Exploits at a Guiyang gay bar – by Sasha Draggeim

“If I were a boy …”

I strained to hear the echo of my voice in the dark, shoebox-shaped bar, as crowds of young men swayed to and fro in the audience.

“Even just for a day …”

I was singing “If I Were a Boy” by Beyoncé Knowles in DD, or Daily Dish, one of the two gay bars in Guiyang, Guizhou province – a city generally described by non-Guiyang Chinese people as luohou, “backwards.” I had chanced upon this bar a few months earlier with a friend, and before long it became my main source of social interaction.

There's a new noodle joint on my street, and this is the sign on the window:

A run in with the police at the subway party – by George Ding

Maybe it was because I was wearing a tie but the station attendant came and talked to me.

"Are you the organiser of this?" she asked.

Thanksgiving in Harbin – by Rachelle Felzien

A VERSION OF THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN FAR ENOUGH EAST

It was my first Thanksgiving in China, and in Harbin winter had just begun to hit full stride. At Wal-Mart, they had roast turkey on special and seasonal decorations taped to the glass of the deli display cases – Precious Moments-style pilgrims alongside piles of vegetables and fried silkworms.

Browsing in the bakery aisles, I was jolted by a tremendous kerfuffle at a nearby butcher’s stand, where a crowd was quickly gathering. All background activity fell to silence as onlookers settled into place, but my view was maddeningly obscured. I moved in closer to try and see.

In English, a typical age guessing exchange might go something like this:

A: Guess how old I am

B: 30?

A: Older

B: 35?

In Chinese, it's the opposite: