Shanghai’s Gay Bars: Here and Queer for 20 Years

Contents:

• THE 5 BEST CHA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS CHA
• THE 5 BEST HONG KONG GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS HONG KONG
• CHA’S LGBT COMMUNI: EXPLORG THE CHE “GAY CY”
• FOR A NSERVATIVE CY, BEIJG HAS A REMARKABLE GAY NIGHTLIFE
• LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE
• THIS IS THE STATE OF GAY NIGHTLIFE SHANGHAI
• SHANGHAI GAY TRAVEL
• THE BEST SHANGHAI GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SHANGHAI
• [THE LIST]: GAY BARS IN SHANGHAI
• HONG KONG’S BT GAY SNAS
• BEG GAY IN CHA (AS A FOREIGNER 2020-21) ?️‍? WHAT’S THE TTH?
• HONG KONG GAY TRAVEL
• BEIJG GAY CULTURE

THE 5 BEST CHA GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS CHA

All thgs to doBars & ClubsWe BarsBar, Club & Pub ToursDance Clubs & DissJazz Clubs & BarsCoffeehoKaraoke BarsBlu Clubs & BarsCigar BarsComedy ClubsCountry & Wtern BarsGay Clubs & BarsPiano BarsHong Kong IslandWan Chai / Cseway BayCentral DistrictShng WanCentralJg'anPuxi (Downtown Shanghai)Jiangng Lu (Jiangng Road)Good for CouplBudget-iendlyGood for KidsGood for Big GroupsHoneymoon spotGood for Adrenale SeekersHidn GemsFree EntryAdventuroGood for a Ray Day7 plac sorted by traveler favorWhat travelers are saygHKGELLONHong Kong, Cha37 ntributns.......

In a culturally nservative muny, where gog to church and buildg a fay were heavily emphasized, Ahn felt his gay inty kept him “om beg able to participate Korean culture. Beg Asian Amerin and LGBTQ+ n feel lonely, wh stutns such as ethnic church often disavowg non-heterosexual relatnships while tradnal LGBTQ+ spac such as gay bars n be unwelg to people of lor. “Fdg plac like GAMeBoi, where beg queer and Asian do -exist … It’s not like a 1, 000-year-old Korean cultural rual, but I uld create a new rual, ” said Ahn, a recent Friday, hundreds packed QT Nightlife’s monthly K-Pop Night at Micky’s, a Wt Hollywood gay club a block or so east om the old GAMeBoi posed for selfi a pk Barbie box wh dis balls hangg overhead.

” (Michael Owen Baker / For The Tim) Even historilly gay neighborhoods like Wt Hollywood or San Francis’s Castro district, Asian Amerins have long been ignored or fetishized, seen as feme and weak.

THE 5 BEST HONG KONG GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS HONG KONG

In 2019, then-Wt Hollywood Mayor John Duran argued that he did not appropriately touch a member of the Gay Men’s Chos of Los Angel bee “he’s a skny Korean kid wh pimpl on his cheek. ” Asian Amerin advocy groups cricized Duran’s remark, wh API Equaly-LA potg to the long history of discrimatn agast Asian men gay muni such as Wt Hollywood, whose clubs “ed to require three forms of photo intifitn om anyone they perceived as Asian.

CHA’S LGBT COMMUNI: EXPLORG THE CHE “GAY CY”

