Organisers had planned to hold their festival of films, plays, exhibitions and seminars on homosexuality at one of the trendiest artistic communities in China. The venue was to be the studios and warehouses at the 798 complex of converted factory buildings in northeastern Beijing. Most of the capital’s hippest and most happening events take place among the grey concrete blocks, fashionable French bistro-style bars and industrial pipes of 798.

Police notified studio owners that the event would not be allowed to proceed. Li Yinhe, a distinguished sociologist from the prestigious Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, had been invited to address the opening, but had to stay away.

The group of about 30 participants bold enough to reveal their sexuality in China’s conservative society were undeterred by the cancellation. They decided to move their ground-breaking event to On/Off, a Beijing gay bar.

Police swarmed around the bar even before the group arrived. “This bar is temporarily closed for review,” police told would-be festival participants.

A few gays and lesbians retreated to a nearby hotpot restaurant. One man who gave his name as Mr Sun said: “There is no reason for the police to stop us. We are doing nothing to disturb social stability.”

The members of China’s gay community had little doubt as to why On/Off had been closed. Mr Cui, a film student, said: “The attitude in China is still very conservative. They say it’s illegal, but what’s illegal about wanting to understand more about these issues?”

The police were clear. “They didn’t have permission to hold this event,” said an official.

Homosexuality has not been listed as a crime on China’s statute books since the 1949 communist takeover. However, homosexuals were routinely arrested under a “hooliganism” clause in the law until a reform in 1997 removed this provision. Then, in April 2001, the biggest single advance in gay rights came with the declassification of homosexuality as a mental disorder by the Chinese Psychiatric Association, meaning that rather than being officially treated as a “perversion” requiring psychiatric care, it was re-categorised as something similar to an “identity crisis”.

Homosexuality is frowned upon in communist China’s puritan society but was far from unknown in imperial eras. One common name for homosexuals in traditional China was “broken sleeve”, referring to an incident in which an emperor in ancient times sliced off his sleeve on which his adored male concubine was sleeping so as not to wake him.

But today there is much less understanding. Mr Sun’s father said he had accompanied his homosexual son to the event to try to understand him. He said he had set up a hotline in the northeastern city of Dalian to help “parents of comrades”.

The word comrade — more usually associated with communist Party members — has become in some circles a term for homosexuals in China.

He said: “The family of a homosexual comes under social pressure and just the curiosity of your neighbour is enough to drive you crazy.”

Liu Chunxiao had travelled from Inner Mongolia and his partner from the northeastern coastal town of Qinhuangdao to attend the festival. The young men smiled shyly, explaining that they kept in touch every day by internet. But Mr Liu, a student, said he was very discreet. “I make sure other people don’t know because the atmosphere isn’t very open.”

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