With one of the world’s largest LGBTQ populations, China has many social apps to meet the varying needs of the community. Homosexuality is legal in the country, but LGBTQ people have no access to many legal rights such as marriage and discrimination protection. However, those social apps often provide a much-needed space for the community.

This list is an update to TechNode’s similar compilation five years ago. We’ve seen considerable changes in China’s LGBTQ online social market in the past five years. Some apps have stopped operations; others paused for a while but managed to come back with new brandings. 

Blued

Launched in 2012, Blued is a dating app primarily for gay users. The app is available in 13 languages with over 60 million registered users in 2020, according to its official website.

Similar to Grindr, Blued helps users find interesting matches nearby. In 2016, the app introduced a live streaming feature, and within two days of launching, the feature brought in over RMB 100,000 ($14,306) in income, Chinese media outlet 36Kr reported (in Chinese).

The app launched a “Community” feature in 2020, allowing users to build deeper connections through group chat functions.

Blued is owned by BlueCity, a Chinese tech firm that focuses on LGBTQ+ users. The firm went public on Nasdaq in 2020. However, the firm has a hard time turning a profit. Its net loss has expanded 39.5% year-on-year to RMB 309.6 million in 2021 due to local regulations and other factors, according to the company’s financial report. BlueCity is also in the process of going private, according to a company statement sent to TechNode.

Finka (Aloha)

Finka (formerly known as Aloha) is a Tinder-like dating app for gay users. Like Tinder, users can choose to like, dislike, or pass on algorithm-generated recommendations. Matched users can chat privately. Finka also offers live streaming features.

Compared to Blued, Finka focuses more on young users. The app has a youthful user interface, allowing users to upload more profile pictures than Blued.

The app is developed by Beijing Asphere Interactive Network Technology and acquired by BlueCity (in Chinese) in 2020 for RMB 240 million, 36Kr reported.

According to Qimai Data (in Chinese), the app began to trend upwards from the end of 2020, as its downloads grew threefold to 47,628 in December compared to numbers from November. In May of this year, the app had 90,948 downloads in App Store’s China mainland region.

the L (Rela)

Launched in 2012, the L (formerly known as Rela) is a social platform for lesbian and bisexual female users. Unlike traditional dating apps, the L offers an Instagram-like social platform. Users can post and react to other users’ posts in the app, offering a deeper social experience.

The app also features a public voice chatroom section, with users able to talk together about a variety of topics under labels like dating, gaming, and casual chatting, similar to the model used by social audio companies like Clubhouse.

Chinese startup Hangzhou Rilan Technology developed Rela, which was banned and pulled off from all app stores in June 2021 due to unknown reasons. Seven months later, the app came back online with new branding.

LesPark

LesPark is another dating app used by lesbians in China. It uses a model similar to Tinder and Finka. According to its official website, the app has over 12 million users globally. 

The app generally has a lot of the common dating app features, like speed matching, group chat, voice chat, live streaming, and an open platform for posts. One of the standout components of LesPark is the ability for users to start a random chat with strangers.

Qingyuan Park Culture of Media, a Guangdong-based company established in 2017, owns the app.  It also owns another reading app called Ji Hua Le Du featuring mostly lesbian-themed writings.

Douban

As one of China’s most respected book and movie review platforms, people usually don’t think of Douban as a dating platform. But over the years, the site has quietly become a go-to place for many LGBTQ+ members, especially lesbians, to find friends, thanks to Douban’s openness and friendly attitude towards the community.

The app combines book, film, and music reviews with a Reddit-like community, offering group functions for all kinds of interests and social activities. Many Douban users often post their profiles and seek dates and friends on LGBTQ+ groups.

For example, the largest lesbian group on Douban has 69,151 members. Douban also has a diverse range of lesbian groups, some are location-focused, and others focus on more specific topics. The site has no English language versions, so it’s usually catered to Chinese-language users.

