The Publishing and Printing Department wrote letters to local publishers asking them to stop releasing “cliched, useless, obscene, and offensive” romance novels. The letter asked the publishers to release only “healthy” content that is “suitable with
Vietnamese habits and customs.”

Earlier this year, Vietnamese media had criticized the imported romance novels as “trashy”, characterizing them as having improper ideas about love and relationship, and even promoting rape.

The Vietnamese media singled out the genre known as danmei (耽美)–homosexual romance novels that originate from the yaoi phenomenon in Japan–as being especially damaging. Vietnamese media said the romance novels, which are mostly translated internet fiction, attract readers as young as 12 or 13.

Director of the publishing department Chu Van Hoa said the ban was only “temporary”. “We do not shut down any genre of books, but the government needs to regulate an activity related to culture and people’s way of thinking so that it can benefit people.”

Chu was quoted as saying only those publishers which prove to be capable of selecting good books will be allowed to publish romance novels.

Gay romance novels account for a majority of book sales for Vietnamese publishers because they are produced in greater numbers and are priced higher than other products, according to local media reports.

Meanwhile, Chinese reports of the ban de-emphasize the focus upon homosexual content.

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According to an article published on the official WeChat account of the Ningbo Center for Disease Control (CDC) called “Has the Wolf arrived? The AIDS Epidemic of Ningbo Students”, last year 30 students at the University contracted HIV. Although HIV can be transmitted a number of ways, 80 percent of cases at Ningbo are said to have been transmitted from male-to-male sexual contact.

Zhang Yan, the Ningbo CDC official in charge of AIDS prevention and control, published the statistics which suggested that a gay lifestyle was the root cause. Zhang said:

A lot of people think that schools are like some kind of ivory tower, and so they let down their guard (when they attend). Publishing these local statistics serves as a call to action for students to adopt a moral lifestyle and establish a healthy sexuality.

In 2013, 87.1 percent of all new AIDS cases in China were sexually transmitted, with gay men being the group most at risk. Estimates of AIDS cases in China vary from 430,000 to 1.5 million and, in 2008, AIDS became the leading cause of death by infectious disease in China, with approximately 7,000 fatalities that year.

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The man described how he felt while taking part at the opening ceremonies of the Gay Games:

The atmosphere here at the scene is incredible! At the opening ceremonies, there was only me representing China! It was a difficult moment! Hope that next time our contingent can be even larger!

More than 60 nations and between 8,000 and 10,000 athletes that are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered are taking part in the 2014 Gay Games.

The motto of the Games is “Participation, Inclusion and Personal Best”. The open nature of the Gay Games is reflected by its complete lack of qualifying standards for competing athletes, ensuring that any person from any country can participate.

Photos: China Daily

The post The Only Chinese Athlete at World Gay Games Wins Silver appeared first on The Nanfang.

Guangming Xinqu in Shenzhen

It wasn’t the date that Mr Liang had in mind, but it will surely be among the most memorable.

Instead of the friendly banter and anticipation of a young couple in love, Liang, a gay man, was robbed by his Internet date, a man surnamed Yang, of 20 condoms, two bottles of lubricant and some 20 RMB, Jing Daily, a newspaper under Shenzhen Daily, reported on February 10. One might wonder exactly what kind of date Mr. Liang was hoping for.

The two men apparently met through an online dating website in mid-June last year, and the relationship quickly developed into offline kaifang, a Chinese euphemism for sex. Shortly after, around mid-July, Yang and Liang entered a hostel in Guangming Xinqu, while Lei and Wu, two of Yang’s accomplices, followed them and attempted to blackmail Liang with his relationship to Yang.

Liang refused to cooperate, and the three men instead robbed Liang of his backpack, which contained the condoms, lubricants and RMB, the report said.

Yang was arrested by the police after he was caught pulling the same trick on another unsuspecting man, surnamed Huang, later that month.

The Court found that “…Yang and Lei acted in disregard of state laws and robbed other people’s possessions in a violent and coercive way; that their actions have already constituted robbery.” 

Yang was sentenced to three years in prison and his accomplice, Lei, was given three and a half years, the report said, citing a recently delivered verdict by the Bao’an District People’s Court.

Unlike Lady Gaga’s bad romance, Liang did not want the drama, or the horror; but, his one-time lover did turn out to be a real-life criminal.

Photo credit: Baidu

The post Gay romance descends into robbery and a rap sheet in Shenzhen appeared first on The Nanfang.

Queer Christians from across Asia gathered in the SAR on June 7 for an event called Amplify 2013, which aims to be a welcoming oasis for members of the LGBT community to nurture their spirituality. The event debuted in 2008 in Singapore and has been gaining momentum since.  The one in Hong Kong drew 300 attendees, some of whom made the journey from the Mainland.

Felix from Guangzhou and John from Shenzhen took some time to chat with The Nanfang about the conference.

This was Felix’s second year at Amplify. A born again Christian, Felix says Amplify has helped him learn about Christianity, having grown up in an atheist household.

John, by contrast, was attending for the first time. He is a practising Catholic who has yet to come out. His family still expects him to get married.

Amplify allows participants, like Felix and John, to worship in an environment where their sexuality is no longer an issue. In many mainstream churches, being open about one’s sexuality could mean excommunication, therapy sessions to ‘fix’ the problem or being labeled an outcast and a sinner.

But that’s only part of the challenge. Freedom of religion in China remains a thorny issue despite it being in the constitution. The government maintains control over where people can gather to worship. In Guangzhou, for example, worshippers must present their passport before being allowed to enter a church.

There is no political agenda behind Amplify, Rev. Paul W. Lucas of Blessed Ministry Christian Fellowship Church (BMCF) told The Nanfang in a Skype interview last month. BMCF is responsible for organizing and hosting the event.

