street sweeps

Beijing Police Raid Gay Cruising Park Ahead of National Holiday

The Haidian district park in Beijing, which I suspect is the Mu Dan Yuan park described by the AP as “a popular outdoor hangout for gay men” (heh), was raided on Saturday and Sunday nights by officials who removed some 80 men and detained dozens for questioning — and even blood tests. The cruising crackdown comes ahead of China’s National Day, on Oct. 1. Naturally gay and AIDS activists there are furious, and Beijing’s Public Security Bureau isn’t saying what laws the men are suspected of breaking.

The website Utopia Asia describes the park as “a stretch of old city wall and winding garden paths along an ancient trade canal. It is absolutely buzzing with activity (some evenings with hundreds of men), even on chillier nights, but especially in warm weather. The scene attracts men of all ages including many students from nearby universities. Some wander the gardens below while those who are more limber climb to the top of the timeworn fortification, now a spine of earth covered in trees.”

That sounds quite nice!

[Note: I’m not entirely sure the satellite map depicts the exact park, but it should be close.]

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