For more than a decade, Wayne Lin, a 42-year-old Taiwanese software engineer living in Taipei, had stayed in the closet at work. It was not until this year that Lin began feeling more comfortable talking about his sexuality with his colleagues.

“I was worried that my sexual orientation may somehow reflect negatively on or interfere with work,” said Lin, who works as a manager at one of Taiwan’s largest telcos, “but I’m now more confident about where I’m at with my career.”

Last Saturday (October 27), around 137,000 people took to the streets of Taipei, waving rainbow flags to the beat of loud music, at the city’s annual Gay Pride parade—the biggest pride celebration in Asia. In 2017, some 110,000 people participated, according to organizers. 

Yet even as Taiwan is seen as more progressive and liberal compared with mainland China and Japan, many companies still struggle to embrace diversity. This is especially true for companies in the country’s tech sector. 

Among tech workers in Taiwan, Lin is among the lucky ones. He has spent most of his career working for operations of large global tech companies such as Microsoft, most of whom typically have established diversity policies designed to treat LGBT employees fairly.

For many who work for local Taiwanese companies, that’s not the case. Some say that if Taiwan wants to maintain its competitive advantage in terms of attracting and keeping tech talent, it will need to make sure that, at the very least, it can offer work environments that are more welcoming to minorities, including sexual minorities.

Uphill battle

An online survey conducted by Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association in 2016 found that more than 40% of the 865 respondents believe their sexual orientation could affect their career. (The word tongzhi in Chinese originally meant “comrade,” but is now sometimes applied to refer to gay people.)

Coming out in Taiwan’s largely conservative tech industry is even more daunting, the survey shows. Only one-third of respondents who work in tech-related fields said they had come out at work—which is the lowest of all compared with to other industries and significantly below the overall average of just over 51%.

Since Taiwan made big strides toward marriage equality in May 2017—the highest court ruled that preventing same-sex marriage is unconstitutional—the issue of LGBT rights has garnered international attention. However, while the legalization of same-sex marriage is closer to reality, it’s not a done deal. Earlier this month, three anti-marriage equality referendums were approved by the Central Election Committee, which will go to the vote next month.

LGBT-inclusive workplace environments and policies have shown to be an effective way to attract and retain talent and increase a company’s overall competitiveness. A report by global non-profit think tank Center for Talent Innovation found that 72% of non-LGBT respondents who support and advocate for equal rights said they are more likely to accept a job at a company that’s supportive of LGBT employees.

Taiwan—currently ranked third in the world for talent shortage with 78% of companies in Taiwan reported having difficulties in recruiting—can choose to ignore that trend at its own peril.

Marvin Ma, one of the campaigners at this year’s Gay Pride parade in Taipei, and the public affairs manager of Airbnb, told TechNode that the tech industry is still very male-dominated and his company has been trying to increase diversity with its new hires through bringing in people of different races, genders, and sexual orientations.

“Millennials and creative individuals value diversity and inclusivity in the workplace,” said Ma. “If the work environment can ensure that, then it will give the company a competitive advantage in recruiting young talented people.” 

Another marcher at the parade, Malcolm Rix, says “at the end of the day, if companies promote a positive workplace environment, it’s good for business.” Rix is originally from the UK but has been living in Taiwan for the past 15 years. He now works for HP as a senior program manager.

Rix told TechNode his company has non-discrimination policies that apply to minority groups—women, LGBT, people with disabilities—and it serves as a means to attract them into the workplace. “They can pick the best people from everywhere,” said Rix, “it doesn’t matter if you’re gay or straight or man or woman, the question is whether you can do the job.”

Foreign tech companies are contributing significant fuel to push ahead the LGBT movement in Taiwan, and many representatives from these companies turned up to march alongside LGBT people at the parade.

Taiwanese tech corporates, by comparison, seem to be dragging their feet.

“Whenever I hear about global companies proclaiming their support for the LGBT community, whether it is their inclusive workplace culture or LGBT-inclusive policies, it’s quite conceivable,” Dai You-xun, the coordinator of Taipei Pride Parade, told TechNode. “But in Taiwan, it’s not the same.”

