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FACEBOOK: @ShanghaiGay
Shanghai 2023 Gay Venues
Shanghai is a relatively gay-friendly city, more international than most other mainland China cities. The queer community is massive: about 2.7 million (equal to the entire population of Las Vegas or Chicago), but only a teeny, tiny, minuscule fraction of the Shanghai LGBT community frequent various bars and clubs. Most prefer apps, private home parties and other places.
I list all known gay venues below, and additionally list a couple of gay friendly places that cater to a predominately larger number of gay clientele than most. There are probably more than 300 or so other gay-friendly spaces, bars, coffee shops & restaurants in Shanghai that I do not list drawing in gay clientele.
Quick Jump
- 88 Cafe & Bar 🏳️🌈🌐☕️
- Moon Bar 🏳️🌈🧸🥃
- HIDE Bar & Cafe 🏳️🌈🥃☕️
- ManGo Bar 🏳️🌈🧸🍻
- Roxie (Lesbian) ⚢🌈🍽🎯🍸
- Hiro Bar 🏳️🌈🌐☕️
- Riink (Gay-friendly) ⚢🌈🎯🍽🛼
- Q Bar 🏳️🌈🥃
- Ten Club 🏳️🌈🕺🏼
- Asia Blue 🏳️🌈🌐
- A+ House Bar 🏳️🌈🧸🍻
- Reborn Club 🏳️🌈🕺🏼🍾
- HUNT Bar 🏳️🌈🎯🌐🧸🚭
- 44kw Club (gay-friendly) 🌈🍾🕺🏼
- The Palace 🌈🕺🏼
- Rice Bar 🏳️🌈🌐🚭🥃
- Swag Candy Club (Lesbian) ⚢🌈🍻
- Include Whisky & Wine 🏳️🌈🎯🚭
- Atlas Corner (Gay-friendly) 🌈🚭🥃
- Tahiti Pub (Gay-Friendly) 🌈🚭
- Wet Bar @ W Hotel (Gay-friendly) 🌈
- Cotton’s (Gay-friendly) 🌈🌐🍽
- + Closed (past) Spaces
- + Gay China Notes
- + Gay Shanghai Notes
- + Gay apps
- + Chinese Gay History
Shanghai Gay Spaces:
🎯 = good starting point
in no particular order
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88 Cafe & Bar 🏳️🌈🌐☕️
My opinion 
Comfort 
Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size A gay bar that is coffee friendly, in a location off the beaten path near Rice Bar. Customers are generally a mix of both ages and interests. Washroom is an adventure walk through the closed supermarket. So too are the 39 stairs with closed / turned off escalators. But terrific coffee. 8pm until 1:00am or later, daily, maybe. Ask for Leo, co-owner, who speaks English.
WeChat ID : tba
88 AnShun Lu at Dingxi Lu, Basement Level 1
(adjacent to Bobo Mart at bottom of exterior escalator)
🚖 Taxi: 上海88安顺路
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Moon Bar 🏳️🌈🧸🥃
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size MOVED TO NEW LOCATION: In August 2023 moved from the XingGuo Mansion alley to new home on Zhaojiabang Lu with 2 primary rooms. The Moon Bar is generally frequented by Chinese bears and their Chinese admirers. In the basement down a couple of flights of stairs with no handrail. Hole in the floor style toilets only. Bulk beer sold by the bucket. Don’t expect any English spoken.
WeChat ID : 上海MoonBar
Yuhua Building, B1 Floor, 366 Zhaojiabang Road, Xuhui (next to Hangzhou Bank)
🚖 Taxi: 徐汇区肇嘉浜路366号裕华大厦B1层(杭州银行旁)
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HIDE Bar & Cafe 🏳️🌈🥃☕️
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Off the beaten track with a name that accurately depicts its location. Small lounge space with a couple of exterior tables in the Creative Industry Media Park beyond a security barrier gate. Although meaning well, it’s unfortunately located under a wall of residential balconies with not so happy residents and a with view of parking lot and garage. Offering cocktails, beer and coffee. Generally frequented by a younger set of Chinese. Owned/operated by the ex-bar manager from Rice Bar, and co-owner of 88 Cafe. Don’t expect any English spoken. Opened on September 1, 2023.
