A working list of LGBTQ information and resources for China, Japan (travel, living), Taiwan, and Hong Kong from a gay / lesbian / bisexual Chinese Canadian.

If you have any tips, information, and directories, please send them over!

Preference is for sites with English, or are relatively easy to navigate even if not. Some great non-English resources are included to get people started.

My Posts:

• 10 Best Things about Being Gay and Lesbian in East Asia
• LGBTQ Decision Making Approaches for Asia
• Gay and Lesbian Tokyo: A Brief Guide (Updated 2018)
• LGBTQ Living in Japan: A Guide for Work, Queer Families and Trans Individuals
• LGBTQ Hong Kong: A Brief Guide (Updated 2018)
• LGBTQ Hong Kong: Community Groups (Updated 2018)
• Observations on Gay and Lesbian Hong Kong

LGBTQ / Pride Events

Some places wait once a year for that awesome crowd at Pride in June or August, but it’s about time to come join the parties here in Asia. Pride is relatively new to Asia compared to the Stonewall Days, but they’re not too shabby for size.

Best of all, the Asian parties are spread throughout the year. Groups (mostly the guys) will also travel to annual events that aren’t explicitly LGBTQ just to have a good time too!

All the Gaycation options:

• Tokyo Rainbow Pride in early May
• Shanghai Pride in June
• Taiwan Pride end of October
• Pink Season in Hong Kong in November
• Songkran in Thailand in April
• Full moon parties in Bali
• Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) in Vegas

Places to Go / Groups:

Asian governments may seem pretty cold to same-sex issues, but in general, they also have a hands-off policy. This means that many places have a decent or even outright vibrant underground scene. Below are some tips:

• Rural China: mah jong clubs
• Japan: gay bars in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Nichome, gay saunas, Otoko-machi Map (男街マップ) literally boy’s map, Twitter’s LGBT Events, check out my Gay and Lesbian Tokyo Guide
• Taiwan: Dating List On Hotline (http://hotline.org.tw/book/15)
• Hong Kong: Check out my LGBTQ Hong Kong Guide, kareoke bars
• bathhouses
• Word-of-mouth events
• Meetup.com to find groups like Fruits n Suits (in Tokyo & Hong Kong)

Queer Culture:

For a seemingly conservative place, East Asia has a lot of queer content. Much of it is in mainstream media such as movies with sex-changing kungfu heroes, tabloids reporting on billionaire’s gay daughters, and Mainland Chinese media creating bromances for straight actors.

In Japan, Yaoi (boy’s love) and yuri (girl’s love) are major genres in Japanese pop culture often written and consumed by straight people.

Check the media content from:

• Learn more about Japanese gay culture at a blog by Taku and Rei (A Japanese and Latino American and couple)
• Hong Kong Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
• Tokyo Rainbow Reel and Tokyo’s Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
• Taiwan’s International Queer Film Festival
• LGBTQ Chinese movies section of this Wikipedia
• Pink Alliance Hong Kong Movie List
• my post on LGBTQ Hong Kong

 

LGBTQ Media & Event Sites:

Japan:

• Out in Japan (Photo & Video Series)
• Letitbee Life (Japanese Media)
• Rebit (Japanese Site)
• 2CHOPO (Japanese Event & Media Site)

Taiwan:

• Queer Watch (Taiwanese Media Site)
• Hotline (comprehensive info for LGBTQ community)

China:

Search Douban 豆瓣, Sina 微博 for groups

Join Weixin 微信 public channels and groups

• SixthTone (English publication)
• 武漢RAINBOW LGBT
• 新疆同志中心
• Gay Groups:
  • 上海男同豆瓣 – 本少@上海 (Gay Shanghai)
• Lesbian Groups:
  • 形婚同志拉拉群
  • 女同性爱电影 (Lesbian Movies)
  • 北京女同志中心（北京拉拉沙龙）Beijing Lesbian Salon

Hong Kong:

• GDot TV (Media Channel based in Hong Kong) – has English and international content
• my post on LGBTQ Hong Kong for a full list

 

The Lingo and Labels:

Taku and Rei have an excellent Glossary of Japanese Gay terms.

Chinese	Pinyin	English
同志	Tóng zhì	homosexual
同性戀	tóng xìng liàn	same sex love
同性愛	Dōseiai	same-sex love (Japanese)
同性	tóng xìng	same sex
誇性別	kuā xìng bié	Transgender
拉拉	lā lā	lesbian
1 号	yī hào	top
0.5 号	líng diǎn wu hào	versatile
0 号	líng hào	bottom
T		Tomboy lesbian
P		Wife / princess (femme) lesbian
member		member* (Hong Kong)
G吧	g BAR	gay bar
同性浴室	tóng xìng yù shì	same-sex bathhouse
出柜	chū guì	out of the closet
弯男	wān nán	gay
卖的	mài de	male escort
熊	xióng	bears
狒狒	fèi fèi	people who like bears
猴子	hóu zi	Twink (monkey)
同妻	tóng qi	Gay husband

Adapted from Wikipedia Article “Homosexuality in China“.

 

Gay and Lesbian Dating Apps:

• Lesbian Dating:
  • Rela
  • Butterfly Android / iPhone
  • Lesdo (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lesdo.sns.playstore&hl=en) << Was shut down in China in 2017.
• Gay Men Dating:
  • Hornet Android / iPhone
  • Grindr Android / iPhone
  • Blued Android / iPhone
• Meetup.com for events

If you have any tips to share, please send them over!

If you are visiting Hong Kong, check out my post on LGBTQ Hong Kong.