912, polygamy was practiced in China for thousands of years. Loyalty to the husband must be unconditional and any trespassing would result in severe punishment to the wife with death being not uncommon. Sisterhood was encouraged among the wives. Some of them became lesbians. Same situation happened within the royal palace walls - the emperor had too many wives but could not satisfy all.
Though religions in China did not explicitly ban homosexuality like the other major religions in the world did, the predominant belief has been heterosexuality. Confucianism and Buddhism were heavily influenced by Taoism who promotes the combination of the rule of the nature, i.e., Yin and Yang. Male is considered Yang and female, Yin. Certain mishaps, no matter national or familial, were attributed to the very act of the homosexuality. After 1949, religions have not been encouraged but nonetheless, the ruling elite were not in favor of homosexuality. Until 1997, homosexuality has been considered a crime and punished.
Progression: LGBTQ: education, technology, and legislation.
Things quickly changed for the homosexuality as China stepped into the new millennium, partly thanks to the agreement between US and China during Mr. Deng Xiaoping’s presidency to allow Chinese students to study in the US.
Education has always been the driving force in people’s understanding of the world. The recognition of LGBTQ’s equal rights depends largely on education as well. The time “out of closet” is soon to come with modern education which is quickly happening in China.
Chinese people born in 1960s did not have opportunities to get higher education because of the social problems then (suggested reading: Xinran’s China Witness). People born in 1970s had a better chance of securing a higher education. And people born after 1980 are better equipped with eyes and ears for the world thanks to Deng Xiaoping’s open up policy and successive reforms. By 2020, English has become an important subject to learn in schools, as important as Chinese and math. That will open up the minds of generations. And that will help people to learn about LGBTQ community.
Technology certainly reshaped the world in the last 20 years. Internet connected people and pushed for changes within China. News spreads around the vast country within an hour. Chinese people are linked up with the world thru internet as well. In remote mountainous villages, smart phones are used by people together with Wi-Fi connections. 4G is everywhere, and we are welcoming the arrival of 5G time. The largest domestic online LGBTQ community, Blue City’s App is encouraging the community to come out and voice their attitude.
In 2020, BlueCity Holdings, was listed on NASDAQ. Its main product is Blued mobile app, the earliest LGBTQ online community in China. As of first quarter of 2020, the active monthly users amount to 6.5 million with half of that inside of China. Geng Tong, the founder, set up his first personal website in 2000 to promote people’s awareness of LGBTQ’s equal rights. He met with top Chinese leaders to discuss related questions. He and his people also worked hard to correct wronged labeling of the LGBTQ people. In 2020, Mr. Ma Baoli, another founder, was elected “Man of the Year” by Zhizu GQ (since 2009), a joint venture magazine between China News Service Co and Conde Nast of America.
Education combined with technology produces many useful online resources about LGBTQ community. zhihu, the Chinese version of Quora, is bringing people useful answers. Answers can be found for questions like “is homosexuality a psychological disorder?”,” what does COME OUT mean” and “why parents react so strongly to their children’s homosexuality?”. As time goes by, it will be better understood and accepted.
In June, 2017, Newsweek published an article “The World's Worst Place to be Gay? It's China, According to New Ranking”, but it failed to address the progress China has made over the past 10 years. Any judgement made without a proper context is possible to blind the eyes and deafen the ears.
Same as the heterosexual people, China’s LGBTQ community needs adequate legal protection.
Ms. Zhang and Ms. Li are university classmates, and they are roommates in the same dormitory. They have been inseparable during the university, and they both went in and out of class and meals. In the eyes of outsiders, they are just ordinary good friends, only they know that they are "above friends, lovers in full". It's just that as a special group, the two never dared to tell others about their relationship, neither dared to share the sweetness of their love, nor dared to express their love for each other. Most importantly, they cannot see the future and are afraid of not getting blessings from family and friends. At present, China does not legitimizesame sex marriage. The lack of legal provisions has led to the lack of legal protection for gay groups in China. It is difficult to get social recognition. (translated & edited from Zhihu)
The party representing the rights of homosexuals believes that if they are not protected by legislation, their basic human rights will be difficult to protect, which violates the principle of equality and justice. At the same time, homosexual groups have been widely present. If legislation is not implemented, social problems will be difficult to solve. Law, as a norm for adjusting social relations, should keep pace with the times when new phenomena appear in society. The gay community is eager to be able to "walk in the sun" like normal people. Many people in the medical and legal circles believe that homosexuals are born with specific sexual orientation. And there is no reason for them not to be treated as a member of society in the eye of law. (translated& edited from Zhihu)
At present, the mainstream view in China’s legal circles is that LGBTQ legislation is very necessary, but we need to bid our time for a suitable legislative environment. Public’s recognition should be increased, and we also need to spend more time studying various countries legislative experience.
