Rainbow flag flies high in Shanghai

Gay social groups look to move subculture out of the shadows and make it a safer scene. Matt Hodges reports.

Shanghai Pride is preparing for its biggest annual bash in June, four months after the largest gay club in Asia, 1,500-capacity Icon, opened in the city around Valentine's Day. The former French Concession also recently hosted an LGBT speed dating event, indicating an increasingly open gay subculture in the city.

"People in Shanghai are a lot more tolerant than we give them credit for," says Malaysian-Chinese Charlene Liu, one of the city's Pride organizers. "Malaysia and Singapore feel more closeted, even though they are more developed."