I called down to the concierge to ask about the gay scene and what bars she could recommend to us. She responded, "In Beijing, it is hidden. Let me check." After several minutes of being on hold, she came back and said, "There are no gay bars that I can recommend." Ralph, who is always able to sniff out a gay bar, found a club called "
Destination." If you go to the
website, you will notice that they never mention that it is a gay club, but refers to itself as "the finest bar venue for the alternative crowd...with a young trendy clientele...that is unique whilst being glamorous, sexy, and fun." Translation=Gay.
Destination is located near the Worker's Stadium, directly across the street from Bellagio's, a hip, trendy, and delicious Taiwanese restaurant where Ralph and I had dinner. Everyone we talked to at Destination told us that it is the only gay club in Beijing worth checking out and warned us not to go to the saunas because they are disgusting. There is an underground gay scene list-serve that sends out weekly email announcements with a different hotel bar where then meet on Thursday nights.
I was suprised to see how little gay activity we found in Beijing. It is not as if homosexuality is new to China. The picture above is from a hand scroll from the Qing dynasty (1700s) showing young men sipping tea, reading poetry, and making love. Hopefully, in a few years, there will be more than one gay bar worth going to in Beijing.
I called down to the concierge to ask about the gay scene and what bars she could recommend to us. She responded, "In Beijing, it is hidden. Let me check." After several minutes of being on hold, she came back and said, "There are no gay bars that I can recommend." Ralph, who is always able to sniff out a gay bar, found a club called "Destination." If you go to the website, you will notice that they never mention that it is a gay club, but refers to itself as "the finest bar venue for the alternative crowd...with a young trendy clientele...that is unique whilst being glamorous, sexy, and fun." Translation=Gay.
Destination is located near the Worker's Stadium, directly across the street from Bellagio's, a hip, trendy, and delicious Taiwanese restaurant where Ralph and I had dinner. Everyone we talked to at Destination told us that it is the only gay club in Beijing worth checking out and warned us not to go to the saunas because they are disgusting. There is an underground gay scene list-serve that sends out weekly email announcements with a different hotel bar where then meet on Thursday nights. 
I was suprised to see how little gay activity we found in Beijing. It is not as if homosexuality is new to China. The picture above is from a hand scroll from the Qing dynasty (1700s) showing young men sipping tea, reading poetry, and making love. Hopefully, in a few years, there will be more than one gay bar worth going to in Beijing.
