Beijing Wide Open

Beijing Wide Open

Rooted - Dharamsala

10 year old Mingyur from Cornwall visits the Tibetan community in India to discover her Tibetan roots. She spins prayer wheels, checks out some Tibetan dance moves, and has a monsoon water fight. She also meets the 17th Karmapa and asks his advice on growing up in England.

Enrique Eglesis

Can I say something?

A tribute to the recent Free Tibet protestors of US based Students for a Free Tibet, who put up a great stunt at the base camp of Mount Everest in Tibet.



Details of the events: Click here

Pu Bajia - Tibetan star in Shanghai

Pu Bajia is a Tibetan actor and a singer. He was one of the winners of Chinese Reality TV show called My Hero. The show's sponsored by LYCRA and was part of a China-wide integrated marketing campaign. The show itself featured Chinese nationals singing, dancing and performing in front of a studio audience and a judging panel.

Where is Gendun Choekyi Nyima?

Where is Gendun Choekyi Nyima, His Holiness the 11th Panchen Lama?
Click here to know more

The Masseur

Film Title: The Masseur (Phillipino title: Masahista)
Directed by Brillante Mendoza
Language: Tagalog, Country: Phillipines

Following the death of his father and a chance meeting with an abusive romance novelist, a masseur working in a gay massage parlor struggles to make sense of his unfulfilling relationships while simultaneously assisting his mother in preparing his father for burial. Twenty-year-old Iliac (Coco Martin) may not be the best masseur in the parlor, but when he catches the eye of a cold and calculated romance novelist looking for a cheap thrill, the icy indifference displayed by his paying lover does little more to warm the spirits than his sexually charged but emotionally distant girlfriend. Despite the resentment Iliac feels towards his late father for abandoning the family and embarking on a suicidal alcohol binge, the lovelorn youth nevertheless makes the journey home to be there for his grieving mother in her time of need. As he prepares his father for burial and his mind wanders back to the previous night's encounter at the massage parlor, Iliac's increasingly complex love life disturbingly begins to mirror his troubled family life. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A band called Rangzen

Rangzen means freedom in Tibetan. Here's a band called Rangzen based in Italy. Official website.

CSNY tribute by Rangzen

China's first gay TV show premieres online

At the risk of appearing as though we are once again fellating the "gay agenda", we thought we'd point out the interesting news announced Thursday that China aired its first program about gay and lesbian issues ... online. The show is called 同性相连 in Chinese and Gay Connections in English (although the Chinese press release calls the program Connecting Homosexual People) and it premiered its first episode of a 12-part weekly series on April 5 at 3 pm.

The producer of the show, Gang Gang (刚刚), claims it is the first Chinese first show of its kind to focus on gay issues and the first with an openly homosexual host. The program is hosted by AIDS activist Didier Zheng, of the Chi Heng foundation (pictured left, with Gang Gang on the right). It appears that the makers of the show, purposely chose to air the program online rather than face the possibility of being censored on broadcast TV.

The show debuted on Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television's website featuring an interview with Qiao Qiao (乔乔), the lesbian singer of the song "爱不分" or "Love Doesn't Discriminate". She is also the owner of Beijing's oldest lesbian bar, called "Pipe".
To the extent of Shanghaiist's knowledge, the program is not archived and can only be viewed at its designated timeslot of Thursdays at 3 pm. For more information, check out the homepage of Gay Connections (in Chinese).

Source: Shanghaiist

Gay in Lhasa

April 6, 2007
By Dinah Gardner

Fridae’s Beijing correspondent Dinah Gardner travels to Lhasa, Tibet and speaks to young gay and lesbian Tibetans about their lives in the city's small yet flourishing queer scene.

How gay friendly is the Dalai Lama? Well, the charismatic exiled leader of Tibet says he supports gay and lesbian rights. But only for non-Buddhists. Same-sex intercourse, he says, is simply wrong for believers of his faith. In that case, he might be a tad unhappy then, to learn that Lhasa, capital of his estranged Himalayan kingdom, now has a small yet flourishing queer scene.

Click here for the full report

Tibetan Nomad Music

Tenzin Choegyal draws on his traditional Tibetan roots to create music which expresses his thoroughly modern life. Since his world music debut in 1997 in Australia, Tenzin’s cantering rhythms, soaring vocals and flute have enchanted audiences around the globe.

