Gay China, Taiwan, Hong Kong & Macau

From Channel News Asia TAIPEI: Taiwan will resume visa free entry for visitors from countries including the United States and Canada from next week, the government said on Monday (Sep 5), as it continues to ease controls put in place to contain the spread of COVID-19. Taiwan had kept its entry and quarantine rules in place as large parts of the rest of Asia have relaxed or lifted them completely, though in June it cut the number of days spent in isolation for arrivals to three from seven previously. Taiwan has reported more than 5.3 million domestic cases since the beginning of the year, driven by the more infectious Omicron variant. But with more than 99 p…

From Channel News Asia HONG KONG: Hong Kong will shorten mandatory hotel quarantine for passenger flight crews to three days from seven, while cargo crews will be exempt, modest steps at unwinding coronavirus curbs that have turned the city into one of the world's most isolated places. The changes, which take effect in May, give the global financial hub's aviation trade and logistics industries "much-needed survival space", the government said in a statement on Friday (Apr 29). Hong Kong said it was also lifting an outbound travel alert on overseas countries from May, more than two years after it was first implemented in March 2020. "The epidemic situ…

From South China Morning Post HONG KONG: All incoming travellers from overseas must complete their Covid-19 health declaration online from Thursday before flying into Hong Kong under a new requirement by the government to speed up processing at the airport. Under a trial scheme announced on Sunday, arrivals will have to complete a declaration form on the Department of Health's website to obtain a QR code before boarding their flights. While the declaration system has been in place since June 2020, a government spokesman noted that some people only logged on to register upon arriving in Hong Kong. "[It] may hinder others, who have valid health declarati…

From Bangkok Post HONG KONG: When Jasmine Lau received an email from Cathay Pacific Airways last month asking if she wanted to return to her old job as a flight attendant, she contemplated the proposition, but eventually decided against applying. Almost two years after being laid off from the airline's now-defunct subsidiary Cathay Dragon, the Hong Konger, who is in her 30s, is now working as an administrative officer in a bank. "All my friends, we changed careers and now we are getting used to the new job and we don't want to go back to something that is not secure and not stable," said Lau, referring to herself and her flight attendant friends from Catha…

From Channel News Asia HONG KONG: Hong Kong is set to resume international flights from the United States, Britain and seven other countries, the government said Monday (Mar 21) as it announced a loosening of some of the world's toughest COVID-19 restrictions. The quarantine period for arrivals from abroad will also be reduced to seven days. The flight bans, known as a "circuit breaker", would be lifted from Apr 1. These were put in place after the highly transmissible Omicron variant emerged in January, with the restrictions initially covering eight countries deemed high-risk - Australia, United States, Britain, Canada, France and India, Pakistan and …

Commentary from Channel News Asia LONDON: Hong Kong’s airport has been a spooky place through much of the pandemic as traveller numbers have dwindled, leaving cavernous arrival halls devoid of their usual bustle. The rest of the world is now opening up to international travel but in Hong Kong, which has some of the toughest COVID-19 quarantines in the world, the airport remains largely empty of incoming passengers. The city has for many years claimed the title of the busiest airport in Asia and is set up as a vital air bridge to the rest of the Asia Pacific for those coming from Europe, and a passage for business travellers into south China, the country’s e…

From South China Morning Post / BP HONG KONG: Multiple teams in China are studying how to improve the country's anti-pandemic policies, as economic pressure from its zero-Covid approach intensifies, according to one of the nation's most prominent epidemiologists. Wu Zunyou, chief epidemiologist with the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, said researchers were "certainly able" to roll out new strategies in the near term, while noting they were "actively thinking and planning". Improved control measures would differ from the current "dynamic clearing" policy, but China is unlikely to simply lift all restrictions as some Western countries have …

From Channel News Asia BEIJING: He's the only one who can top Beijing's Winter Olympics mascot "Bing Dwen Dwen" in a popularity match. Japan's star figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, still hidden from public view but finally confirmed to be in Beijing, has become the top trend on China's social media site Weibo, outdoing the country's most-sought-after mascot in its native land. After keeping fans and journalists on tenterhooks for days, the Japanese Olympic Committee said the twice Olympic champion arrived in Beijing on Sunday (Feb 6), though he would not be appearing in front of media. His arrival set off news flashes, while the Olympics' official Twi…