WeChat ID : TBA
990 Changping Lu, inside the Creative Industry Media Park, Jing’an.
(Enter through gate/alley way directly across street from the Jing’an Tax Bureau, walk through parking lot, past the fish pond, and it will be on your right across from a garage)
🚖 Taxi: 昌平路 990号
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ManGo Bar 🏳️🌈🧸🍻
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Inside the Junfeng International Fortune Plaza in Hongkou (see maps and photos), ManGo prides itself in providing a space that connects older gentlemen with their younger admirers, akin to a large fun gay beer hall with a super friendly crowd that is very, very, local, and best on Friday and Saturday between 8:30 PM and 11:30 PM.
📋 See my review for more details, photos & maps.
WeChat ID : vvvjxsvvv
Junfeng International Fortune Plaza, Room 32, Basement Floor
1599 Dalian Road, Hongkou, Shanghai China
🚖 Taxi: 骏丰国际财富广场, 大连路1599号骏丰国际广场内
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Roxie (Lesbian) ⚢🌈🍽🎯🍸
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size A safe, versatile space for the lesbian community (and their gay friends) providing a place to hang out in comfort everyday of the week. Charming and super friendly owner Ting Ting Liang from Holland focuses on creating an inclusive space catering for all crowds with a special focus on providing high-quality highly-affordable cocktails. 6pm-2am daily in the 2023 post COVID new gayborhood at Shaanxi North Rd and Kanding Rd
Follow the official WeChat for details:
WeChat ID : RoxieShanghai
2nd Floor, 359 Kangding Lu, near Shaanxi Bei Lu, Jing’an
🚖 Taxi: 静安区康定路359号, 近陕西北路
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Hiro Bar 🏳️🌈🌐☕️
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size A gay bar that was a coffee friendly space within the gayborhood compound near Riink, Roxie and Palace etc... but now moved to new location up in Putuo within the “Brilliance 1912 Creative Industrial Park” and more of a bar.
WeChat ID : HIROhouse
订座电话：19539487298 吾川
201, Building 9, 477 Macao Road, Putuo District
🚖 Taxi: 普陀区澳门路477号9号楼201室
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Riink (Gay-friendly) ⚢🌈🎯🍽🛼
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Roller cocktail disco where different people can meet and feel good about themself. Riink provides a personal experience, serving quality drinks and snacks, and doing these things consistently, run by Ting (also owns nearby Roxie) and her uber friendly team, plus cocktails and delicious diner style food and snacks, makes for an interesting combination. Crowd has a good mix of LGBT, especially on weekends. Drinks (and skate rentals) are very affordable and excellent quality. On the 2023 post COVID new gayborhood at Shaanxi North Rd and Kanding Rd.
WeChat ID : riinkshanghai
Bldg 18, Shankang Li, 358 Kangding Lu, near Shaanxi Bei Lu.
🚖 Taxi: 上海市静安区康定路358号18号楼RIINK
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Q Bar 🏳️🌈🥃
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Reminiscent of a typical NY style bar, it’s a small, intimate whisky & wine bar with relaxed atmosphere next to Tianzifang. The bar is in the alley to the left, about 10m as you enter off Ruijin Lu with a matt black door, and you can see a “Q Whisky & Wine” lit sign at the alley entrance. From 8pm. No English spoken, but friendly.
📋 See my review for more details, photos & maps.
WeChat ID : skyword1
No. 1, Lane 225, Ruijin 2nd Road, Huangpu District (North of Taikang Road)
🚖 Taxi: 黄浦区瑞金二路225弄1号，近建国中路 田子坊4号门
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Ten Club 🏳️🌈🕺🏼
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size A very gay club on weekends packed to the brim with teeny-bopping tweaked out local boys, across the hall from Asia Blue. It is the re-incarnate of COMO/BELLO/390+ in the same space, replete with high and mighty attitude door staff. Themed nights (see WeChat for details) 8:30pm until late, daily.
WeChat ID : TENCLUB上海
2nd Floor, Block M, RED390, 390 Panyu Road, by Fahuazhen Road
🚖 Taxi: 上海市 长宁区 番禺路 390 号RED390二楼M座 , 时代大厦二楼近法华镇路
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Asia Blue 🏳️🌈🌐
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size A local and very gay bar with camp decor and massive bar under an umbrella of high-tech LED rods, across the hall from TEN Club and gets residual benefit of TEN Club customers escaping the bopping. Asia Blue is the city’s oldest gay bar brand (having originally founded itself on Gaolan Lu 20 years ago, and re-located many times) still currently in operation. Other than owner (and friendly character) Andy Wong, little English is spoken. Customers are generally a good mix with a couple of leeches. Washroom leave a lot to be desired at times. Lots of dice games, and expect popup karaoke during the night. 9:30pm until daylight, daily.