In the recent years Tenzin has worked with numerous prominent Australian musicians from many different genres:Michael Askill, Shen Flindell, Spiros Rantos, Ash Grunwald, Paul Coppen, Stringmansassy, Oscar and Marigold, Riley Lee, James Coats , Tsering Dorjee Bawa, Baattar Sukh, Cathedral Band, Marchelo Milani and Monks of Tibet allow Tenzin room to experiment with rhythm and structure, to challenge deeply entrenched Tibetan musical norms and find a place in the complex tapestry of global sounds.

Tenzin plays the dranyen (long necked lute), lingbu (transverse flutes) various ritual objects and is well-known for his extraordinary vocal ability.

Tenzin's Myspace

Asian Eye Candies at GT Yahoo Group

Gay Lhasa

The population of Lhasa is about 200,000 (that's about 8,000 Utopians - members of the website Utopia Asia).
Popular Cruising spot
Park located at the back of the Potala Palace. Usually you can meet people after 9pm at the facilities there, including gay Tibetans.

For Tibet Message Forums and Travel Links and other Gay China resources go to Utopia

Source: Utopia Asia

Rangzen

Who's this dude? It's one hot video!
P.S. If I'm not wrong this is Tenzn Thokmey. More info on this artist can be found here.

Tibetan Annecy

March 10: Out of Exile, Into the Streets!

RISE UP, RESIST, RETURN

It's time for us to RISE UP and get out of the monotony of our day-to-day exile life and get into the streets to protest China's continued illegal occupation of Tibet.

The Chinese government wants the world to believe our fight is over. They say Tibet is a part of China and Tibetans are happy under Chinese rule. We must RESIST their lies and fight back. Our people continue to suffer each and every day - denied their basic human rights and freedom.
March10.ORG

Lhasa Today

Yes, the Tibetan capital city of Lhasa has been tranformed -- into yet another sprawling Chinese metropolis, complete with brothels, karaoke bars, nightclubs, mass tourism and shopping arcades. The majority of economic benefits from these recent developments are reaped by Han Chinese migrants rather than the ethnic Tibetans to whom the land belongs. To see the full photo report by Adam Dean Click Here.

His Holiness Advices

Forbidden Fruit

Gay Asian men talk about their experiences - coming out, love, life, sex, fun, society, etc.

21st London Lesbian and Gay Film Fest.

21st London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival Official Website.

It's that time of the year again.

Visit the March10.org site and know more about the significance of this day in the tragic story of Tibet. Tibetans in exile and their supporters across the globe have been observing March 10th since the 1960s as a comemoration of the sacrifices and risks that thousands of Tibetans took when they tried to resist Chinese invasion in 1959 in Lhasa.

In the last few years, the Tibetan Government in exile has been cautious of Chinese reactions to these actions of protests in exile. The TGIE in a rather silly move, had even adviced Tibetans and Tibet activists, all over the world not to get into heavy serious protests. This, some say is in inorder to please the Chinese and make way for some kind of a dialogue between the leaders of TGIE and China.

This year's March 10 protest plans are underway across the globe, spear-headed by Students for a Free Tibet in New York. On their website, they announce: "IT’S TIME TO TAKE MARCH 10 BACK! Help us make 2007 the biggest March 10 observation since 1959. We’ll show China, and the world, Tibetan resistance lives on."

Happy Losar

China’s gays call for same sex marriage

By Dinah Gardner

During a busy lunch hour on Valentine’s Day in Beijing’s central business district, six lesbians and gays handed out 200 red carnations wrapped in leaflets calling for the acceptance of gay love and marriage. A Beijing exclusive by Dinah Gardner.


A group of gays and lesbians in Beijing have held the country’s first public appeal for the support of same sex marriage in China.


A gay man handing out red carnations wrapped in leaflets calling for the acceptance of gay love and marriage in Beijing’s central business district on Feb 14. (Photo by Dinah Gardner)
During a busy lunch hour on Valentine’s Day in Beijing’s central business district, around half a dozen lesbians and gays handed out 200 red carnations wrapped in leaflets calling for the acceptance of gay love and marriage.

“Love has no boundaries; it is nothing to do with gender,” the flyer read. “We are homosexuals. We also want a life together with our loved one… please support all kinds of partnerships and all kinds of love. Please support same sex marriage.”

This kind of action is very unusual in China; unauthorised public protests are usually broken up the police. In 2005 a gay and lesbian culture festival was broken up by the police on the grounds the organisers had not sought permission to hold the event.

“We were concerned about security, we had lots of meetings about that,” said Xian, one of the protest’s lesbian organisers.