Adam* said was dangero to e out as gay his home untry and feared beg forced to an arranged marriage wh a woman.He said he was "so lucky" to wed his soulmate, Ray, Manchter and wish everyone uld marry who they love. There are more than 60 untri wh laws that crimalise same-sex sexual acts acrdg to the Internatnal Lbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Associatn, cludg Sdi Arabia.'Authentilly myself'Ray said he had also stggled growg up gay the 1970s and 80s England, which was "tough".He said his relig school "dmmed to you, 'you are gog to hell'".When Adam returned home to Sdi Arabia, spe beg more than 3,000 apart and later rtricted by the Covid-19 panmic, they kept touch daily and the romance blossomed.Three years ago, Ray proposed on a vio ll and after succsfully applyg for a UK fiancé visa, Adam moved to Manchter December 2022. Adam said he had been aaid to even wear lours his home untry so the first thg he did when he moved was start to "grow my mullet, got my ears pierced and booked appotments for tattoos".He relled how, ntrast, one of his gay iends Sdi had been forced to marry a woman, addg: "It has ed not only his life but the life of his wife."Danny Beard on Same Sex Love and MarriageDanny explor same-sex weddgs, fdg out why upl chose to get married, the challeng unrpng this cisn and what mak the wedd relatnships work.The uple said they now wanted to help people who were not as ee and strive for "equaly for everyone"."Now I'm here a safe place I want to fight for others to be able to marry who they want," Adam said."I'm so lucky but I want everyone else Sdi to marry the one they love whout facg discrimatn and persecutn." Image source, Fay photographImage ptn, Peter McGrah and David Cabreza say they are "very proud" to have been the first same-sex uple married EnglandMore than 40,000 same-sex marriag took place between 2014 and 2020, acrdg to the Office for Natnal StatisticsPeter McGrah and David Cabreza, origally om Stland and the US, ma history when they beme the first same-sex uple to marry England on 29 March 2014.The trailblazers married jt after midnight at Islgton Town Hall.

FOR A NSERVATIVE CY, BEIJG HAS A REMARKABLE GAY NIGHTLIFE

The uple, who live London, said a "really betiful memory" was on the way home when one of their sons shouted out of the black b wdow to Trafalgar Square, "My dads jt got married" and cheered "Yay, gay marriage"."It was so sweet seeg him so happy," Mr Cabreza said. Special thanks to Matthew B, barnaby, vhick23, Garym, jamkan, anis, songtangay, TobyS, luchenotte, ricebowl25, b10m4n, tony20009, PC, Rosebud, laowai, d1partyanima, roll, Jax_Shanghai, anis, Hai, Gary, T. Special thanks to Jonathan, bebek, leeliboi, TSCDlover, traveligh, Viet, davidhunghk, wally4, samandjet, thierrym, garybucks, labello27, ecyc02, marcelprot, airb777, Demand, stepup16, dutchy, Loneranger, InDeeper, TAO, beijgguy, songtangay, sgslave, h2008bj, wiyhut, zense, HappyFella, Coolmeiguore, Conrad, Lyndon L., Ntor, Darren, Christoph, David, geek_boy75, Ntor, Maquis, Steven and John!

"I have vised Chongqg the past few weeks and would like to share the followg disveri: VIP Club at Langqg Plaza Mall (next to Chongqg Landyatt Park Hotel), Xiaoyuan Rd, Jiangbei Dist, is a large gay club a mall offerg drag shows, gogo dancers and a 'bouncg' dance floor. For the past weeks, I vised some famo plac where queer people gather— such as gay bars, teaho, and LGBT-related anizatns— and nsulted some rearch papers done by the lol soclogists.

Chengdu is voted as “the gay cy of Cha”, not only bee has the most nsirable amount of openly LGBT people, but addnally, s tolerant attu attracts many LGBT people to e and settle there. Chengdu has more than 30 gay bars and a large map of social gatherg spots for MSM (an abbreviatn of ‘Men who have sex wh Men’), cludg teaho, clubs, and public bathrooms. The owner of Chengdu’s largt gay bathroom MC Space claims that “’s a place where you have romantic enunters”; however, the spac earn gay people a bad reputatn among the rt of society.

LONDON'S LANDMARK BUILDG DOTTED WH STRIP CLUBS, GAY VENU TO TURN TO MOSQUE

Upon hearg the news, there was public outrage, and ultimately epened the negative stereotype which many people attach to gay people about them beg unually promiscuo.

In my experience, when talkg about the subject of homosexualy Cha, most people’s first reactn would be to associate wh HIV and STDs, which is ed by their “sful liftyle”. Even though no current law Cha is explicly agast homosexualy; one n still easily overstep to the forbidn zone of polics when discsg , which leads to censorship as proven by the banned WeChat acunts. Therefore, non-LGBT people tend to be nonchalant of homosexual behavrs as long as don’t actively ncern them, and LGBT people tend not to publicize their beliefs anyways.

