Gay Guide China

The general age of consent is 14 years. The provision of pornography to minors under the age of 18 is punishable by imprisonment. Officially there is no homosexuality in China - on the Chinese mainland gay life still takes place in secret due to the traditionally conservative culture of the country. Most gays outside the larger cities give in to the pressure of society or family and marry, have children and live a double life. So-called homo healing is a big issue in China - many families urge their relatives to undergo such a procedure. According to the human rights organisation Human Rights Watch, obscure drugs are often administered during this. With the emergence of a liberated, sexually active homosexual community, the number of HIV-infected people in China is rising dramatically. AIDS education in China is a complicated undertaking with special challenges. Reliable statistical data on men actually infected with HIV do not exist in China. Many men do not identify themselves as homosexuals. It is estimated that up to 4 percent of the Chinese population (52 million people) are infected because they are not aware of the existence of the virus. The Hong Kong-based Chi Heng organization supports AIDS orphans and provides HIV education for China's homosexuals. The government policy toward the gay scene can be described as neutral. It is still sometimes mistaken as part of sex trade which is strictly persecuted by the police. In 2018, the Chinese messager service Weibo declared its plan to filter homosexual content in the future. China is generally a country of censorship - Western influences via the internet, also with regard to homosexuality (e.g. in pop culture) are strongly regulated.