WeChat ID : AsiaBlueBar
2nd Floor, Block M, RED390, 390 Panyu Road, by Fahuazhen Road
🚖 Taxi: 上海市 长宁区 番禺路 390 号RED390二楼M座 , 时代大厦二楼近法华镇路
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A+ House Bar 🏳️🌈🧸🍻
My opinion best Fridays 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Moved to this new location post COVID. Still offers drink specials and local gay bears focussed on providing a safe and fun environment for non-pretentious, down-to-earth bears and monkeys to drink, play dice games and enjoy a night away from the other gay spaces. Friendly staff, cheap drinks in a safe, clean and private environment. Patrons generally arrive and party in friend groups .
WeChat ID : SHbear
58 North Shannxi Rd, Jing’an
(The Sparrow 麻雀)
🚖 Taxi: 上海市静安区陕西北路58号
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Reborn Club 🏳️🌈🕺🏼🍾
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Inside the Yaxin Life Plaza (see map in my image), Reborn has a huge 1,000 sqM dance floor augmented with a good sound & lighting system. A bar runs the length of the dance floor, and according to friends, the atmosphere is energy and enthusiasm which gives this potential. Alas, their marketing tends to be overly cautious towards making it straight friendly, but it is what it is, a new gay club. Focussed on VIP bottle sales. For various reasons, subject to (very) regular government closures. Check their WeChat to ensure open. From 10pm.
WeChat ID : REBORN 悦蹦
3rd Floor, Yaxin Life Plaza, 401 Changshou Lu (at Changde Lu), PuTuo
🚖 Taxi: 亚新生活广场 上海市普陀区长寿路401号 (常德路口)
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HUNT Bar 🏳️🌈🎯🌐🧸🚭
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Expect cover charge with all-you-can-drink happy hours, ‘drag’ performances, drag bingo, TV nights, pop-up art shows and an eclectic mix of expat and local customers with lots of muscle bears looking for friends, with tolerable music levels inviting actual conversation. Daytime in summer months, HUNT Cafe in front alley. Follow the official WeChat for details of what seems like daily different events:
WeChat ID : HUNTShanghai
42 Xingfu Road, by Fahuazhen Road
🚖 Taxi: 上海市 长宁区幸福路42号， 近法华镇路
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44kw Club (gay-friendly) 🌈🍾🕺🏼
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Since 2018, 44 KW is a Techno, House & Disco club located in Found 158 with minimalist-concrete-industrial aesthetic for a capacity of about 400. The owner is Charles Guo, a fashion photographer from Beijing, so it’s only natural he has attracted a fashion-industry heavy crowd, and it’s gay followers. He’s providing an intimate divided space with two sections: a front area with the bar, back-lit ping pong tables with holographic projection and a lounge area, then a back-room with an excellent soundsystem featuring world-class DJs focussed on hard techno, deep house. The club strives to create a unique and high quality space where people enjoy the intimate vibes, quality music and lifestyle. SAO regularly hosts events there.
FB: facebook.com/44KWShanghai
WeChat ID : CLUB_44KW or UnicornShanghai
B1/Floor, 158 Julu Lu, near Ruijin Yi Lu, (“Found 158” complex), Huangpu, Shanghai
🚖 Taxi: 巨鹿路158号B1楼, 近瑞金一路
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The Palace 🌈🕺🏼
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Drag and show bar across street from Roxie, next door to The Shed. Mix of young foreigners and Chinese. Used to be UP Shanghai, the urban-chic nightclub, it’s hard to pin down, but they play music, sell food and drinks, the lighting makes everything look like a music video, and the bathroom cubicles are lit with pink and purple neon. Closes at random times, in the 2023 post COVID new gayborhood at Shaanxi North Rd and Kanding Rd.
