Tolerant Tradition to Homosexuality

The Chinese tradition of male love, like the Greek, has its roots in prehistory. One of the Chinese terms for male love “Pleasure of the bitten peach” dates back to the Zhou dynasty when around 500 BC the Duke Ling of Wei was offered a peach which Mizi Xia, his favorite, had bitten and found good. There are many tales of the passion of male nobles for each other, which at the time was considered a time-honored tradition. Platonic friendships often served as guise of deep affection between consensual lovers.

The Han dynasty (260 BC – 220 AD) continued the tradition of open bi-sexuality, as witnessed by numerous emperors. The story of Emperor Ai and his favourite, Dong Xian, are the source of the other popular term for male love, "Passions of the cut sleeve". Dong Xian had fallen asleep across the Emperor's sleeve. When the Emperor wanted to get up, he cut off the sleeve rather than wake his friend. Traditionally, male singers dressed up to play women roles in Chinese opera, it was also a popular fashion for wealthy gentlemen's to accompany pretty male singers into their bedroom.

This pattern continued throughout the succeeding dynasties, with variations between times of greater tolerance and times of lesser. The tradition of male love survived until the early years of this century, when it succumbed to the general Westernization of culture and morals. At this point male love is frowned upon both in Communist China as well as in Taiwan . It is considered a western import, and against traditional Chinese morals.

Under communist party's rule, though not criminalizing homosexuality as former Soviet Union, gays did make it onto The Party's official "hooligan" list - reserved for more "subversive" elements - until removal in 1997. Likewise homosexuality were officially classed as "mentally ill" until as recently as 2001.

Nowadays China's homophobia doesn't derive directly from religion or cultural machismo (you won't find religious extremists or fascists skin-heads bashing gay people in China), but rather from a control-freakish, mechanistic and strangely soulless State terrified of all aberrations from the norm and from a society yet more obsessed than our own by the notion of family and the duty to reproduce and continue "the family line".

The state reason explains why you don't find any non-governmental gay-right campaigning groups and the nearest you might get to queer activism is in the guise of a HIV prevention health program or support phone-line. The family reason explains why most middle-aged Chinese gays are married. But both restrictions blocking the emerging of a mature gay community are loosening as the modern market economy is allowing people more free choices and abilities to live an independent life, and the young generation is eager to take full advantage of this change.

Gay Love in Future China

Today, Beijing & Shanghai has a fairly “out” but still – understandably – discreet gay population. Most provincial capitals have one or two gay bars, saunas or clubs. But generally most activities take place online, thanks to the Internet. Gay websites are flourishing. Young people are forming activities groups to organize sport and outdoor events. Bars and clubs are managing according to the rule of commercial society. Don't act too surprised if you step into a gay club in Beijing or Shanghai looking almost the same as you might find in New York or London.

After all, as China is preparing for the coming 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing with great enthusiasm, the government and the people are not willing to stay too much behind international trends. Obviously, china is where the largest number of gay population live and they are just as ambitious as any people in creating a good future for their own welfare.