Letter from Beijing/Mark Godfrey: Homosexuality is still absolutely a taboo topic in China. Local Chinese friends blush at a question as to how Chinese gays distinguish themselves from the rest of the population.
"There aren't as many gays in China as there are in the West" is a line I've heard on several occasions. "There are hardly any gays in China" is another. Older people in provincial towns usually shake their heads and claim with certitude there are no gays in China.
And now a brave survey published at Chongqing Normal University has revealed that quite a lot of Chinese young people are indeed gay. The survey, conducted by a seven students at the university found that 10 per cent of the 900 students from several Chinese universities questioned have same-sex relationships. Twenty per cent of the males questioned said they had had sex and one in every 10 girls responded that they were no longer virgins. Some students said they were involved in same-sex relationships or had tried sex with same-sex partners. Homosexual sex was twice as common among male students who responded to the survey.
The survey also found low sexual awareness among students on local university campuses. It's rare for Chinese newspapers to publish stories about gay sex - homosexuality is usually referred to under the nomenclature of "alternative lifestyle" - but editors reined in from vigorous political reporting or comment sometimes tend to push the envelope on social issues. Thus reports on sexual harassment and a car-park in Guandong jammed with night-time lovers have made it into mainstream newspapers recently.
In an ever-opening climate, Chinese people and, more slowly, their rulers, are beginning to deal with the facts of life. China's Premier Wen Jiabao posed with AIDS victims on World Aids Day last month and promised help and recognition to a hitherto shunned group in Chinese society. But in a society in which state-censored news stories put the preservation of "social order" as the public's duty, awareness of sexual health remains strangled by taboos and hypocrisy. Prostitution is open and rife in every Chinese city but state authorities live in a state of denial. Periodic crackdowns and regular news snippets on the seizure of "obscene literature" - pornography - gives the lie that something seedy is happening in this officially po-faced society.
The warning lights are flashing, however, and when China's government finally catches up with the rest of the population, it may be too late. China faces an AIDS epidemic of frightening proportions at the same time as a sexual revolution of sorts grips the country. Secondary school students are not allowed to have boyfriends or girlfriends in most schools but many now do, judging by the number of uniformed school-goers kissing in Beijing's subway stations. Teenage pregnancies at hospitals in the southern city of Guangzhou have increased from one fifth to one third of all women admitted to maternity wards in the city's hospitals. Only 10 per cent of all students questioned for the Chongqing university survey were aware of various venereal diseases and the ways in which they could be contracted. The girls questioned knew least about the dangers of unsafe sex. That's hardly surprising considering most teachers refuse to use the only textbook on sex education issued by Chinese authorities.
The mores of Chinese young people are still timid by Western standards. Some 70 per cent of those questioned said sex was something that should happen when two people loved each other. But 7 per cent of students said one-night stands were fine, and a 15 per cent of male students said they had more than one sex partner.
The students who carried out the research concluded that more sex education was needed in schools and they want the introduction of counselling for love-troubled students at universities. The researchers also said they'd like to see more interaction and more mixing of male and female students in college dorms.
In a sidestreet off Beijing's Sanlitun bar street, Western men pass under a painted rainbow to mix with young Chinese gays. Less than a kilometre away, the On Off bar is a larger club that mixes local and ex-pat gays and lesbians. Young men from poorer provinces come to Beijing to make themselves available in the cafes, bars and parks frequented by gay foreigners. Local magazines list the On Off and Half & Half bars as "Alternative" and "Alternative Lifestyles" entertainment venues. It's a nervous start, but China is acknowledging its sexual identities.