Typically in Taiwan, workplace culture and its views on high-profile issues like same-sex marriage are dictated by “those who sit at the top,” said Dai.

Speaking of his own experience of working with tech companies on the parade, Dai noted that often these partnerships advance at a slow pace with incremental progress. LGBT advocacy efforts or sponsorship are, in many cases, initiated by the employees rather than the those in the leadership position. In Taiwan, where corporate culture is typically rigid and top-down hierarchies are still very much ingrained, such an endeavor is very difficult, he said. 

On top of the broader corporate environment, there is usually a clear separation between work and life where private matters like sexuality are rarely brought up at workplaces, said another member of the Taiwan gay community who declined to be named as he’s not out to his family. 

What’s worrisome for Dai is that dividing issues like same-sex marriage and equal rights are not spoken about often, if at all, in workplaces. If the groups’ needs are not being voiced and communicated to their employers, Dai said, Taiwanese companies would see little value in providing the support and implementing the policies that extend to LGBT groups.

Taiwan’s tech industry is largely dominated by hardware and electronics manufacturing companies. “A lot of the electronics manufacturers and chipmakers are not consumer-facing but rather more business-facing, so they may not feel as much pressure or need to promote their corporate image around issues like LGBT rights,” said Ho Jen-Hsuan, a Taiwanese engineer who now works for Dutch semiconductor company ASML in the Netherlands.

Ho said that this is why companies in finance and consumer goods are generally quicker to take a stance and express their stand on these issues.

LGBT in emerging tech

Even though in Taiwan’s tech industry diversity may be falling short, there are glimmers of hope. Abbygail Wu, an information security engineer and a blockchain specialist living in Taipei told TechNode that in her field, LGBT workers are less discriminated against.

In 2008, Wu came out as a transgender when she was still in high school after almost taking her own life. Over the past 6 years, Wu worked in a number of tech startups in Taipei. There haven’t been many negative experiences at work that really stood out “except for occasional verbal teasing about bathroom use,” Wu said in a casual tone.

Other transgender people who work in the hardware sector encounter much more hurdles, she added. 

Wu also noted that she always makes sure to screen potential employers for red-flags like asking odd questions during the interview or having opinions about on her long hair and gender.

As stereotypes persist, suicide rate for transgender in Taiwan is high and as many as 50% of transgender are unemployed or working temporary jobs. “Just as the saying goes ‘the devil is always hiding in the details,’ discrimination is always under the table,” Wu said.

Wu and her partner founded a non-profit organization five years ago dedicated to provide transgender people with the support and resources they need and help fight for fairer treatment at work.

While foreign companies are the ones taking more prominent roles in promoting inclusive workplace culture and policies, they set the tone for local companies as they slowly come to recognize the importance of diversity in the workplace and recruitment practices.

“LGBT is only part of a wider community of minorities,” said Ho, the R&D engineer. “A company that is LGBT-friendly, means that it embraces diversity.” 

If you can’t see anything, try QQ video instead.

On a Friday night in Beijing, You Yi, a gay volunteer at PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) China, was ready to go live online to talk about sexual identity and share his experience of coming out to his family.

“By doing live streaming, we hope to tell everyone what homosexuality is really about,” You Yi told TechNode.

In the hope of advising more confused and struggling parents and children, PFLAG China, a non-profit organization aiming to serve the LGBT community in the country, began broadcasting live online in August. Volunteers share their coming-out stories, give suggestions and educate the audience about HIV, sexual knowledge, sexual identity, expression and sexual orientation—hoping to eliminate misconceptions from the general public about the LGBT community as well as misunderstandings within the community.

“We invite parents who have gay children to share their stories,” said Flora, the head of volunteer management at PFLAG China. “They would talk about how they first reacted when their children came out to them and how they coped with it.”