WeChat ID :TBA
2nd floor, 688 Shaanxi North Road, Jing’an, near Kangding Lu
Jing’an Temple, Jing’an District
🚖 Taxi: 陕西北路688号2楼
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Rice Bar 🏳️🌈🌐🚭🥃
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size A quiet local non-smoking bar for over a decade, largely for the younger Chinese gay crowd. Primarily talking and meeting friends. Everyone is almost guaranteed conversation at least, but each out the challenging staircase. Lots of dice games. 8pm until late. Ask for Chinese, Japanese and English speaking owner Takuya.
📋 See my review for more details, photos & maps.
WeChat ID : RiceBar
532 Fahuazhen Lu, near Dingxi Lu, Changning
🚖 Taxi: 长宁区法华镇路532号, 近定西路
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Swag Candy Club (Lesbian) ⚢🌈🍻
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size A small, narrow and loud local lesbian club, with DJ and good sound system, across the hall from A+House bar, in the Hengshun Building. Reasonably priced drinks, special events, and a focus on the younger, local lesbian crowd. Seems to draw a regular crowd on weekends. The toilet facilities leave a lot to be desired. After the bar, the rice/noodle & BBQ restaurant downstairs is full.
WeChat ID : TBD
3rd floor, Hengshun Building, 77 Jiangning Road, Jing’an
(may be easier to Didi to the Majestic Theatre)
🚖 Taxi: 上海市静安区江宁路77号恒顺大厦三楼
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Include Whisky & Wine 🏳️🌈🎯🚭
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size A local and upscale cocktail bar on the 2nd floor of the building opened in 2021 by owner Zhuai Zhuai who has been in the gay bar scene for well over a decade and is always extremely joyful and considerate. Great cocktails, very good ambiance and vibe, comfy seating, yet little English is spoken so have your translations apps ready. The bar is non-smoking, yet provides an outdoor smoking terrace that has outdoor heaters and comfy seating. Strangely, no selection of beer, and a lack of mixed drinks such as basic well scotch. The washrooms are clean with Japanese style electronic toilets. The customers are generally a good mix. No dice games. 6pm until 2am, daily. Telephone 13003242955
WeChat ID : TBD
2nd Floor, 100 Xiangyang North Road (between Huai Hai Zhong Lu & Xinle Lu)
🚖 Taxi: 襄阳北路100号2楼
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Atlas Corner (Gay-friendly) 🌈🚭🥃
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size Hip street-front cocktail bar which stays open late and is often packed after dinner time with a mix of gay and gay friendly patrons of all genders. Well made and pretty mixed drinks are about RMB 85. The 6 comfy bar stools at the well stocked bar are the target of most customers. Small smoking recess outdoor with a bench in front of pedestrian crossing. From 7pm. Tel: 186 0055 9745
WeChat ID : tba
614 Julu Lu (near Xiangyang Bei Lu), Jing’an
🚖 Taxi: 巨鹿路614号, 近襄阳北路
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Tahiti Pub (Gay-Friendly) 🌈🚭
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size This small and very over-priced non-smoking cocktail bar keeps reinventing itself. Near the corner of Rujin Lu, go downstairs and through the front room to find a long narrow cocktail bar. Hit and miss with staff friendliness and welcomes. Little to no English spoken. Sits below residential apartments, so noise will be an issue. With their crazy pricing, I don’t expect this one will last long.
WeChat ID : tba
340 Changle Lu, (at Rujin Lu), Huangpu, Shanghai
🚖 Taxi: 上海市黄浦区长乐路340号
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Wet Bar @ W Hotel (Gay-friendly) 🌈
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size This hotel’s rooftop WET bar is quickly becoming the cool, chic place for gay guys to mingle. Opened in 2017, occupying a piece of riverfront on North Bund promenade with a great view over the Bund and Pudong, Its iconic outdoor terrace pool make it feel like Ibiza. Ask for resident English DJ, Simon.
WeChat ID : tba
66 Lvshun Lu, near Dongchangzhi Lu, Hongkou
🚖 Taxi: 旅顺路66号, 近东长治路
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Cotton’s (Gay-friendly) 🌈🌐🍽
My opinion 
Comfort Int’l Quality Value for $$ Staff English Crowd Size This restaurant cum bar, has a large outdoor smoking-friendly seating area, including a lovely pagoda, in the grounds of its renovated heritage building. Great for dinner and drinks with friends in a relaxed garden environment under the canopy of well-lit trees, with a mix of gay and gay-friendly mostly very good staff. Ask for owner Cotton Ding who is fluent in English.