Until last Saturday, anyone wanting to visit Hong Kong including Hong Kong residents had to go into a 3 week quarantine programme to which was added a 1 week period of "observation". Unsurprisingly, visitor numbers and even those with family members in Hong Kong have stayed away in droves. Last Saturday the 3-week quarantine was reduced to 2, but I know several people who have been desperate to return to their businesses for many months but refuse to do so until the quarantine period is relaxed. The irony is that despite such strict quarantine, numbers of new cases reached their highest levels yesterday since the pandemic began. Some mild, asymptomatic or vaccinated …

From South China Morning Post / BP HONG KONG: China is unlikely to ease pandemic-related border controls any time soon, despite mounting calls from an international community shut out by strict zero-Covid rules for nearly two years. The National Immigration Administration hinted as much on Thursday, as a spokesman called on people to reduce cross-border activities this year if the trip was "not urgent, not necessary". "The pandemic has not been brought under control in foreign countries. It remains a challenging job for China to prevent imported cases," spokesman Chen Jie told a press conference in Beijing. Continues at https://www.bangkokpost.com…

From Channel News Asia There’s a reason why China exists inside its own bubble but how long can it hold out as the rest of the world slowly open their borders, asks an observer. HONG KONG: What is normal in a post-pandemic world? How can the idea of a return to a normal state of affairs be articulated and realised by a state? The answers to these questions depends what country you are talking about. At present China equates a return to normal with zero COVID-19 cases, where China is safe from imported cases of the virus and where its population is protected from local transmissions. To achieve this, China has locked itself away from most of the…

From Channel News Asia TAIPEI: The situation in the Taiwan Strait is "complex and grim", Chinese President Xi Jinping wrote in a congratulatory letter on Sunday (Sep 26) to the newly elected leader of Taiwan's main opposition party, who has pledged to renew talks with Beijing. Taiwan's Kuomintang (KMT) elected as their leader on Saturday former New Taipei City mayor Eric Chu, who said he would rekindle stalled high-level contacts with China's ruling Communist Party. China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has stepped up military and political pressure to force the island to accept Chinese sovereignty, even though most Taiwanese have shown no interest i…

The international Gay Games scheduled for 2022 in Hong Kong have been postponed by a year to November 2023. The pandemic and Hong Kong's very strict quarantine regulations are blamed for the year's delay. Even fully vaccinated Hong Kong residents have to spend 21 days in a quarantine hotel if they come from high risk countries. “We want to make sure that everyone is able to come to the event,” Gay games founder and co-chair Dennis Philipse told HKFP. “We cannot be in a bubble event, people cannot be in quarantine for 21 days.” The Games will be the first to be held in Asia. Organisers won the bid to hold the Games in Hong Kong in 2017. They were expected to hav…

From AFP / Channel News Asia BEIJING: Chinese authorities have ordered gaming giants Tencent and NetEase to end their focus on profits and cut content perceived to be breeding "effeminacy", as Beijing tries to direct youth culture, gender ideals and the reach of big tech. The move is the latest by authorities to tighten their grip on the embattled technology sector, and sent shares in some of the industry's biggest names plunging. Officials on Wednesday (Sep 9) summoned gaming enterprises including Tencent and NetEase, the two market leaders in China's multibillion-dollar gaming scene, to discuss further curbs on the industry, which has already been ordered…

BEIJING: China banned reality talent programmes Thursday and ordered broadcasters to promote more masculine representations of men, in a wide-ranging crackdown on "immoral" pop culture Beijing believes is leading young people astray. Talent shows that put hundreds of aspiring young performers through rigorous boot camps and subject them to public votes have become massively popular in China, sparking criticism over obsessive fans and poor role models. Broadcast and TV institutions must not screen idol development programmes or variety shows and reality shows," China's broadcast regulator, the National Radio and Television Administration said, in a raft of new re…

I am thinking of going for 2 months to Shanghai at the end of 2016. I am excited about the trip as I have been to the city before but have not spent a great deal of time there. Any suggestion of places to go? things to see? where to meet gay boys?

