There was no rainbow flag to point the way, nor a sign above the entrance of the old building. When the taxi driver dropped us off at the empty intersection, we were sceptical that we would find a bar, much less the Lesbian bar we were looking for. Perhaps the taxi driver had misunderstood our broken Chinese and drove us to the wrong part of town. Or perhaps Lesbian bars in Beijing were not so obvious to be found easily.

Fortunately, a glance around the corner revealed to us the entrance of Xixiangfang Bar, one of four lesbian meeting points in Beijing. These places are not mentioned in general travel guides and, in a sense, do not “officially” exist.

Upon entry, we were immediately greeted by many curious looks from within. Foreign-looking women did not often stumble “lost” into Xixiangfang. We slipped into our seats silently, trying to digest our first venture into the Chinese lesbian scene. The atmosphere was very relaxed, hip and modern. Curious about the scene, we wanted to learn more about the life of Beijing lesbians. What followed in the next weeks were interviews and private talks that revealed to us what the community and lifestyle of Chinese lesbians was like.

Tell me quick: Are you a “P”, “T” or…?

A striking feature of the Chinese scene is the immediate division of women into either the “P” or “T” category. P stands for “Po”‘, the Chinese word for wife, and T stands for “Tomboy”‘. In fact, a question commonly asked in the first meeting is whether one identifies as a P or as a T. So what exactly are Ps and Ts?

The P/T dichotomy most closely mirrors the “femme” and “butch” categories familiar in the West. But there are key differences. A Chinese lesbian explains, “If you are a T, you have to give a lot of money to Ps. Ps are much rarer, they look like a ‘real woman’. Because they are rarer, they want to be treated like a princess. They know that they can also get men, and many other Ts, so Ps can do what they want.”

Elisabeth Lund Engebretsen, an anthropologist at the London School of Economics (LSE) who researches homosexuality in China, sheds further light on the P/T dichotomy:

“While I think that Ts are definitely lesbians, Ps are not necessarily. My impression is that some Ps are afraid of men and want to perhaps avoid or postpone marriage. Thus, being with a T woman is the golden middle-way—these Ps can play the ‘all-woman act’ to avoid adult responsibilities like paying for oneself”.

However, it should be noted that many Chinese Ts are actually less categorical about what it means to be a T or a P. As Engebretsen points out, some lesbian relationships in China focus less on the stark division between sexual roles and financial responsibilities typical of the T and P stereotypes. In China, women who fall into neither the T nor P category are labelled as “Bu fen”, the undecided and inseparable ones who, amongst over things, pay for themselves.

Another feature of lesbians in China is their self-labelling as “Lalas”. Lalas meet other lalas mainly via the internet or in lesbian hangouts (see overview of meeting spots at the end). Among these lesbian hangouts are shopping centres, such as the Hua Wei Shopping Center.

Internet Love Connection and Marriage Pressures

As there are no official lesbian organisations and no Christopher Street Day (or similar “Pride Week” celebrations) in China, the importance of the Internet for the development of the Chinese lesbian scene is especially critical.

Jackie, a 30 year old freelancer, told us that, before the internet age, she used to think that she was the only woman who felt attracted to other women. Today she admits that “if I hadn’t found the internet, I would have found a man”.

On the Internet, there are many chatrooms such as “lala club”, “lala shequ”, scene addresses and other lesbian groups. There are also marriage ads for pro-forma marriages between lesbian and gays.

Cass Wang, 27 years old, describes her girlfriend’s pressure to find a husband via the internet:

“It sucks, but my girlfriend’s family is forcing her to marry. It is very common now in China. There are also lots of gay guys who need fake marriages, and with the internet, it is easy to get in touch, so we are currently looking. But I wish she could marry me!”

Indeed, many Chinese lesbians are under heavy pressure from their parents to find a husband. Moreover, of the lesbians that were interviewed, not a single woman had disclosed their sexual identity to her parents. Homosexuality within the family remains a big taboo. According to Engebretsen,

“Many lalas are very reluctant to talk about their real-life situation, about being pressured to marry by parents, and being more or less forced to live at home with their family until the time they are expected to marry. So there are often quite big discrepancies between the way lalas present themselves when they are on the scene and their real-life situation.”

Officially, homosexuality is no longer forbidden in China. Since 1997, sodomy is no longer illegal, and since 2001, homosexuality is no longer labelled as a mental illness. Yet there are still many prejudices and obstacles against same-sex relationships. For example, all of the lesbians interviewed felt strongly against coming out at work: “It’s like a career suicide”.

A common perception among the Chinese and Western scenes is that sex between two women is seen as “attractive” by heterosexual men, whereas sex between two men is seen as “disgusting”. As one interviewee describes, “Two women usually don’t matter but two gay guys usually makes others sick”. In China, however, it is not so unacceptable for a married woman to have an extramarital affair with another woman.

Relationships between two women seem to receive little critical attention in the country; it is tolerated but is neither officially nor unofficially endorsed. One lesbian comments that, “In a sense, China is a heaven for gays and lalas as it’s quite normal to show public affection, such as holding hands and spending time together, even for men”.

While the public and private acceptance of lesbians still lags behind many countries in Western Europe, the Chinese scene is undoubtedly more liberal than many other countries in the world. According to internal documents of the Chinese government and other studies, there are currently about 15 million homosexuals in China. Yet this number underestimates actual figures and the number is presumed to be growing. If one considers the worldwide population of 1.3 billion and assumes that potentially 10 percent of the population are lesbian and/or gay, the queer population in China would be close to 130 million. Even if a quarter of this population identified themselves as lesbians, this would amount to 32 million lesbians in China alone!

Scene and meeting points

Lonely Planet and other travel guides provide little to no coverage on the Beijing lesbian scene, often focusing on Hong Kong or Shanghai instead. To explore the Lala community in Beijing, one would need to rely on insider info.

Nightlife—Top 3 Women’s bars in Beijing:

• Xixiangfang Bar (West Wing Bar): Open daily. Teahouse/Lounge. Courtyard especially recommended in summer. Location: Deshengmen Watch Tower Courtyard, central, close to the Jishuitan subway station, 2nd North-east Ring Road, in the district of Houhai. (Tel +86 10 8208 2836)
• Feng Bar (Pipe Bar): Open Saturdays from 2pm. Young and trendy clientele with dance floor. Location: On Sanlitun Nanmen Road, 100 meters East of the Blue Zoo, Worker’s Stadium South Gate on Gongti Nanlu (Tel+86 10 6593 7756)
• Rainbow Bar (Caihong Bar): Open Fridays. Popular. Location: On Xingbalu (Starbar Street) close to an African bar called Kiri Kiri, off-road from Nurenjie (Women’s Street).

Websites and Meeting points

• China-National Info (in English): http://www.fridae.com/cityguides/ (Details about lesbian bars in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong) ; http://www.utopia-asia.com/womchin.htm (also lists Lesbian hangouts in Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Xian)
• Bejing Info: http://www.lalabar.com—All Events are listed here, but in Chinese.
• Hua Wie Shopping Center (华威购物中心): Daily lesbian meeting point, especially busy on weekends. An absolute hit—where else can one meet over 50 lesbians in a shopping center? Centrally located in Xi Dan. Best way is to look for the Food Mall on the eight floor of the Hua Wie Shopping Centre.

Footnotes

¹http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/asylum/ric/documentation/CHN01001.htm (Reuters 7.7 2000)

Genia Kostka is a PhD Candidate at the Department of International Development. Her research focuses on China, where she lived and undertook fieldwork in some of the more remote and underdeveloped localities.