Gay Chinese take a modest first step towards civil unions

TWO DECADES ago there were no gay men in China. That, at least, was the claim of a senior Chinese official when asked what proportion of his country’s HIV cases involved homosexual transmission. His questioner, a government minister visiting from Britain in 2000, offered her host a wager: £100 that there were, in fact, gay Chinese. “I note that he didn’t take the bet,” the minister scoffed as she related the exchange to a clutch of Beijing-based reporters later that day. The British ambassador, teacup frozen in mid-air, hastily declared the minister’s comments off-the-record.