Shanghai Pride is a Chinese LGBT NGO who organize LGBT pride events in Shanghai, mainly in the form of art exhibitions and film projections. It was one of the first LGBT event to take place in mainland China.[1] The events organized by the NGO in Shanghai under the appellation 'Shanghai Pride' have been on hiatus since 2020.
In 2009, the event was held for the first time from 7 to 13 June 2009.[1] The event was celebrated as a pride festival with cultural events in private venues. The event was framed as an entertaining party for foreigners without a public parade in order to avoid official attention.[2] [1] Organizers stated that this was the first LGBT festival in China; there are individuals, mostly Chinese LGBT activists, who say that there were organized LGBT events that occurred prior to Shanghai Pride.
The festival featured events such as an art exhibition and film screenings. There was also a large party hosted by a privately owned venue.[3] Three thousand people from China and other countries attended the festival.[3] There was also to be a raffle to raise money for the Chiheng Foundation AIDS Orphans project.[4]
In 2010 the event was held during October, directly following the closing days of the Shanghai Expo, over a 3-week period.
In 2011 the event was again held during October, this time in over 9 days.
For the 2012 event, the organisers have announced that it will move back to June and be held over 9 days.
2018 Shanghai Pride celebrated its 10th year.
The event in 2019 was held from 18 May to 16 June.[5]
| Route | Start | Duration[8] | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nike 001 | 3 km | ||
| Nike Huaihai BE | 5 km | ||
| Ferguson Lane | 6 km | ||
| Jing'an Park | 7.2 km | ||
| Long Museum | 8 km | ||
| Shanghai Swimming Stadium | 10 km | ||
| The Bund | 15 km |
The event encountered restrictions in 2020 as a result of the Chinese Communist Party's increasing clampdown on civil society and public advocacy of LGBTQ rights in China.[9] After the 2020 edition, organizers said that they were cancelling all upcoming activities and "taking a break from scheduling any future events", one of the organizer, Raymond Phang, later precising that the “Pride has grown to a scale that was probably too visible, likely making an impact, and thus catching too much (unwanted) attention.” and also precising that: “I have to clarify that we were not requested (by officials) to suspend the Pride. It was our own decision. It was in 2020 that the attention paid to us increased so much that it impacted the personal lives of our organizers. Due to the restrictions of the pandemic, and us being labeled as ‘foreign forces’ (境外势力 jìngwài shìlì), we felt really exhausted and wanted to take a rest.” Phang also added that volunteers who used to work for Shanghai Pride are still running events in Shanghai, although no longer under the same name.[10]
The festival was organised by volunteers from the Shanghai LGBT community. During its conception in 2009, the event planning, partnerships and execution were led by two American women Tiffany Lemay and Hannah Miller, who had resided in Shanghai for several years.[3] Their status as outsiders created an advantage to hosting the festival, and reduced the potential for government interference.[3] Miller, a lesbian living in the city since 2001, views Shanghai as "undoubtedly China's most liberal and progressive city", which is thus the reasoning for them hosting the festival in the city.[1] Lemay said: '...last year, we saw the Beijing Olympics described as "China's coming out" party. Now China is really coming out – this time from the closet'.[4]
In 2010, with the event now established, there was greater collaboration between local LGBT groups and other organizations. This has continued during the planning period in 2011 and 2012.
The 2009 Shanghai Pride event was only publicized in English, and its website was only in English. Most of the organizers were white people who originated from Western countries and were of the middle class, and therefore most of the participants were from the same demographic. One reason why the 2009 event had these demographics was because the working language of the Shanghai LGBT Group was English; foreign expatriates had established the groups. In addition, the publicity was only in English to avoid causing the Chinese government to enact additional restrictions or control. While initially English only, the Shanghai Pride website was later available both in English and Chinese. The organization had also put effort into attracting the Chinese crowd in order to facilitate the integration between the LGBT Chinese and the LGBT expatriates.