Often times, the nature of live streaming—real-time audience interaction—brings in the most exciting discussions. “Sometimes people don’t care what our theme (of the live streaming) is,” said Flora. “They would just throw in random questions like ‘I’m falling for a straight guy but I’m a gay man, what should I do?’ or ‘I just came out to my parents and they were furious, what should I do?’”

Aside from going live on LGBT dating apps like Blued and LesPark, PFLAG also broadcasts on Yizhibo—the live streaming platform that serves a broader audience base rather than just the gay community.

“Even though we may not get that much interaction on Yizhibo, we think it’s an important platform for the general public to get to know us more,” said Flora.

Despite the vibrant LGBT app scene in China, it hasn’t been a smooth sailing for PFALG since starting to do live streaming, especially when the authorities released regulations last year to ban portrayal of homosexual relationships on television dramas and web series (in Chinese). PFLAG’s accounts on some live streaming platforms have once been suspended due to the “sensitive” online discussions during live streaming.

“We’d avoid saying highly sensitive terms like ‘tongxinglian (homosexuality, 同性恋 in Chinese)’ and instead say ‘tongzhi (slang for homosexuality, 同志 in Chinese)’ or ‘LGBT’ or ‘sexual minorities’ during live streaming,” said Flora.

Even though the organization’s online activities have come under scrutiny, the live chats seem to be quite popular online. As of the end of October, the total views of the live stream and playbacks on Yizhibo exceeded 1 million since starting out in August. The number of real-time viewers, on the other hand, vary from video to video, but there was one live stream in October that drew in over 71,000 real-time watchers during the live streaming.

“We find live streaming the best way to promote information related to LGBT,” said Flora. “It’s very helpful especially when we’re doing advocacy work and hoping to change how people see the sexual minorities.”

Xiaohun, a gay KOL (key opinion leader) from China, runs a successful WeChat official account dedicated to the LGBT community in China. Starting in June 2015, he now has over 20,000 followers on WeChat. He mostly writes about same-sex marriage, equality, and sometimes he shares his life in a rural island in Fujian Province, where he lives together with his boyfriend.

If you can’t see anything, try iQiyi instead.

Once Xiaohun learned that  Gay Pride would take place at the end of October, he knew that he had to go—with his boyfriend.

“We’ve never been to a gay pride parade before, so I asked around on my WeChat official account,” Xiaohun told TechNode. “I received lots of comments. Some said we could meet up here at the parade, so I created a group and chatted on and off.”

For Xiaohun, the WeChat official account isn’t just a place to post personal photos and diaries but serves as a platform for the underserved LGBT community in China.

“In the past, gay people didn’t have their own platform,” he said. “Now that we have WeChat official accounts, we can report on our own stories by ourselves. I’m the reporter who reports on myself.”

As a KOL, Xiaohun has to put himself in the spotlight and often times shares his personal stories as a gay man. “I’ve come out to my colleagues and parents when I started to write,” he said. “I had no concerns, and could just write whatever I want.”

“I got thousands of followers in the first month—way faster than I expected,” said Xiaohun, adding that WeChat, as a platform, is a good place for the LGBT community to exchange information.

Believe it or not, China has a vibrant LGBT app scene where a number of dating apps are serving the estimated tens of millions of people in the LGBT community in China. Even though the authorities have released regulations in 2016 to ban portrayal of homosexual relationships on television dramas and web series (in Chinese), the LGBT dating app sector has been burgeoning nonetheless.

Here are the latest networking apps catering to the LGBT community in China.

Blued

Born out of LGBT NGO Danlan, Blued was launched in 2012 and has since pocketed six rounds of financing with the latest C++ round from the investment arm of The Beijing News, a state-backed newspaper group.

Blued boasts over 27 million registered users, about 20% of which are overseas users, according to its official website. The China-born app is ambitiously eyeing overseas market in particular. It has opened offices in Europe and Southeast Asia, covering over 190 countries and regions, and is available in 11 languages. In December 2016, Blued even made a strategic investment with US dating app Hornet in an attempt to make forays into North American and Latin American markets. As a part of the deal, Blued invested an undisclosed sum as an extension of the $8 million Series A Hornet announced in November 2016.

