Short version: Shanghai has been China's most cosmopolitan city for a century, and its queer life has always tracked that openness — flamboyant in the Jazz Age, invisible mid-century, first out of the gate after reform, and now flourishing quietly behind unmarked doors. Knowing the arc makes today's scene make sense.

In this series: A Queer History of Beijing and How Chengdu Became “Gaydu”.

The Jazz Age: a city that looked away, gladly

Between the wars, treaty-port Shanghai was Asia's most permissive metropolis — a city of cabarets, dance halls, White Russian émigrés, and moral codes that stopped at the edge of the International Settlement. Queer life thrived in that looseness, not as an organised community but as part of the general glamorous blur: male opera stars with devoted male followings, dance hosts, discreet salons in the French Concession. The tolerance was real but conditional — a function of the city's chaos rather than its principles. That pattern, openness by omission, recurs throughout Shanghai's queer story.

The long quiet

After 1949 that world shut down along with the cabarets themselves. For four decades queer life across China survived in parks, public bathhouses and coded friendships — everywhere and nowhere. Two legal milestones ended the era on paper: homosexuality was effectively decriminalised in 1997 with the removal of the "hooliganism" statute, and in 2001 it was removed from the official list of mental disorders. Neither made headlines in Shanghai; both made the 2000s possible.

The 2000s: first out of the gate

As China opened, Shanghai's scene professionalised fastest. Proper gay bars appeared around the French Concession and Jing'an — including Eddy's, which grew into one of Asia's longest-running gay bars — and in 2009 the city hosted ShanghaiPRIDE, mainland China's first and only sustained Pride festival: film screenings, panels, parties, everything except a street parade, which was never permitted. For over a decade it made Shanghai the visible face of queer China.

2020: the exhale

In August 2020 ShanghaiPRIDE announced it was cancelling all future events — "taking a break", in its own careful words — part of a broader narrowing of space for LGBTQ+ organising nationwide. The bars that depended on visibility suffered; the scene didn't die, it changed shape. Parties became pop-ups announced in WeChat groups; venues went unmarked; the community got better at being findable to its own and invisible to everyone else.

Now: the city that exhales

Today's gay Shanghai is smaller-fronted and warmer-cored than its 2015 peak — rooftop pre-drinks in the Concession, a handful of enduring bars, saunas that have outlasted every trend, and a social scene that runs on introductions. We've written a full first-hand portrait in Gay Shanghai: The City That Exhales, and the practical layer — bars, saunas, where to stay — lives on our Shanghai city guide. History's lesson for the visitor: the scene is always there; the front door just moves.

Frequently Asked Questions

Was homosexuality ever illegal in China?
There was never a statute naming homosexuality, but until 1997 the vague crime of 'hooliganism' was used against gay men. Its removal that year is generally treated as decriminalisation, and in 2001 homosexuality was removed from China's official list of mental disorders.
What was ShanghaiPRIDE?
Mainland China's first and longest-running Pride festival, held annually from 2009 — film festivals, art, panels and parties, though never a street parade. In August 2020 the organisers announced they were cancelling all future events, and it has not returned.
Is there still a gay neighbourhood in Shanghai?
Not a labelled one. The former French Concession remains the scene's centre of gravity — bars, cafés and parties cluster there — but venues are low-signage and the real map lives in WeChat groups. Our Shanghai guide keeps the current version.
Is Shanghai still worth visiting for the scene?
Yes — it's subtler than Bangkok or Taipei, but the city's cosmopolitan streak is intact, the venues that survived are the good ones, and the brunch-to-rooftop-to-late-bar arc of a Shanghai weekend is still one of Asia's great gay city breaks.