In a look at the emerging gay population of China, the Sydney Morning Herald notes that one way they’re turning red China pink is in the appropriation of certain very familiar socialist terms as their own. The term tongzhi, or comrade, has been turned on its head: “In one of the more delightful linguistic subversions of this fast-changing country, the term has been appropriated by China’s male homosexuals to refer to themselves and has spread widely into the general community with the same meaning.”
China, specifically Shanghai, has become a refreshingly open center for gays in that country, partly because, as some scholars note, the nation has “moved back to a traditional ambiguity about sexuality” and abides by something of a “don’t ask, don’t tell” set of social rules called the three No’s: “no approval, no disapproval, and no promotion.”
Despite the advances, researchers say that 80% of gays in China still enter heterosexual marriages to appease their families.
Gay revolution puts red China in the pink [sydney morning herald]