WeChat ID : gh_cb61986c073a
294 Xinhua Lu,near Dingxi Lu
🚖 Taxi: 新华路294号, 近定西路
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+ Closed (past) Spaces
Gone, closed, bankrupt, kaput, shut down… but remembered, some of the major gay venues in Shanghai in my time, in no particular order… Lollipop, Icon195, Lucca, Club Deep, M Cafe, Hunter Bar, Eddys, Shanghai Studio, No. 7 Coffee & Juice Bar, Home Bar, G KTV, Transit Lounge (now Lollipop), D2, Box Bar, Therapy Lounge, Angel, Footloose, Blendi Coffee & Boys Cafe, Icon, Home Bar, SAO+HAUS, BoBo’s, Frangipani Bar & Restaurant, Candor, G8, Trio (moved in June to new location), ICON (Shanghai Stadium), Trend Cafe, Il Vino, HIRO House (Kanding Lu), Eddy’s (Jing’an), Vogue at Kevins, D9, Rainbow Cafe, Focus Club. Nine Elements, L’Alcove Restaurant, Therapy Club, Panda Club, Studio 2006, Telephone 6, Club Obama, Club BoBo, Transit Bar (Xingguo Mansion), LG, Datong Mills Lounge, Kevins Thai Restaurant, Happiness 42 (now HUNT), Repaly (we think they meant Replay), 390 (the original), COMO, BELLO, Riink (version 1), Pink Home and my personal all time favorite Space Bar.
+ Gay China Notes
A HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF CHINESE SUPPORT LEGALISATION OF GAY MARRIAGE THAN AMERICANS
Being gay was decriminalized in 1997, and removed from the Chinese Society of Psychiatry’s list of mental illnesses in 2001. In December 2019, when Central Government was soliciting national opinions on a future draft of the civil code on marriage and family, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress survey of 9.9 million Chinese respondents via the Phoenix Network found 67.34% (6.67 million people) support same-sex marriage (compared to 61% of Americans in a Pew Research poll) with a further 2.19% (218k people) not caring, but some gay Chinese THINK they face what they believe to be a social stigma, particularly with their parents who are expecting family heirs.
Forget the ever growing long string of letters “LGBTTQQIAAP+” etc… — nearly all Chinese simply, politely, use the word “gay” for anyone non-hetero, which is an upgrade from the proliferation of confusing hidden colloquial terms such as “passion of Longyang” (lóngyángpǐ 龙阳癖), “the passion of the cut sleeve” (duànxiù zhī pǐ 断袖之癖), or “the divided peach” (fēntáo 分桃). Other terms have included “male trend” (nánfēng 男風), “allied brothers” (xiānghuǒ xiōngdì 香火兄弟). The formal modern word for “homosexuality” is tongxinglian (同性戀); ‘same-sex relations/love‘) or abbreviated to “tongzhi” (同志) which means “comrade“. Another slang term is “datong” (大同) meaning great togetherness or utopia. Lesbians usually call themselves “lala” (拉拉).
Brothers, Sisters, Uncles, Aunts, Mums & Dads
Prepare to be confused by a somewhat endearing trend in gay social circles of cross-referring to friends as brothers, sisters, uncles, mums and dads etc… As gay friends meet, they often create their new social family circle of adopting these words to refer to one another, and typically, in opposite gender roles. For example, an older gay man be referred to as the ‘mummy‘ to a ‘sister‘ which is actually a slightly younger gay man, who have a younger friend they regularly go out drinking with that they call their ‘daughter‘. Their lesbian friend may be their ‘brother‘. You get the idea. Makes for some confusing, yet fun friendships as you build out your family or be incorporated into other ‘family’ groups.
For example within my Chinese social circle, I am daddy to some, sister to many, uncle to most, and daughter to one friend. Yet within my own foreigner social circle, I am brother to many, and daddy to one. To confuse matters, I also have a Chinese friend that within the bar scene, he prefers to be called an androgynous ‘Ninja’ since he considers himself invisible at times, and at other times, insists I call him ‘Ironman’ when he feels overly confident and fearless (typically when he is drunk). At all times he calls me ‘Uncle Bro‘.
