Homosexuality in China
The situation of homosexuality in China is quite ambiguous.
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2 Modern China 3 Hong Kong 4 Taiwan 5 See also 6 External Links |
Homosexuality has been acknowledged in China since ancient times. A notable example comes from a chengyu, yú táo duàn xiù(余桃断袖), which describes two stories of the emperors in Han dynasty and their lovers. Scholar Pan Guangdan(潘光旦) comes to a conclusion that nearly every emperors in Han dynasty had one or more same-sex partners. There are also some descriptions about lesbians in some history books. It is believed homosexuality was popular in the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. Chinese homosexuals did not experience high-profile persecution compared to homosexuals in Europe during the Middle Ages.
Homosexuality went underground after the formation of the People's Republic of China. The communist regime persecuted homosexuals, especially during the Cultural Revolution, when many gays were subject to public humiliation, assault, long prison terms, or execution. Societal tolerance towards homosexuality decreased. Since the open and reform policy in 1979, the communist party has been loosening its control over this issue. But the profile of homosexuality was libeled as a "moldering life style of capitalism". Confucian morality and communist puritanism both frowned on homosexuality. The Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders still listed homosexuality as a kind of mental disorder in 1994.
A notable change occurred during the late 1990s and early 2000s, when sodomy was decriminalized in 1997, and the new Chinese Classification and Diagnostic Criteria of Mental Disorders removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses on April 20, 2001. But the conservative authority still refuses to promote either gay issues or gay rights in China. Although there is no explicit law against homosexuality or sodomy between consenting adults, neither are there laws protecting gays from discrimination, nor are there any gay rights organizations in the PRC. It's believed that the Chinese policy towards the gay issue remains "Three nots": not approve of, not disapprove of and not promote (不支持, 不反对, 不提倡). But many cases show that gays still have to endure prejudice from the justice system and harassment from police, including detention and arrest. In October 2000, a Beijing court ruled that homosexuality was "abnormal and unacceptable to the Chinese public" (Washington Post 24 Jan. 2000), which was the first time the official attitude was stated openly. Another notable case happened in July 2001, when at least 37 gay men were detained in Guangdong province.
The loosening of restrictions on Internet use has resulted in a blossoming of gay websites in the PRC, even though the police sometimes intervene, and shut down such websites. The mainstream media sometimes covers notable gay events abroad, such as pride parades. But some critics charge that the purpose of the media is mostly trying to smear homosexuality. Lack of film rating system, the Chinese government forbids gay movies to be showed on TV or theaters because they are "inappropriate". Granted a lot of favor in Taiwan, Hong Kong and other places, movie Lan Yu is still forbidden in PRC because it refers to gay issue although the director and the actors are all from mainland, and the story is based on a quite popular Internet story written by a mainland netizen.
An internet survey in 2000 showed that Chinese people are becoming more tolerant towards gays: among the 10,792 surveyed, 48.15% were in favor, 30.9% disapproved, 14.46% were uncertain, and 7.26% were indifferent. There are no radical conservatives and the radical liberation activists, therefore, gay-bashing is rare. But some scholars complain that the government's indifferent attitude towards homosexuality and nonfeasance about promoting the situation of homosexuality still make the life of gay people in China frustrating. During the 2002 Gay Games, only 2 persons from mainland were sent to take part in it, and media seldom covered this event except those gay websites. Many gay men admitted to having unsafe sex, and more than one sex partner, which worsen the AIDS spread in China, because the Chinese government pays no attention to educate about the danger of AIDS among gay people. According to one study, Chinese homosexuals have already reached something between 360,000 and 480,000(another saying from Chinese government documents and academic studies states the figure is 15 million), the majority male, and there are lots of gay bars and nightclubs in big cities, like Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, etc., which would sometime be harassed by police. The embarrassing situation of homosexuality in China makes many gays who can not afford going to gay bars or nightclubs look for sex partners in toilets, parks, public shower centers etc.
Nowaday, tongzhi(同志) is used as a slang in Chinese speaking region refering to homosexuality.
Male homosexual behaviour was illegal before 1991 in Hong Kong, the maximum sentence would be life imprisonment. The Legislative Council agreed to decriminalize buggery after the public debate arised in 1980. But other two attempts of introducing anti-discrimination legislation failed in 1993 and 1997.
There are several gay-rights organizations in Hong Kong, like Rainbow Action, Tongzhi Culture Society etc. In 2003, Catholic church of Hong Kong released an article condemnning same-sex marriage, which later caused a group of protestors rushed into the church and interrupted the ceremonial of religion.
At the end of October 2003, the Republic of China government announced plans to legalize same-sex marriage, which would make Taiwan be the first place in Asia permitting it. On November 1, 2003 the first gay pride parade in the Chinese region was held in Taipei, with over 1000 people attending.Ancient China
Modern China
Hong Kong
Taiwan
See also
External Links