From Variety / MSN %7B%7B © Totem Films C.B. Yi’s Un Certain Regard title “Moneyboys” is a moving exploration of Chinese rural-to-urban migration that feels authentically emotional despite being peppered with incongruous moments and details. The film follows Fei (Kai Ko), who moves from the countryside to different Chinese megacities to support his family as a hustler. When he realizes that they accept his money but not his homosexuality, their relationship breaks down. Although set in China, “Moneyboys” was filmed entirely in Taiwan. Linguistic inconsistencies also rear their head u…

From Channel News Asia BEIJING: Multiple social media accounts belonging to major university lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights groups in China have been blocked from the popular WeChat app, prompting fears of targeted censorship and calls on Wednesday (Jul 7) for an online protest. The WeChat pages of groups, including Huazhong University of Science and Technology Gay Pride and Peking University's ColorsWorld, had their past posts scrubbed and replaced with a notice stating: "All content has been blocked and the use of the account has been stopped" for violations of unspecified social media regulations. The brief notices said that WeChat …

From Channel News Asia TAIPEI: Hundreds of people from Taiwan eager to get the COVID-19 vaccine have booked tours to Guam after the US Pacific territory offered jabs to foreign visitors, a travel agency said on Friday (Jul 2). Guam, for which tourism is a major economic driver, has limited COVID-19 infections and a high vaccination rate among its local population. Dubbed "Air V&V" - vacation and vaccination - the new programme is primarily aimed at US expatriates in the Asia Pacific region, although other nationalities can join. Participants can choose between the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines. Of the three, onl…

Hong Kong is to ban all flights from the UK to curb the spread of the Delta variant of Covid. The UK is to be classified as an "extremely high-risk" country, the highest rating Hong Kong has for pandemic travel. The ban will come into effect on 1 July and affect all incoming passenger flights from Britain. It also comes amid political tensions between China and the west over a crackdown on dissent in Hong Kong. The ban means people who'd recently spent more than two hours in Britain wouldn't be allowed to board flights to Hong Kong from any airport. The city's authorities said the deci…

From Channel News Asia The Hong Kong High Court's landmark ruling allows same-sex couples to now co-own subsidised housing AFP/Philip FONG HONG KONG: Married same-sex partners will be allowed to own subsidised housing together in Hong Kong after a landmark High Court ruling on Friday (Jun 25), a major stride for LGBT rights in the financial hub. Hong Kong does not recognise same-sex marriage but individual couples can challenge discriminatory policies in court. Hong Kong's subsidised housing policies, which do not acknowledge same-sex partners as a tenant's family member, "constitute unlawful discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation", t…

From Taiwan News AIPEI (Taiwan News) — The U.S. donation of 2.5 million Moderna vaccine doses arrived at Taoyuan International Airport at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday (June 20), CNA reported. American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen and Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) head Chen Shih-chung (陳時中) were both at the airport to greet the arrival of the vaccines. After the completion of the customs procedure, the vaccines were sent to a cold-storage warehouse for testing and sealing. The AIT announced the donation in a Facebook post on Saturday night, writing, “The shipment includes the 750,000 doses announced on June 6, and an additiona…

From Channel News Asia TAIPEI: Taiwan's capital on Friday (May 14) announced an indefinite closure of entertainment venues in the wake of a widening outbreak of local COVID-19 infections. The self-ruled island has been hailed as a global leader in containing the COVID-19 pandemic, with just 1,290 confirmed cases, 12 deaths and minimal social distancing needed once the initial outbreak was quelled. But an outbreak first detected among pilots has spread into the community and forced the reimposition of restrictions in a place that has so far weathered the pandemic unscathed. The Taipei city government's decision, effective from Saturday, covers bars, dan…

From Channel News Asia TAIPEI: Taiwan will quarantine all pilots for its largest carrier China Airlines for 14 days as it tries to stop an outbreak of COVID-19 among its crew, effectively grounding the airline, the health minister said on Monday (May 10). While Taiwan has generally kept the pandemic well under control due to early prevention with only sporadic domestic cases, since last month it has been dealing with an outbreak linked to China Airlines pilots and an airport hotel where many of them stayed. There have been 35 confirmed infections so far in the outbreak. Health Minister Chen Shih-chung told reporters the only way to break what they believe i…