On the other hand, Blued has made profits thanks to the thriving live streaming feature and its mobile marketing business. For the growth of the live streaming sector in 2016, Blued ranked the 13th among all the Chinese apps (of all verticals) which had live streaming features, according to a Cheetah Global Lab’s report released earlier this year.

However, there’s one thing that the app needs to be more mindful for the live streaming feature: Zank, Blued’s past rival, got closed down (in Chinese) by the authorities in April due to its explicit content during live streaming and has yet to re-open.

LESDO

LESDO (乐Do) is arguably the largest lesbian dating app in China, boasting 1.5 million users. Founded by a team of gay women, the startup launched in 2012, and the app came out in 2013.

In 2014, the app got angel funding from GSR Ventures, and the next year landed millions of US dollars of pre-A financing led by IVP, SOSVentures, and Linear.

LESDO is not just a social networking app. It has also created its own web dramas. Its 34-minute mini-movie, Miss You Always, has been watched 1.36 million times on iQiyi, China’s major video streaming site.

Aloha

Aloha is a social networking app designed for gay men. Picking up the “swipe” feature from Tinder, users swipe left for “nope” and right for “aloha” to get matched with other nearby men.

Aloha, Blued’s major rival in China, is especially known for its friendly UI design for photo sharing, making it more than a dating app with Tinder and Instagram-like features rolled into one.

LesPark

LesPark (拉拉公园), the major rival of LESDO, is a dating app catering to gay women. The app is known for its live streaming feature and has millions of registered users.

It’s worth noting that LesPark’s parent company also rolled out an LGBT “marriage service” app, Queers, a networking app for gay and lesbians to find partners for sham marriages or “marriages of convenience.”

the L

Rolled out in December 2012, the L is one of the major lesbian location-based dating apps in China.

It’s interesting to note that the L has also produced its own web drama to bring in more users just like LESDO. The company in 2015 released The L Bang, which depicts the story of the daily lives of a few young women who get to know each other through the L and proceed to live together in a big city in China.

Contrary to most foreigners would believe, China is shifting to a much milder tone towards the country’s thriving LGBT community, especially when it comes to the online world. This is evident enough with the extent to which LGBT-related topics can be talked about online and the number of tech services that goes after this special group. It seems that the country’s tolerance for GLBT community is spreading from the cyber world to the real world.

Chinese gay chat and hook-up app Blued announced Tuesday that it has sealed eight-digit RMB strategic funding from the investment arm of The Beijing News, a state-backed newspaper group.

The expanding globalization initiative of Blued and its growth in live streaming, e-commerce, gaming healthcare and entertainment were the main reasons for this investment, according to a representative from the investor.

Like many Chinese companies, the Beijing-based startup has been pushing into the rest of the world. It now supports 13 languages and has set up offices in Thailand, Vietnam, and the U.K. In December last year, Blued made a strategic investment with U.S. dating app Hornet in an attempt to make forays into North American and Latin American markets.

The company is recording profits now thanks to thriving live streaming and mobile marketing businesses which have contributed hundreds of millions RMB of revenue in 2016. Revenue from live streaming is expected to maintain stable growth in 2017, while membership, gaming, and healthcare services are expected to become the new revenue growth points, according to the company.

“The current financing round is more of strategic meaning given that the company is booking profits now.” said Geng Le, CEO of the firm.

Born out of LGBT NGO Danlan, Blued has been active in improving the living status of this group.

“Sexual minority is still a highly controversial group, we need a proper channel to talk with the government and the public, letting them know what we are doing and what problems we can solve for society,” Geng said.

We have seen many LGBT startups in China in the past years, such as Blued, Lesdo, and The L. While these apps connect same-sex homosexuals, one startup set out to connect different sex homosexuals to solve their real problem. iHomo, a Beijing-based startup is now helping out LGBT community to find a beard to ward off increasing pressure from family members.

