For Cha's gay men, Dongdan Park Beijg offers haven - Los Angel Tim

Contents:

• FOR CHA’S GAY MEN, DONGDAN PARK BEIJG OFFERS HAVEN
• A GAY MAN CHA
• THE HIDN LIV OF GAY MEN CHA
• KEYWORDSCHAAGEMIGRATNPOST-MAOISMSEXUALYHOMOSEXUALYCLASSFRANçAISDE L’« AMOUR VIX-JNE ». ÂGE, CLASSE ET HOMOSEXUALé MASCULE EN CHE POST-MAOïSTEAXéE TOUR LA DIFFéRENCE D’âGE ENTRE PARTENAIR MASCULS, NTREVENANT TANT, EN MATIèRE éROTIQUE, X NVENTNS D’âGE QU’X PRCRIPTNS SEXUé, LA NFIGURATN L’« AMOUR VIX-JNE » (LAOSHAOLIAN) HOMOSEXUEL DIFFèRE SGULIèREMENT S FORM CULTURE GAY QUI SE DéPLOIENT DANS L PAC URBAS CENTRX éQUENTéS PAR L NOUVELL CLASS MOYENN ET SUPéRIR CHOIS. CONSTUéE S LIENS SEXUELS ET AFFECTIFS QUI S’éTABLISSENT DANS LA MéTROPOLE ENTRE VIX « LOUX » ET JN TRAVAILLRS MIGRANTS, IMBRIQUéE DANS L FORM ET L LIX ORDAIR D’UNE SOCIABILé PRCIPALEMENT MASCULE, POPULAIRE ET TERGéNéRATNNELLE, ELLE APPARAîT AVANT TOUT ANCRéE DANS LE NTEXTE LA CHE S RéFORM ET L’OUVERTURE POST-MAOïST, SE DUQUEL L RENFIGURATNS L’PACE DISCURSIF, L’ANISATN éNOMIQUE ET LA STCTURE SOCIALE JOUENT UN RôLE CENTRAL.MOTS-CLéS
• 72-YEAR-OLD GAY MAN RELLS LIFE OF SUPPRSED FEELGS

FOR CHA’S GAY MEN, DONGDAN PARK BEIJG OFFERS HAVEN

There has been some excellent rearch to the emergence of gay and lbian inti Cha, cludg how the have been shaped by ro-Amerin ias of “gay sensibily” and characterised by “dividualy, difference, sophistitn, liberatn and morny”. One 2018 study tailed gay bars Shanghai that rivalled those of any wtern pal, the anisatn of “pri” events and the tense ntexts which “queer” film ftivals and wir cultural productn and activism occur the face of ntued regulatn by the thorarian state. Inspired by those experienc, for the past eight years, I have been rryg out rearch wh gay men the regn and, 2018, pleted a PhD this explorg gay liv Haan.

My rearch explor how gay men Haan unrstand themselv, build muni and negotiate the prsur to nform to the heterosexual life script of marriage and reproductn.

“When we get there, don’t say any gay stuff, ” Ah Tao warns me as we approach a shop the cut-out rner of a buildg at an tersectn wh an even narrower alley. In the island’s biggt ci, Haikou and Sanya, there are gay bars and tablished cisg areas certa parks, centrally loted yet variably beyond the view of the wir public.

A GAY MAN CHA

Haikou’s current gay bar is accsed by climbg through a wdow on the fifth floor of an ageg tower block, out onto a balny, past a long dried-up swimmg pool and down a stg stairse.

THE HIDN LIV OF GAY MEN CHA

In Sanya, the well trodn pathways that criss-cross a bamboo grove where the edge of a park meets a riverbank are a by gay meetg spot, while the cy’s gay bar, durg the time of my fieldwork, was aga loted a dised hotel.

KEYWORDSCHAAGEMIGRATNPOST-MAOISMSEXUALYHOMOSEXUALYCLASSFRANçAISDE L’« AMOUR VIX-JNE ». ÂGE, CLASSE ET HOMOSEXUALé MASCULE EN CHE POST-MAOïSTEAXéE TOUR LA DIFFéRENCE D’âGE ENTRE PARTENAIR MASCULS, NTREVENANT TANT, EN MATIèRE éROTIQUE, X NVENTNS D’âGE QU’X PRCRIPTNS SEXUé, LA NFIGURATN L’« AMOUR VIX-JNE » (LAOSHAOLIAN) HOMOSEXUEL DIFFèRE SGULIèREMENT S FORM CULTURE GAY QUI SE DéPLOIENT DANS L PAC URBAS CENTRX éQUENTéS PAR L NOUVELL CLASS MOYENN ET SUPéRIR CHOIS. CONSTUéE S LIENS SEXUELS ET AFFECTIFS QUI S’éTABLISSENT DANS LA MéTROPOLE ENTRE VIX « LOUX » ET JN TRAVAILLRS MIGRANTS, IMBRIQUéE DANS L FORM ET L LIX ORDAIR D’UNE SOCIABILé PRCIPALEMENT MASCULE, POPULAIRE ET TERGéNéRATNNELLE, ELLE APPARAîT AVANT TOUT ANCRéE DANS LE NTEXTE LA CHE S RéFORM ET L’OUVERTURE POST-MAOïST, SE DUQUEL L RENFIGURATNS L’PACE DISCURSIF, L’ANISATN éNOMIQUE ET LA STCTURE SOCIALE JOUENT UN RôLE CENTRAL.MOTS-CLéS

In the spac, fears of beg “outed” and the possible damage this uld do to fay and profsnal relatnships, mean that, as I was warned by Ah Tao, is bt not to “say any gay stuff”. Careful regulatn of the language and knowledge that is allowed to circulate the spac ensur that gay men are only visible as gay men to one another.

But they are also a nstant prence everyday life, terptg moments of gay life – like the mundane and aggrsive remr Ah Tao received that he had “no wife, no children”.

In the face of such prsur, many gay men Haan take much pleasure om their social and sexual relatnships wh other men and their sens of belongg to gay muni.

72-YEAR-OLD GAY MAN RELLS LIFE OF SUPPRSED FEELGS

But they often fear that the ways of livg are unstaable and that they mt eventually leave the gay world and nform to their fai and the wir society’s expectatns that they marry and have children.

This has further entrenched the role of children as necsary rers for their ageg parents and gay men’s perceptns of their futur as oriented towards marriage and reproductn are wrapped up ncerns for self-prervatn.

The tense social stigma that is attached to viatns om heterosexualy means that public visibily as gay is unsirable, pecially smaller ci and towns where bumpg to an nt, uncle or -worker is a nstant ncern. But this may signal at least some tert challengg the stat quo and the potential for future chang to gay liv Haan through greater public visibily and engagement wh activism.