“Younger generations can build a relationship quickly by kissing or having sex soon after they meet offline,” Wen explains. He goes to exhibitions, takes walks along the beach, plays volleyball with locals, and sometimes meets up with men he contacts through Blued - a popular gay social app, on which he hopes to find a long-term boyfriend.īut dating isn’t easy for older gay men. They hope that retirement will give them the opportunity to focus on what they truly love. Like other older people, LGBT seniors want to have rich, fulfilling, and independent lives.
“Being childless makes it easy for me to travel after retirement.” “I still feel young and restless,” Wen tells Sixth Tone. Immediately after he retired in November from working as a civil servant, he rented an apartment in Sanya, on the southern island of Hainan, where he is spending six months avoiding the cold of his hometown in the eastern province of Zhejiang. Wen Xiaojun, 56, is single and childless. As a result, for many elders, being childless is no longer a major concern or an unusual occurrence. ChinaFotoPress/VCGĭecades of family-planning restrictions mean that even seniors who have children often must become self-reliant, as children born during the one-child policy can’t afford to support two parents and four grandparents.
Two older men hold a symbolic wedding ceremony in Beijing, Jan. The nation’s changing demography brings with it challenges for managing welfare and health care, especially as fewer seniors are able to count on their families for support. The proportion of the population aged 60 or older was more than 16 percent at the end of 2015, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and that number is only set to increase. “We are in our 70s what’s more important than being happy and healthy?”Ĭhina’s population is rapidly aging. “Being gay or not, it doesn’t change the way I see him,” Lu says. Lu, who had never before met any out gay or bisexual men, says he admires Zhang’s courage. “Everyone knows about us, and no one gossips or gives us a hard time,” Zhang says. Last year, following in other veterans’ footsteps, Zhang wrote a 218-page autobiography - including his experiences of recognizing his sexuality - and shared it with his fellow cadres.
“But it’s none of my business to ask about his private life,” Lu adds. (The Chinese concept of gan erzi allows for a sort of informal adoption of adults, with no legal or religious implications.) “I had this vague idea that they might be gay,” says 74-year-old Lu Shize, who lives downstairs. When Wu first moved in, Zhang told his neighbors that Wu was his gan erzi, or adopted son, whom he met online. The 10-story building houses a dozen veterans in their 60s through 90s, some living alone and others with their spouses. The May-December couple have been living together since 2005 in an apartment provided by the government for retired army cadres and their families. “My kids have no problem sharing with Wu because they know he is the one taking care of me in my final years,” he says. When he passes on, his assets will be divided equally among his daughters and his boyfriend. He gained support and understanding from his ex-wife and two daughters when he came out to them in 2003. Zhang says he is bisexual but prefers men. “I expect him to accompany me through the remainder of my life,” Zhang tells Sixth Tone after finishing his daily exercise routine. Zhang divorced his wife in 2003 and met the love of his life - Wu, who is 40 years younger - a year later on the internet. “I couldn’t be happier with my life post-retirement,” says Zhang, who was a doctor in the army until 1994.Īs a former military officer, Zhang’s monthly pension is 10,000 yuan ($1,440) - five times the average pension in Changde, the small city in central China’s Hunan province where he lives with his boyfriend. Zhang Guowei, a 76-year-old bisexual veteran, is relishing his twilight years.