Coming out in the new open China still no easy task

Letter from Shanghai: As China opens up to the outside world, its gay community is slowly coming out of the closet and there are hopes a ground-breaking new course at a Shanghai university could improve attitudes to homosexuals in China.

Fudan University, one of the most country's most prestigious colleges, has just started a class called Introduction to Gay and Lesbian Studies, the first of its kind ever offered to undergraduates which hopes to build on a more liberal social environment and clear up some widespread, and deeply held, misconceptions about homosexuality.

The course has been a major success. All 100 places filled quickly and hundreds more students are applying. The course has been widely welcomed in China, including in the state media, and is likely to inspire other such courses in the country.

Dr Sun Zhongxin, one of the course's instructors, said it was introduced because of strong interest among the students.

"I used to teach gender study for undergraduates and found they were very interested in the topic of homosexuality," Dr Sun explained.

State media reckons there are between five and 10 million gay men but there is no figure for lesbians - who face even greater social stigmas than gay men, as the idea of same-sex relationships between women is simply absurd to most Chinese.

Most commentators put the unofficial figure at around 40 million gays and lesbians in total.

Gays were harshly persecuted after China's 1949 communist revolution, condemned as decadent relics of Western capitalism. Even well into the 1990s it was common to hear Chinese people describe homosexuality as a disease spread by foreigners.

But things have changed. Sodomy was decriminalised in 1997 and in 2001, the Chinese Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the list of mental disorders.

There is a vibrant gay bar scene in the main cities, particularly Shanghai, and a growing number of gay and lesbian websites, which are tolerated by the government.

It has led to some curious anomalies. It used to be that "tongzhi" meant "comrade", the main form of address among men and women in the Mao Zedong era. These days, tongzhi refers to different kinds of companions on the gay websites.

But even despite these improvements, homosexuals still have to live with appalling prejudices and pressures in China.

Community activists say the situation for homosexuals in the countryside, where attitudes are less liberal than in the cities, is extremely tough.

"I had a gay friend at college, but we never talked about it. Although he never told us about it, he was quite camp and used to stay with us girls a lot," said Ju Jingqi (23), a postgraduate student in Beijing.

"Before I knew this guy, I thought homosexuals were weird and abnormal, but this guy was really intelligent, and very nice. But I think he has had some problems finding a good job. It's not fair," said Ms Ju.

The official China Daily recently ran a prominent article which outlined the terrible story of Gu Du who was persecuted because of his sexuality.

Initially blackmailed by his room-mate, his boss accused him of "shua liu mang", which literally translates as hooliganism - a catch-all phrase in Chinese which covers everything from anti-government activities to rape.

Even though he was not a practising homosexual, under interrogation Mr Gu admitted to checking out some gay sites on the internet. His parents were told, leading to his being disowned swiftly by his father, brother and sister. His mother fell ill and had to be hospitalised.

"They'd rather I became paralysed, so that they could give me unconditional love and sympathy. If I became an alien, at least they would be curious about me," said Mr Gu.

He contemplated suicide, but in the end decided to leave his home town of Chengdu and head to Hangzhou, where no one knew him.

With gays and lesbians forced underground, putting a figure on the number of homosexuals in China is difficult.

"Most parents cannot imagine in their wildest dreams that their children could be gay. They usually do not pick up the subtle signals that hint that their kids may be attracted to those of their own sex. When revelation dawns, it is normally such a shock that it feels like falling into a vortex of tongue-tied humiliation," was how the China Daily described the reaction.

As in Ang Lee's film The Wedding Banquet, the vast majority of gay men in China are coerced into marriage. In a strongly family-conscious society, the issue with homosexuality has always been the danger that the family line will not be carried on.

These marriages of convenience are also bringing heartbreak and physical danger - gay men who lead double lives are far more likely to spread the HIV virus to their families and to the heterosexual community. But they keep happening, because a man who reaches 30 and is not married is a serious burden on his parents.

"The popularity of a course on homosexuality study at Fudan University is a positive sign that Chinese society is becoming more tolerant," proclaimed one editorial.