Ms Li Yinhe, an active advocate for LGBT rights, went to study sociology in University of Pittsburgh (USA), lived in the US and traveled extensively there during 1982-1998. Later she went to work at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and retired in 2012. She has been active in calling for greater tolerance for nonconventional sexual activities in China. She thinks the country is undergoing a de facto sexual revolution, and encourages people to re-examine traditional attitudes towards sexual promiscuity and homosexuality. She proposes decriminalization of orgies and prostitution (both currently illegal in China). (Quotes from Wikipedia)
Jin Xing, a celebrity in China, is now a household name. She is a ballerina, modern dancer, choreographer, actress and the founder of a famous contemporary dance company in Shanghai. Born in 1967, she won national dancing contest in her early 20s. Like Ms Li Yinhe, she went to US for further study of dancing. She went thru sex reassignment surgery in 1995, creating a hot topic during the following years. In 2013, she rose to national fame by serving as a judge for program So You Think You Can Dance (China). She has been very outspoken and criticizes the old schools and rules.
In April 2001, homosexuality was taken out of the mental illness list. China Daily, the official central government newspaper in English, estimated there were some 30 million homosexual people in China. That means, for each 100 people, there are around 2-3 who would choose same sex as their partner in life.
Independent poll reveals that though a conservative society, the tolerance of LGBT is growing fast. “
In June 2009, the first Pride Week was organized in Shanghai by Tiffany Lemay and Hannah Miller who had been living in Shanghai for some years. Lemay then commented that the time (2009) was right and it would be unimaginable a few years before. More than 1000 people joined the activities including movies, discussion, exhibitions and charity sales. There was no parade. Donations was collected and channeled to a fund in HK to support the orphans suffering from AIDS living in the western poor regions in China. (edited translation from search results of Sogou searching in Chinese)
In the beginning, the publicity was only in English to avoid possible restrictions or control. Now the Shanghai Pride website is available both in English and Chinese. (Excerpts edited from Wikipedia)
On the world map, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing are among the top 100 LGBT friendly cities rated by Nestpick. As time goes by, more cities of China will join the ranking.
Tips for LGBTQ people traveling in China
Tourism certainly changes the views of people. China’s unknown LGBTQ community is getting more vocal but this is little known outside of China. Today I called Ms. Chen of Lost World Guesthouse in Chengyang village (a less travelled part of China, 150km away from Guilin) to inquire about her knowledge and her acceptance of gay/lesbian travelers. She does not sound perturbed in any way. She said as tourism start to flourish in her village, villagers meet all kinds of people. She added that being pregnant before getting married was not a good thing but now nobody cares that much.
Some years ago (possibly 10), to check out the tolerance of gay/lesbian travelers by a certain guesthouse in the countryside of Yangshuo, James and I pretended to be a couple. To our surprise, the manager behind the counter did whatever she could to help us find a suitable big bed room facing the river.
Upon being asked, Wei of Bamboo Leaf Hotel (Yangshuo) told me that gay/lesbian clients are on the rise for the past 5 years. She further added the gay/lesbian travelers are no longer prejudiced compared with 15 years ago. Specific bars and restaurants are becoming favorite places for the community. Some hoteliers and bars are trying their best to woo LGBTQ travelers.
Some useful advice for gay travel tours to China:
• The popular travel destinations, especially large cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, are more welcoming;
• Friendliness: Chinese people are generally more welcoming to friends coming from outside of China. They understand there is a different way of life for people living far away from China;
• When searching for a hotel, try major booking engines like booking.com and read the English. Good English presentation & lots of English reviews means the hotel is more open-minded. And hotel owners tend to educate their staff more about LGBTQ;
• When booking gay travel tours to China with a tour operator like Easy Tour China, simply contact us right now and tell us if you are LGBTQ. So friendly staff like guides & drivers can be arranged;
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