Enjoy more d and podsts on iOS or browser do not support the <d> Mr Yang opened the club 2004, jt three years after Cha ceased to classify homosexualy as a mental disorr, the venue has bee a bean for gay Che across the untry. But Mr Yang envisag a bigger legacy, that “some day we n look back, when gay marriage is legalised and society more acceptg, and realise that Dtatn ma s own small ntributn.

THIS IS THE STATE OF GAY NIGHTLIFE SHANGHAI

Explicly nceived as a haven for gay men, was known for s youthful clientele, celebry patrons, and notorly hedonistic vibe; beme even more of a draw wh the openg of “The Backlot, ” an adjacent performance venue that featured some of the biggt “A-list” acts of the era. Built on stunng, powerful mil performanc and peppered wh surprisg and revelatory historil terpretatn – as well as edic banter and form-transcennt dience teractn – wove a narrative piled om “between the l” of monly-held history, exposg thgs like the sual bigotry at the heart of many of Ameri’s earlit popular songs and the misogyny and homophobia that has ntued to permeate s mic until the prent day; an hour was dited to each , wh Mac cked out an elaborate new era-specific stume – signed by longtime llaborator Mache Dazzle and rporatg humoro referenc to Amerin life each of the 24 s vered the show – for each one; each hour, one of 24 onstage micians would part the stage, until Mac, alone and unacpanied except for a ulele, was left alone to perform origal songs for the fal hour. The many years of patronage form a special chapter my was around 1995 that Shanghai’s gay male populatn began to “migrate” om parks and public rtrooms across the cy toward bars and clubs.

SHANGHAI GAY TRAVEL

Before then, plac where men uld meet like-md “ras” — a slang term for gay people — clud a ltle garn on the wt si of Jiangxi Middle Road central Shanghai’s Huangpu District, as well as the roadsi newspaper gallery on nearby Nanjg East Road. Asi om a handful of women whom the bar owner ved as “beards” — ctomers whose prence ncealed the fact that was a gay bar — the overwhelmg majory of s patrons were men.

THE BEST SHANGHAI GAY CLUBS & BARSGAY CLUBS & BARS SHANGHAI

This was perhaps the first gay bar maland this time, a group of relatively well-to-do gay men beme more receptive to the ia of meetg partners private tablishments, as opposed to public cisg spots. This change mentaly among gay Che men, bed wh the enuragement of queer expats livg Shanghai, ensured that the bar was able to operate whout any fancial difficulti.

[THE LIST]: GAY BARS IN SHANGHAI

The send reason was that as an creasg number of rival gay bars opened their doors, proprietors would move elsewhere as soon as their bs began to 1997, the Che ernment abolished the crime of “hooliganism, ” whose loose fn clud homosexual activy. The velopments, which are generally viewed as symbolic of the crimalizatn and stigmatizatn of homosexualy Cha, cid wh a shift Shanghae attus toward different sexual 2002, Eddy’s found a stable lotn where would ntue to serve the gay muny for the next 14 years: Huaihai Middle Road, Shanghai’s premier shoppg street. This reflects chang the environment which gay bars and gay men themselv prevly stggled to though I have equented gay bars ever sce they first arrived on the maland, I don’t rell any particularly unpleasant experienc wh homophobia.

Themed parti anized by gay clubs Shanghai ntue to attract not only the maland’s “ras, ” but also party animals om Hong Kong, Taiwan, Southeast Asia, and even further afield. They have pletely transformed om simple hookup spots to tablishments where sexual mori revel their 2016, Shanghai’s origal gay bar, Eddy’s, shut down, as did the In Club, whose queer dance parti on the weekend were once the lol LGBT muny’s most popular event. Meanwhile, followg a shift attus and the advent of gay hookup apps such as Blued and Aloha, LGBT people no longer need to rely on tradnal gay bars as a means of meetg like-md people.

