Job Discussion Forums

[Redfivestandingby]

To clarify, I mean that in class there is a big push towards this "us vs them, in-group vs out-group" social phenomenon. Outside of class, individually, Chinese do open up to us laowai. They don't really trust each other. Information can be wielded against them.

A friend wondered how the unbalancing ratio between men and women would affect homosexuality in China.

Two years ago, homosexuality was taken off the list from their version of the DSM manual for psychological disorders. I read this in a Beijing magazine in English. I wonder if that newsbit ever spread to the rest of the country.

[Egas]

There is at least one gay bar here in Beijing in the San Li Tun area, called the Half Bar (some call it the Half and Half Bar) Not long ago when I was walking down the street in San Liu Tun two obviously gay foreigners approached me and asked me where all the gay action was. I pointed them towards the aforementioned bar.

I guess like AIDS, beggars and prostitution, homosexulaity is a media taboo in China. No discourse equals non-extant???

[ryanrake]

A couple of things:

Someone mentioned China having a gay film scene and I have seen a few that were screened in the west. "Fish and Elephant" was made a few years ago by a chinese woman and was a story about a lesbian couple - it screened at the Vancouver International Film Fest, although was banned on the mainland. This year at the same fest is Cui Zi En's "Feeding Boys, Ayaya" about Beijing's "rent boys". Last year there was also a feature on Shanghai's scene. Neat films...

One of Jan Wong's books (I think the second one "Jan Wong's China") had a chapter about China's gay scenes. It was pretty interesting to read and made many of the points that I saw posted here e.g men marrying and carrying on "normal" lives, but also keeping same-sex partners. She interviewed some people about how they carry on their lives; worth checking out if you haven't read it (of course, good luck finding it in China).

[dractalks]

See below-you should be good at that

[dractalks]

[Belmont]

Drac my dear, you need to take a refresher course in grammar. This will help you learn how to differentiate possessive pronouns and contractions. To save you some time, "your" happens to be possessive and "you're" is the contracted form of "you are". I'd also suggest a course in anger management. You are not a happy camper.

[MyTurnNow]

There are a lot of web sites that discuss the status of homosexuality in China. One that stood out was http://www.bcis.gov/graphics/services/asylum/ric/documentation/CHN01001.htm
courtesy of your friends and mine in the US Homeland Security Department, a veritable hotbed of clandestine gay activity.

The pictures are not pretty. Being openly gay here provides an easy "handle" that can be used against you. The laws are one thing; the attitudes of the public, local police, employers, etc. are quite another, just as they are in many other countries.

My personal experience with Chinese people has been that they are a bit curious about the mechanics of homosexuality (and as an American I'm considered an authority because every Chinese knows that homosexuality is widespread, free and openly accepted in America, right?) but they are essentially repulsed by it.

Add to this the fact that you are foreign, and therefore intrinsically suspect anyway. And finally, people are often a bit squeamish about gay schoolteachers. I can't imagine why.

My advice, for whatever it's worth: keep it in your own pants until you get back home.

MT

[wanderlust1066]

What exactly are you looking for? Treatment?

[MyTurnNow]

Let's hope so...you at least should be knowlegeable about where to find that.
MT

[fat_chris]

I came across a book called Streetlife China (Cambridge University Press, 1998). It's edited by Michael Dutton, an Australian professor, and is a collection of essays about contemporary Chinese city life including one short essay titled "Homosexuals in Beijing" by Jin Ren.

The article briefly mentions public WC's as gay meeting places, marriage as a cover, Chinese "gaydar" and Dongdan Park, which is Beijing's largest gay meeting place.

Check out Streetlife China. I found it to be quite interesting. It has essays detailing tattoos in China and slang among other contemporary topics.

I wonder if I inadvertantly walked into a meeting place in Chengdu (public WC on Tianfu Square). As I was emptying my bladder, a man left his stall stroking himself, taking extra efforts to make sure I saw him. I turned away, ignoring him, and luckily he didn't get any closer to me. I got done and fled like Hades.

[fat_chris]

Give it a rest dractalks, if that is your real name.

[Asynca]

I'm a lesbian... how do you think I should go about finding guanxi in China? I don't want a partner at all (got one!) but I would like to meet and make friends with *beep* Chinese people, boys and girls. I've been scouting around the internet and the only available sites where you can solicit to meet *beep* people are dedicated to soliciting to meet people for sex

[Asynca]

What the! I can't believe q-u-e-e-r is beeped! That's not a swear word, that's an identity, mine! ;_; Daaaaaaave....

[Sun Yuan]

Yes,
I too know of that bar in Salitun, the Half and Half. It has a rainbow flag outside and is off an alley across the smain street from Dirty Nellies.
Yes, I went in there to check it out on a Saturday night. Always passing by and wondering what it was like. It was DEAD, Dead dead. Hardly anybody in the joint. I hung out at the bar for 45 minutes chit chatting and then finally taxied home t Bei gong Da.
I think there are probably alot more gay bars in this giant metropolis but they are nondescript, like back home in the West.

[batman]

that a GAY bar????? o my god! i was in there and didnt even know it! no wonder all those guys were looking at my ass!!! i feel dirty! ewwwww!