The scene in China

[macaroni21]

This is a question for @terper following his reply to @Taikonaut in the thread "First time in Bangkok report!"

Whilst taikonaut asked about KTV bars and WeChat groups, it would be super useful if terper could also describe what the scene is (if any) regarding paid sex venues such as massage parlours and saunas with moneyboys in attendance, in your city where you live. China is a huge country and we will bear in mind that different cities will have different scenes when it comes to physical spaces, not least because of local government controls and market size.

My own long-ago experience with freelance moneyboys in China is that they can get pretty rough over money - something I have not personally experienced in any other Asian country, but something similar to the stories posted about a certain Vietnamese boy from Screw/Good Boy and other stories posted now and then in the Latin America forums. So, even if I were fluent in Chinese, I would still prefer the relative safety of controlled venues.

 

 

[terper]

So, I ignored that part of the comment somewhat deliberately. Nowadays, any kind of large-scale sex venue in China is pretty much dead, be it gay or straight. The problem is mostly that the cities with sex venues are too small to have somewhat of a gay tolerance to have a gay sex scene, but the cities with enough gay tolerance are too big for the scene to develop without being raided. Your best bet would be medium-sized cities like Chengdu, Chongqing, Suzhou, Changsha etc because they're big enough to have a gay scene but not big enough for the local government to really give a shit about policing everything. In larger cities such as Beijing or Shanghai I wouldn't bother outside the mainstream legit gay clubs that already exist, but those aren't necessarily MB places

That's not to say that the scene is non-existent, it definitely isn't! It's just that it's mostly temporary hidden backdoor venues, they're small, non-professional and almost always closes after a few months. That's why I said in that post that your best bet is a local gay friend (a local horny gay friend, preferably haha), they'll probably be more attuned to the ever-changing local scene. Lacking that, twitter is really not that bad of an alternative either, there's pages that updates about the local scenes in cities, SPA pages and such, even if the places suck you can use those to connect to other people and get a better insight into the local scene.

But do keep in mind that most of these places aren't really where MB would hang out, being a MB can send them to administrative detention, and there's no reason for them to risk themselves being arrested if they can simply advertise from the comfort and safety of their own home. Now, these are mostly medium to long term options, they aren't really helpful tips if you're just going on vacation and want something to just pop-in. For that I recommend Blued, it's the go-to gay app in China, but be aware that there's a chinese version that isn't the same as the international one!

And I've never heard of stories such as yours! I think you might've just been insanely unlucky, I never had such a bad experience neither know someone who does. They know that what they're doing is illegal and can get them arrested, it sounds stupid to me for them to cause a ruckus like this. If you stick to the more "professional" ones I think you'll be fine, they don't wanna risk being reported and losing their livelihood for a few bucks. But they don't come cheap! The sweet spot imo is around 2000-3000rmb, it's where you'll find quite amazing boys without overpaying much, but some charge as much as 7000+. I'll write a post about chinese slang and "codenames" to identify a MB and how to book one, but that might take a while to gather the willpower haha

[macaroni21]

That is already very helpful. It explains why things are the way they are. But I am rather shocked at how expensive the MBs are.  Maybe it's the result of increasing wealth, with the rich Chinese now sinfully rich, and the job risk for MBs now such that it has to be factored into pricing.

Way back 20 years ago their price levels weren't much different from Thailand's and there were plenty whom one could pick up from the mid- to lower-end bars. From your report, technology and economic progress have changed everything.

[Verchiele]

I recently saw a news reporting documenting how hard it is to visit China these days with all payments going through WeChat and that there is no Google service in the country including map.  Ticket to Forbidden City need to be bought by an app with Chinesse number

Also, do you know when you visit a hotel in China you have to report yourself to local police in 24 hours? 

 

Report by CNBC 

 

 

 

[10tazione]

I stayed in hotels in China and did not report myself to police and had no issues, although police was checking my passport 1 million times in the vicinity of the Forbidden City.
In Beijing, there are ticket machines in the subway, no need for passport, but at museum sites you need!
Also the Forbidden City has ticket booths. If you are not going in the high season (whenever that is) and you are a bit flexible with the days, you could risk to buy the tickets there. You also can buy the tickets on international websites like klook.com, getyourguide.com, trip.com, but they cost a lot more.