HONG KONG’S BT GAY SNAS

To a certa extent, Shanghai has even veloped s own gay district near the Jiao Tong Universy subway often say that Cha’s queer ras live unr the burn of societal prsur and discrimatn. While this is te, I want to emphasize that the more than 20 years sce Shanghai’s first gay bar opened s doors, I have personally wnsed the admirable perseverance of Cha’s LGBT muny.

Cha’s gay bars have blossomed om homogeno, unrground enti to diversified, stable stutns; like LGBT issu Che society more generally, gay bars have bee more visible on our streets. So while this list is very much jt a snapshot of a moment time, and any of the bars and parti uld disappear whout warng, I’ve tried to provi all the tools you might need to embark on your own gay odyssey to the sordid, fierce, rilient world of Shanghai LGBTQ+ nightlife.

BEG GAY IN CHA (AS A FOREIGNER 2020-21) ?️‍? WHAT’S THE TTH?

It’s the most reliable optn on any given weekend, wh a mic policy of techno and gay pop anthems om Brney through Gaga and eher drag performanc or gogo dancers every Friday and Saturday night.

The worldwi cle lbian bars has been well-documented, and n be hard for queer women to feel like they have a reliable place to go, even major ci wh a flourishg gay nightlife scene.

HONG KONG GAY TRAVEL

Unapologetilly sexual s promotnal materials and events, wh pole dancers, traffic light parti and sgl nights, Roxie embodi a proud, bched, mpy hedonism that’s the norm at gay bars like Luc but rarely, if ever, found at their lbian equivalent.

HUNT, meanwhile began life as a party promotn pany back 2011 and is one of Shanghai’s most tablished gay promoters, curatg an eclectic roster of events that now have a permanent home at the bar. We’ve always had a soft spot for the muny vibe of Happs42, and bg forc wh HUNT’s diverse, amb event planng mak this an excg gayborhood space that’s very quickly g to s them on WeChat: HUNTShanghai. Owner Andy buted the first versn of Asia Blue back 2000, when Shanghai nightlife was a very different animal and openg a bar tered to gay men was a trailblazg enavor.

One of s founrs, Jg, went on to lnch plastic., which siarly provis an alternative to hook-up foced gay club nights, but wh a smaller, iendlier feel (and no ver charge!

BEIJG GAY CULTURE

Intertgly, there are almost no referenc or signifiers of any kd their promo material that uld classify Calori as an LGBTQ+ party – Jefey, who lnched Bonbon along wh -founrs Jacky & Yel, scrib as a “muny for all global cizens to fully embrace their inti” – but Bonbon has a built- dience of gay men who fahfully attend their events. However, as one of the olst gay party promoters Shanghai, Angel has survived many a fallen club – Shanghai gays of a certa vtage may remember their home base at ICON a few years ago, and their regular nights at Obama club before that.

Traveler rankgHight rated attractns on Tripadvisor, based on traveler thgs to doBars & ClubsBar, Club & Pub ToursWe BarsJazz Clubs & BarsDance Clubs & DissCoffeehoComedy ClubsCigar BarsKaraoke BarsCountry & Wtern BarsBlu Clubs & BarsGay Clubs & BarsJg'anPuxi (Downtown Shanghai)Jiangng Lu (Jiangng Road)Good for CouplBudget-iendlyGood for KidsGood for Big GroupsHoneymoon spotGood for Adrenale SeekersHidn GemsFree EntryAdventuroGood for a Ray Day1 place sorted by traveler favorSee what travelers are askgFom posts were selected by lookg for fom tl askg specific qutns and takg the top showtopic page by total pageviews as the optimal everyone, We are gog to Shanghai for work, and plan to do cloth and sho shoppg, we are om US - 2 women late 20's, and wanted lol, Che (or Japane, but not Wtern/European! Flashg strobe lights, pulsatg mic om a afeng sound system, and heavy hand drk pours make for a fun night, but not one that will happen often unls you’re good at nvcg your expat gay crew to venture out that way for jt dancg.

