From classrooms to phone screens to celebrity idols, the Chinese government is tightening its control over Chinese society. As culture reaches a new level of strategic importance, The China Project takes stock of the disparate changes to society in the past few years.
Civil society organizations in China have been on the retreat for some time, and the past year has been particularly hard on LGBTQ groups. Today, one of the country’s most prominent advocates for sexual minorities shut down its online channels.
In China, overt depictions of same-sex relationships are banned from mainstream media platforms. But there’s one space where these stories are allowed to be told.
We sat down with Elizabeth Stride to talk about how drag culture has evolved in China.
LGBTQ+ advocates are celebrating the ruling, but want legislation to secure rights.
There may be no gay marriage in China, but that did not stop a retired professional athlete from posting “wedding photos” to social media, where the response was overwhelmingly positive.
A major university with three campuses in Shanghai is making a list of all “non-heterosexual” students, according to a leaked document. Is the school just worried about collective political organizing, or does it want to police the bedroom too?
Earlier this month, China's do-everything app (which is also a leading social media platform) WeChat permanently suspended the official accounts of more than a dozen LGBTQ+ campus advocacy groups. The move was part of the Chinese state's tightening grip over civil society, but also indicative of a rising backlash toward LGBTQ+ rights within the general population.
One of the few bright spots for civil liberties in China in recent years has been a growing public and official acceptance of the LGBT+ community. But the government now seems determined to put a stop to that.