Chinese LGBTQ+ emigres look to build a new life In Bangkok

[reader]

From LA Times

By Stephanie Yang

BANGKOK, Thailand —  

In 2019, business was booming for Owen Zhu. He was one year into his new career in real estate, showing Bangkok properties to Chinese investors.

Then the pandemic halted travel and spending. Even now, Chinese buyers are slow to return.

The exception has been one group that has since become Zhu’s specialty: LGBTQ+ clients looking to build a new life for themselves outside China.

“Most of them are buying to live in or to retire in — not like many straight people or friends, who are prioritizing investments,” Zhu, 40, said.

Before the pandemic, Zhu estimates, about one-fourth of his clients were LGBTQ+. Now they make up two-thirds of his customer base.

As China has clamped down on queer representation and advocacy, Bangkok, long the “gay capital” of Asia, has offered visitors a reprieve from the conservative culture back home.

Here, the thriving nightlife of gay bars and clubs draws many potential buyers to look for apartments near the city center, Zhu said.

Zhu, who is also gay and from China, bought an apartment in Bangkok in 2017 for his eventual retirement. As friends started asking his advice on how to make their own purchases, he quit his job in Chinese media to help them find properties full time.

As his clientele has changed, so has Zhu’s marketing on Chinese social media. In between property listings, he now shares updates on efforts to legalize same-sex marriage and surrogacy in Thailand.

With demand growing, Zhu said he hopes to start a housing complex catering to gay Chinese in the next few years.

Continues at

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-05-30/chinese-lgbt-emigrants-thailand

 

[Keithambrose]

5 hours ago, reader said:

From LA Times

By Stephanie Yang

BANGKOK, Thailand —  

In 2019, business was booming for Owen Zhu. He was one year into his new career in real estate, showing Bangkok properties to Chinese investors.

Then the pandemic halted travel and spending. Even now, Chinese buyers are slow to return.

The exception has been one group that has since become Zhu’s specialty: LGBTQ+ clients looking to build a new life for themselves outside China.

“Most of them are buying to live in or to retire in — not like many straight people or friends, who are prioritizing investments,” Zhu, 40, said.

Before the pandemic, Zhu estimates, about one-fourth of his clients were LGBTQ+. Now they make up two-thirds of his customer base.

As China has clamped down on queer representation and advocacy, Bangkok, long the “gay capital” of Asia, has offered visitors a reprieve from the conservative culture back home.

Here, the thriving nightlife of gay bars and clubs draws many potential buyers to look for apartments near the city center, Zhu said.

Zhu, who is also gay and from China, bought an apartment in Bangkok in 2017 for his eventual retirement. As friends started asking his advice on how to make their own purchases, he quit his job in Chinese media to help them find properties full time.

As his clientele has changed, so has Zhu’s marketing on Chinese social media. In between property listings, he now shares updates on efforts to legalize same-sex marriage and surrogacy in Thailand.

With demand growing, Zhu said he hopes to start a housing complex catering to gay Chinese in the next few years.

Continues at

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-05-30/chinese-lgbt-emigrants-thailand

 

Good luck to him. New Gay permanent residents must be a good thing, I would say!

[reader]

Agree. And kudos to LA Times for interesting and well-developed article with some good photography.

[buttercawan]

Guessed for them, Thailand is the next best thing since Taiwan is out.