The LGBT guide to Shanghai - seven places to go in Pride week, and any time, to tap into social scene in China’s biggest city
In the third of our LGBT city guides, we uncover the best gay-friendly hangouts ahead of the annual Pride celebration in Shanghai and talk to locals about the social scene there
For a city with more than 24 million inhabitants, Shanghai’s LGBT social scene is small and scattered, but this just makes the community friendlier and more unified, especially during June’s annual Shanghai Pride (shpride.com) event.
As it’s held under the watchful eye of the local government, co-founder Charlene Liu and her volunteer team have to be creative in programming the celebrations.
“We’re not really allowed to parade; it’s China and there are cultural and political reasons,” she says.
“Each country has its own culture and methods, and we realised there are other ways we can show visibility and send a message. So we had the idea of a Pride Run, because it still means we’re out on the streets.”
The first Shanghai Pride event was in 2009.
“We didn’t know what to expect,” says Liu, who’s from Malaysia. “But afterwards we got so much amazing feedback from people discovering the community, coming out and finding love, that we knew we had to continue.”