Rev. Patrick S. Cheng, courtesy of The Huffington Post

Amplify has clearly inspired a lot of people. Rev. Dr. Patrick S. Cheng is the first openly gay Asian-American to be ordained as a minister in the United States. At Amplify, he led workshops in which he addressed the issue of whether it is possible to be both queer and Christian. “(These are) broken pieces that need to be put together, ” Rev. Cheng said in an interview.

This is not the only event in the region being held for LGBT people this month. June is Pride month and in Guangzhou, a monthly event called ‘Kiwi Night’ was launched to help lesbians meet each other.

The post Christian LGBT community in the Mainland finds hope at Hong Kong event appeared first on The Nanfang.

Last month a lesbian couple made headlines for walking down a street in Guangzhou wearing wedding dresses. In January, Shenzhen hosted the first public wedding between two women in mainland China.

Despite some progress, for lesbians, the situation on the ground remains difficult. This was hinted at when a lesbian couple was turned away from a registry office in the city in February.

Some expats might have come up with a solution.

Last month, 32-year-old English teacher Lisa and her friend Jamie were struck by the lack of venues at which lesbians can hang out. This particular discussion led to the conception of an event for lesbians which will be held at the Kiwi Lounge this coming Saturday, May 18. It will provide an opportunity for women to meet other women in a safe and fun environment.

In Guangzhou, homosexual-friendly bars are mostly geared to men. 24 year-old Huizhou native Rachel thinks the misogyny of wider society has had a rippling effect on the LGBT community.

Rachel is a lesbian and has only come out to her closest friends and brother. Her parents are still unaware.

Rachel realized as early as elementary school that she liked girls. Being in a small town, no information about homosexuality was available to her. Rachel encountered a lot of name-calling and bullying while growing up. Even her own father made fun of her. But this didn’t stop her from having her first relationship with a girl in high school.

In China, some closeted gays and lesbians pursue heterosexual relationships, and even get married. Shenzhen Daily did a feature on the subject in 2011. Some of these married homosexuals have affairs with members of their own sex. Rachel thinks this is even worse.

Lisa is a proud lesbian. But living in China, “people aren’t as understanding about the queer lifestyle.”

Lisa grew up in Toronto, Canada, a city that is known for supporting its LGBT community. But even in Toronto, bars frequented by lesbians tend not to last because, according to Lisa, lesbians do not go out as much as gay men.

Rachel’s journey into accepting herself has been a long one. Her involvement with a lesbian group called “广州女友组” or “Girlfriends Group” has helped her gain the strength that she needs.  Rachel’s girlfriend is the President of the group and they’ve been living together for more than a year. She hopes that one day their mutual love will be recognized by society.

Rachel’s parents are kind, but remain conservative. Her parents believe that “a girl should marry a boy”; something they point out to Rachel whenever they have a chance. Their attitude has created tension in their family, and as a result, Rachel has yet to come out to her parents. For now, Rachel says she prefers to be scolded by her parents because she respects them.

The Kiwi Lounge event commences this Saturday (May 18) and the organizers hope to make it a monthly event. Entrance is free. Lisa says the event doesn’t need to be flashy. “We just need a venue to which people can go and mingle with kindred spirits,” she says.

A poster for the event

The post Foreigners in Guangzhou launch event to help lesbians meet appeared first on The Nanfang.

The couple ask members of the public to wish them happiness

The couple emerged at around 11 a.m. when Beijing Road is at its busiest. They started caressing each other’s hair and smooching. Having drawn much attention, Xiao Yang stated loudly: “As of today, this woman is my wife and I am her wife. We are in love, so wish us luck as you would any couple.”

The couple were criticized to their faces by some straight couples and older people but they were defiant, saying: “Wouldn’t you let a woman love another woman?”

Other members of the public applauded and cheered.

When interviewed by the paper, Xiao Yang cited as her hero Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, Iceland’s lesbian prime minister who was recently in Beijing. Xiao Yang said the couple’s goal was to inspire other gay people and win respect from the general public.

Gay marriage is not legally recognized in China but this does not stop some couples from holding wedding ceremonies.

The post Lesbian couple in Guangzhou wear wedding dresses in public to declare their love appeared first on The Nanfang.

The post Lesbian couple in Guangzhou turned away at marriage registry, holds ceremony anyway appeared first on The Nanfang.

Organized by ChinaPride (@chinapride), an Internet-based non-profit organization serving the LGBT community, the kiss-in, set in and around Beijing Rd., also wrapped in calls for same-sex marriage to be legalized in China.

Predictably, the smoochfest drew quite a bit of attention from passers-by, but it also went viral across the Internet as photos and videos were posted on weibo and other platforms as the event happened in real-time.

The guys even set up a weibo account (@骄傲行动) specifically for the action, followed now by nearly 3,000 romantics.

We’re guessing early April was chosen for the kissing because any later and things could’ve gotten quite sweaty and gross, but also because April 1 is still widely observed each year throughout the Chinese-speaking world as the day gay icon Leslie Cheung jumped to his death in 2003, for reasons, that apparently still cannot be spoken of.

Check out the rest of their photos here.

Video: Same-sex kissing festival in Guangzhou

The post Guangzhou gays go kissing around town to call for more rights appeared first on The Nanfang.

The first video is a story about Mark and An’an, a couple that were married in Shenzhen in August. They’re wedding was among the first gay wedding in the city, and was not attended by either of their families. A short video of the nuptials is below.

We look forward to bring you more videos soon, and if you have any ideas for video stories or have come across a unique video about the PRD on the web, let us know at [email protected].

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