While a lot of fun n be had flirtg wh iendly lols, Beijg is not a place for abundant nightlife or a quickie holiday romance - "419" ntemporary lol gay slang (as "for one night"). The fast airport tra go directly to Dongzhimen Subway Statn wh hotels wh walkg distance, lots of good rtrants, and the nearby Sanlun shoppg and nightlife area (and gay venu) jt a 20-mute walk southeast. A man workg for the Beijg Admistrative Commtee charge of the art zone lied, sayg that "wearg rabow badg is illegal, " and blamed "horrifyg" gays for "distortg sexual orientatn.

LGBTQIA+ travellers are those who intify as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr (a more clive LGBT ialism), pl queer or qutng, tersex or asexual dividuals, as well as those who intify beyond the monly ed sexualy and genr exprsns.

Although there are many stanc of gay relatnships and queer art and lerature spread throughout Cha’s long rerd history, LGBTQIA+ intifyg people Cha do not receive the same legal protectns or rights than heterosexual and/or cis-genr populatns. Through the dynasti, homosexual relatnships were treated wh difference, but wh global and Soviet fluenc to the 20th century, laws were put place to ban same-sex relatnships.

There are small but energised gay scen Beijg, Shanghai and Hong Kong; however, public displays and pri events do not ually have a place Cha, due to thori keepg a lid on any form of public monstratns. I’d also read that due to expectatns of fay, many gay members of Che society kept their sexualy hidn, which ma me wonr, should me and my wife keep our ‘gayns’ somewhat quiet too?

There is a large unrground gay scene Beijg, pecially for men, but there are also some gay nightclubs and you will see gay upl walkg around the streets holdg hands.

Beijg tly juxtapos the old and the new the days—ancient hutongs (rintial alleyways) populated wh h boutique bs, morn tak on culary stapl like Beijg duck, abandoned factori turned to thrivg arts districts, and an unr-the-radar yet energized LGBT get the sop on the bt, olt, and most LGBT-iendly spots, we tapped a pair of -the-know openly gay lols. Filmmaker and activist Popo Fan’s work clus makg the documentary Mama Rabow, about young Che gays and their acceptg mothers, and curatg the Beijg Queer Film Ftival. When famo gay in Faye Wong, known for rol Wong Kar-Wai films and her mic, married her hband Dou Wei, Hong Kong paparazzi took a picture of her g a public toilet the hutong, so I would suggt you e a public toilet, too—a very typil Beijg experience.

It is today, as was then, a term acknowledgg a shared characteristic (gayns) while at the same time puttg addrser and addrsee on the same level, where beg a tongzhi means ltle bee when you are a ra, so are all the other ras.

This is one of the betiful paradigms of Che culture: although homosexualy is not officially fully tolerated, and although many people may not unrstand or like , Beijgers will not take on themselv to openly tell other people how to live their life. Not only is he tellg them he is gay, that there will probably be no grandchildren, that there will be no weddg and no wife, he is also tellg them that the fay le, the rhythm of hundreds of years of Che tradn will end wh him bee there is no brother who n step to the role. And unlike the Wt, the Che people don't have to e far to accept gay people to their culture bee they never really exclud them the first place, never grouped them together and assigned a label.

A very relaxed atmosphere wh a half and half crowd of Che and foreigners, is very easy to meet new people here, and for foreigners new to the cy the films provi a great way to see gay life Beijg om a Che perspective. All the members of the team have their own "flower nam, " psdonyms for their gay inty, such as "Snow Wolf", "SM", "Whe Rabb" and "Brown Camel", so thk of your own before you go. Asi om the ual discrepancy between ral and urban areas, there is also a large generatn gap: a 2016 survey showed that 35% of people born pre-1970 would reject a gay child, while only 9% of people born after 1990 would do the same.

Che social media work Weibo also me unr fire June 2018 for banng gay ntent a measure taken prumably to show ference to the ernment, although onle outrage ed an almost-stantaneo public turnaround on the mpaign.

It n be nice knowg that the acmodatn is more tered towards gay travellers, although this is difficult to fd out given the rtrictns on public statements of gay-iendls, so remendatns om iends is the bt bet.