Some Common Gay Expressions
- Chitudoude (吃土豆的)
Literally meaning ‘eats potatoes,’ this refers to a gay Chinese person who has a case of white boy/girl fever, and thus tends to only date Caucasians. There are also ‘rice eaters,’ ‘sushi eaters’ and more, depending on your cuisine of choice. - Chugui (出柜)
To come out of the closet. ‘Gui’ literally means ‘cupboard,’ but we’ll refrain from making food puns, for example, “Did you hear? That fine piece of potato is finally out of the cupboard.” - Kong (控)
Kong means fetish in Chinese gay subculture. It can be combined with almost anything. Call someone “Dashu [uncle] Kong,” and it means someone who’s into older men; “Xiong [bear] Kong” means someone who’s into chubby and hairy “bears.” - Lala (拉拉)
Lesbian. A phonetic adaptation of the English term. - Niang (娘)
Sissy or effeminate. e.g., “He’s cute, but he’s gone a bit heavy on the eyeliner. A bit ‘niang’ for my taste.” - Tongzhi (同志)
Homosexual. Literally meaning ‘comrade,’ tongzhi was a term bandied about heavily during the Cultural Revolution. It had been appropriated by the gay community to refer to same-sex comrades in the bedroom. - Xiao Gong (小攻)
Xiao Gong refers to the person who “gives” in gay sex (commonly described around the world as a “1″ or “top”). The term Xiao Gong originated from Chinese gay romance novels and Japanese gay animations. - Xiao Shou (小受)
The opposite of Xiao Gong, Xiao Shou is the one who “takes” in gay sex (also known as a “0” or the “bottom”). However, this term can also be used to refers to the guy who is in a more feminine role and needs to be taken care of in a relationship.
+ Gay Shanghai Notes
There are also numerous gay dance halls meetings, KTV’s, sauna, gyms and other similar meeting places, but since the vast majority of these are frequented by 99% Chinese only, or just covers for sexual hookups, so I won’t go into detail.
Generally, the Shanghai bar scene is very old-school, about a decade behind major international cities, and split between dance clubs with live DJ’s interrupted with really bad ‘drag’ shows. Personally, I found that the smaller the bar, the higher quality fun can be had.
Weirdly, in Shanghai, they consider drag to make oneself look more like a women (aka cross-dressing transvestite look), sadly popularized by the TV show RuPaul’s Drag Race which vies for straight audience Neilson ratings by having 80% of their cast / characters perpetuating this form, rather than for the more traditional fun of the comedy send-up, popularized by Hasty Pudding over 100 years ago, and evolved to hilarious effect globally since as sassy, brassy and sometimes classy.
Surprisingly (and joyfully), you CAN find good drag performers and shows in some smaller cities such as Nanning and Chengdu – in both of these cities, I’ve also witnessed real singers (not lip-syncing) dressed in hilarious drag, providing great fun for their gay bar audiences. (think deep voices, hairy armpits, lipstick smears, 1 boob dangling out, 1 eyelash upside down, and a sassy comedic personality as they sit on the bar wearing a massively oversized hat with a miniature of their city on it, and call out fun gay vulgarities (in a mix of Chinese, Thai, Japanese and English) throughout the night.
Further, cocktail bars generally serve a mix of fake/real booze (fake booze is not typically the fault of the bar owners, more a problem with unscrupulous distributors) — general rule of thumb, drink bottled drinks or top shelf liquor and avoid mixed drinks from the bar well.
Also, in smaller more local bars, expect ‘talking boys‘ who expect you to pay for their services with drinks and tips. You will quickly learn about how to identify and deal with them.
Most of the bars have at least one staff member that can speak some level of English, but be prepared in the smaller bars to have patience and use WeChat translation, while keeping your requests simple.
Method of payment is typically by scanning QR code for WeChat or Alipay.
Additionally, for privacy concerns, there is a growing trend in most international quality bars to not allow selfies or video photography (a good thing), for fear of people posting these on Weibo, WeChat Moments, TikTok or other places without all identifiable individuals in the photos/video prior consent. Use common sense, support the bar rules, remember you are a guest, and use caution with regards to other peoples privacy.
Lastly, I do not support the “Shanghai LGBT” organization that postures itself as if representing and serving the community. It is largely run by foreigners, is overly focussed on the bar scene, and provides no transparency for fundraising dollars received. When, and if, a proper organization is established by local Chinese, that maintains open accountability and supports government advocacy / lobbying work with proper non-bar only orientated efforts, I will support.
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