“This is different, our action can be considered kind of political. So we chose this area because we think there will be less police here. Also there are a lot of white collar workers here, higher educated people, the group we are seeking support from.” Their protest, which lasted about 20 minutes, went ahead undisturbed.

Many of those who accepted the flowers said they supported the action and gay marriage in China.

“I think it's only fair; it's everybody's right to get married,” said Liu Peng, a 21-year-old student of banking. “I support them. I think it's great."

"I don’t know when China will have gay marriage,” he added. “Not now, but in the future I think China will have gay marriage but I can't say when, maybe far in the future." Lie said he was not gay.

Rain Xia, a 25-year-old straight male said: “It's kind of surprising to get this kind of thing [public call for gay marriage]. I never expected it was this. But I can understand them and I support them. It's a human right for everyone to be able to get married.”

But not everyone was so sympathetic. His colleague, Christina Wang, said she did not support the protest.

“I don't support this because of my religion,” the 31-year-old headhunter, who is married, said. “I am a Christian and I don't think it's right. I don't think it's healthy to be gay."

Xian said she felt it was the right time to make this kind of protest because China’s gays and lesbians are growing more confident.

“We're doing it now because there are now so many lesbians ready to come out and to stand up for their rights,” she said. “When we started organising this we had no trouble at all finding people. In fact we had trouble finding boys.” Only one gay man helped hand out flowers.

Ming Ming, who was helping to film the protest, said she was surprised how attitudes towards gays have changed over the past few years.

“Compared to a few years ago people seem more open to gays and gay marriage and more accepting. The change is really noticeable.”

Xian said she was happy with the way the protest had gone.

“I think it was a success,” she said. “People said they supported us. One girl took a flower and said it’s great because she’s a lesbian too.”

While life has become easier for China’s urban gays and lesbians and the media has become more queer friendly, many homosexuals still end up in conventional marriages because of familial and societal pressure.

Renowned sexologist, Li Yinhe, has submitted proposals to legalise gay marriage in China three times at the annual meeting of parliament. Each proposal was rejected. The country’s gays and lesbians were hoping she would submit a fourth proposal this month, but Li wrote in a recent blog entry that she was retiring from campaigning for sexuality-related civil rights because of pressure from her higher-ups. The professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as once listed as one of China's 50 Most Influential People by Asiaweek magazine.

“Gay marriage is not something that our country can accept at this stage of its cultural development,” wrote Li. “History will change when it must. And perhaps I will only be able to be a bystander when the change comes, rather than a participant.”

Beleive it or not - Rinpoche Rapper

Ever Heard of someone named Singa Rinpoche? Apparently he is a young Tibetan lama obsessed with glamour and had a fan following even before he crossed over into art and business. His latest venture is a music CD titled "Wish you Well" released in Taiwan by Forward Music.

The genre is R n B and Rinpoche mixes Tibetan Buddhist chants with modern R n B sound sung my himself. In his songs he uses three languages - Chinese, Tibetan and English.

Rinpoche claims to have studied Tibetan Buddhism in India and Nepal for three years. He is currently 30 years old and is banned from entering Taiwan due to his bad behavior on a previous visit to Taipei.

Anyways whether we approve of him or not, his music is a sure hit and he is hot. One more name to our list of Tibetan celebrity Rinpoches. Who else is out there? Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche from Bhutan, Neten Chokling Rinpoche...

Listen to the tracks here

Watch his music video here

Amaechi's Coming out story

In a groundbreaking revelation that began to reverberate around the NBA on Wednesday, former player John Amaechi has become the first professional basketball player to openly identify himself as gay.

Amaechi, who played at Penn State and spent five seasons in the NBA with Orlando, Utah and Cleveland, comes out in an upcoming book entitled "Man in the Middle" to be released later this month by ESPN Books (owned by the Walt Disney Company, parent company of ESPN).

Click here for for the full ESPN Report

Completely out of the Closet - An Interview

Phayul[Thursday, January 11, 2007 16:41] “We are not special” says Tenzin Jigdel (name changed), a Tibetan Gay who finds no reasons to hide his identity from anyone.
By Tenzin Dickyi

This six-striped rainbow flag is sometimes called 'the freedom flag', and has been used as a symbol of gay and lesbian pride since the 1970s. The different colors symbolize diversity in the gay community, and the flag is often used as a symbol of gay pride in gay rights marches. It originated in the United States, but is now used around the world.