If you use roaming, for example a Thai simcard with a roaming package, international websites/services are not blocked. But even if you can use google maps, it seemed pretty useless to me (not up2date, sites at the wrong place on the map).

Until November 30 some countries, mostly European ones, have visa free entry for 2 weeks.

[sydneyboy1]

On 9/4/2024 at 11:18 AM, macaroni21 said:

This is a question for @terper following his reply to @Taikonaut in the thread "First time in Bangkok report!"

Whilst taikonaut asked about KTV bars and WeChat groups, it would be super useful if terper could also describe what the scene is (if any) regarding paid sex venues such as massage parlours and saunas with moneyboys in attendance, in your city where you live. China is a huge country and we will bear in mind that different cities will have different scenes when it comes to physical spaces, not least because of local government controls and market size.

My own long-ago experience with freelance moneyboys in China is that they can get pretty rough over money - something I have not personally experienced in any other Asian country, but something similar to the stories posted about a certain Vietnamese boy from Screw/Good Boy and other stories posted now and then in the Latin America forums. So, even if I were fluent in Chinese, I would still prefer the relative safety of controlled venues.

 

 

Could you please elaborate on the Vietnamese boy at the Screw/Good Boy?

[macaroni21]

11 hours ago, sydneyboy1 said:

Could you please elaborate on the Vietnamese boy at the Screw/Good Boy?

It's a report from @Daniu dated 6 August 2024. Link here: 

It's a long post, but the relevant passage that Daniu wrote was this:

"I ended up leaving and going back to Good Boy to get the other guy who caught my eye the day before. ....

"There was a particularly pretty Vietnamese guy. As we walked, he bragged about how he was the #1 boy in the bar. (I should have known then.) He acted like a boy who knew he was pretty. He did everything enough but he didn’t sufficiently hide that they were just going though the motions. Unfortunately, he didn’t seem to really clean his ass, and things didn’t go well. After a clean up we got back to it, and he wasn’t really taking dick well, so I ended up finishing myself. My mistake was that we hadn’t agreed to a price before we left the bar, so I assumed it would be 2000-2500, which is their normal rate. As soon as I gave him 2500 he seemed disappointed, he started demanding an extra 500 because I was too big. Then he somehow started demanding an extra 1000. I held firm because I knew I was already paying enough, and to be honest the service wasn’t really great."

I think there have been otherr mentions too (may not be the same boy), but those would have been further back in time, because when I read what Daniu wrote, I got a sense of deja vu, like someone else had earlier reported a very similar incident.

[sasoon807]

On 9/8/2024 at 12:32 PM, Verchiele said:

I recently saw a news reporting documenting how hard it is to visit China these days with all payments going through WeChat and that there is no Google service in the country including map.  Ticket to Forbidden City need to be bought by an app with Chinesse number

Also, do you know when you visit a hotel in China you have to report yourself to local police in 24 hours? 

 

Report by CNBC 

 

 

 

Regarding the registration with local police station. The hotel will do this during the check-in process by scanning your passport with a dedicated device which transmits the required data to local police. As such you don't need to take any action in this regard.

Some years ago it was not uncommon (and maybe still is in some places) that small/local hotels or ones in smaller cities did not accept guests with foreign passports. Main reason for this is that they lacked the device to electronically register foreigners with the police station.

[Moses]

On 9/8/2024 at 7:32 AM, Verchiele said:

Also, do you know when you visit a hotel in China you have to report yourself to local police in 24 hours? 

Wrong. 

You have do nothing - hotel will do it for you. The only difference with Thailand is - in Thailand you may book and live in any hotel and hotel will register you in police (that why they make copy of your passport) , in China you'll be accepted only in dedicated hotels what have license to serve foreign guests.

[floridarob]

On 12/1/2024 at 11:32 AM, Moses said:

in China you'll be accepted only in dedicated hotels what have license to serve foreign guests.

There have been reports of some Hilton branded properties not being able to accept foreign guests, which is weird for a western flagged property.