“Marriage and having children all seems to be taken for granted in China. My parents are no exception,” CEO and founder of iHomo, Xiaobai Ou told TechNode. “They began to urge me to get married. In order to appease my family, I chose xinghun (形婚, marriage of convenience or lavender marriage in English). We had a wedding ceremony in 2012, which was fairly smooth. My girlfriend was my bridesmaid and make-up artist at the wedding.”

In their first year of marriage, they needed to move to each other’s home. Later, they didn’t have to do that so frequently. “My husband is now a good friend of mine, and we go out together to eat and chat. When things come up, we help each other,” Xiaobai said.

Thinking that she is not the only one struggling with this problem, Xiaobai and her girlfriend Yi Zhi launched an app called iHomo aiming to connect the gay community with the lesbian community to find beards.

Due to China’s traditional culture, rigid concepts of family, many other factors, China’s LGBT community will take a long time to achieve the status quo seen in the U.S.

Along the way, Xiaobai believes xinghun is a necessary process, and more suitable for the majority of homosexual groups in China. According to her, the gay community’s demand for xinghun is increasingly growing.

“Coming out is very hard and we shouldn’t expect too many people to do this is in a short period of time. In fact, it could bring more harm to the LGBT community,” she added. “We believe that any form of choice must be related to the social status quo, and xinghun is a relatively moderate approach.”

The iHomo app can be downloaded on both iOS and Android. A new user can only access the app through an invitation code, which the company claims is to protect user privacy. The app works like a social network, with a focus on the xinghun connection.

In the early stages of development within two years, iHomo will first focus on accumulating users, then invite users to sign up for paid membership service on the app. Finally, the company aims to provide a paid on-line platform for xinghun, and receive a service charge for business partners and take commissions when connecting the two groups for xinghun.

“In the future, we will enhance the business value through a combination of online and offline services, including activities, matchmaking, wedding services, pregnancy, and legal advice,” Xiaobao remarked. “After the platform has reached a certain level, and the development of Chinese homosexual groups to a certain stage, we will provide more practical services; not just marriage services around homosexual groups, but also employment, rent, pension and other homosexual group’s needs.”

The company has not yet raised any funding and has bootstrapped since 2014.

Other similar companies include Chinagayles, which has over 400,000 users and claims to have matched almost 50,000 couples, and Queers, which is operated by the same company as LGBT social networks GayPark and LesPark.

Blued, a Chinese gay flirting app, has entered a strategic partnership with U.S.-based dating app Hornet in an attempt to spread its popularity around the globe. As a part of the cooperation, Blued will invest an undisclosed sum as an extension of the 8 million USD A round Hornet announced in November.

Hornet, which claims to be the world’s second largest gay social network, has now registered over 15 million total users with 3 million monthly active users. The company has grown rapidly over the last year through the acquisition of gay city guide Vespa and LGBT content provider Unicorn Booty. Although Grindr and Scruff may dominate in the U.S., Hornet says it is the number one network in France, Russia, and Brazil.

It is worth noting that Ventech China, a shared investor behind the two companies, may have played a significant role in this partnership. As the leading investor in Hornet’s A round, Ventech China also participated in Blued’s C round.

“Hornet has one of the most successful growth rates of all the gay social apps on today’s global market,” said Geng Le, CEO of Blued. “We share a vision to bring gay apps outside of the first generation hook-up model and into digital homes for the gay community.”

Founded as a virtual community for gay men in 2000, Blued has grown rapidly along with changing public attitudes toward gay people. The app claims to be world’s largest gay social network with approximately 27 million total users and 3 million daily users. Around 80% of their users are in China.

China has seen a “pink economy” boom in recent years. In addition to Blued, a bunch of services like Zank, lesbian dating app The L, and Queers, an app designed to help young people arrange sham marriages between gay and lesbian people, have all seen massive growth. The trend is so strong that Chinese game developer Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. purchased a majority stake in world’s top gay dating app Grindr earlier this year.

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