The subject of homosexuality definitely remains a taboo in our society like in many countries. We have denied to acknowledge the existence of such people in our society who too like us crave for openness and freedom. People generally find it very difficult to comprehend what homosexuality is all about. Their first reaction always remains weird and many thinks marriage is the only ‘cure’ for such behaviour. Parents are the one who usually takes longer to make peace with this aspect and still hope that their son or daughter will come out of this ‘phase’. But it takes so much for a homosexual person to accept what you are because everything doesn’t happen the way you want. However they become a happy soul when society accepts them as what they are because they are just an ordinary person. And Knowledge is the key. Educating and informing all people about sexual orientation and homosexuality can only trim down and break these prejudices in any society.

Mr. Tenzin Jigdel recently unfolded some real truths about himself as being a Tibetan Gay to phayul. And we hope that this interview will positively demystify some myths, hopefully trigger certain change and establish some home truths about homosexuality in our society.

First of all can you please tell us something about yourself?

Well, I am a Tibetan youth born and brought up in exile in Dharamsala. I attended the Tibetan Children’s Village School. I am currently a post graduate student seeking a degree in Media studies.
I come from a very ordinary Tibetan family and both my parents have been civil servants all their lives for the Tibetan Government in Exile.
I am a very down to earth, kind hearted person, single and seeking and I keep high interests in the field of arts.

Tell me a bit about how and when you first realized that you have attraction towards men?

I realized I was gay quite early on in my life. Initially in grades two or three, I still recollect that I would have infatuations towards both girls and boys but during my early teens, it struck me that I was more and more attracted towards boys. Later on around the age of 13 or 14, I would constantly have a crush on this boy or the other. Of-course they were all teenage crushes but the urges were strong and real.

During those early years, I was confused; there was no one to tell me what it’s like being gay. I thought I was some kind of a freak falling for boys rather than girls. I badly needed some answers at that time but there was no one to turn to. I went into the school library to find some references and as you would expect there was none.

Somehow a copy of the book, Teleny or Reverse of the Medal came into my hands. I don’t remember where and how I found it. The story of that novel was set in Paris in the late 1800s and it was a love story between a young French man and a Hungarian pianist. Strangely the book was sort of the first thing that introduced me to the gay world. It was a very erotic and an exciting novel which is rumored to have been partly written by Oscar Wilde.

In passing during my childhood, no one really spoke about homosexuality. It seemed as if even talking about it was a sin. The only time I’d hear the words gay or homos were in bad jokes. I kept it all to myself until the time I left home after high school.

During my late teens, like other boys and girls, I too began to explore my sexuality. I’d had many encounters with my school mates where we would have mutual sexual indulgence which at later stages in our lives we all rather not talk about or pretend as if it’d never happened. But those encounters were a way of re-affirming my own identity as a young gay man.

In the last years of my high school, I was a wrecked teenager – confused and lost. Even though I had realized that I was gay long ago, I still haven’t found much answer to my questions. Soon I’d be graduating and let out into the world but I was really not sure where to start from.

Several months into my last year of high school, I fell in love again for the nth time. This time I am not sure if it was not just a crush in passing but I desired this young boy so much that I couldn’t resist him. We were close friends of a sort and there was this incident where I came on to him. This was a real shocker for him I guess. He just completely disowned me as a friend and told my other friends about me. I don’t blame him much for that because after all he’s also a Tibetan born and brought up in a conservative society. He was young and was not exposed to many things in the world.

But somehow it totally blew my world upside down. High school was a hell hole - word soon spread through out my friends circle and it seemed like the whole school knew about my orientation. I went through the worst time of my life then. Many of the friends I have been close to for years, all of a sudden, decided not to be friends with me anymore and since I was just a kid back then, I took those things very seriously and I was devastated.

I felt like running away as far as I can. I was ashamed and scandalized but solutions there were none. So the only thing that helped me survive that last year of high school was to stay close to the friends who did decide to stand by me. I loved them dearly and they are still the most important people in my life even now.

Read the full Interview

Tibetan children keeping their culture

Tibet Connection is The First English Language Radio Magazine About Tibet
Airing the last Friday of each month on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles
98.7 FM Santa Barbara & streaming live at kpfk.org

Sample Program:

Tibetan children keeping their culture alive in Los Angeles
Tibetan kids in LA voice their opinions and thoughts about Tibetan culture, language, identity and politics. Very cute and heartwarming report.

Click here to listen or right click and Choose Save as to Download the program.

More Programs here on the official Tibet Conection Website