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In the movie "Uncle Uncle", Hai (left) and Bai (center) eat warmly in the gay sauna. (Movie Stills)
Yuan Fuhua took Tai Bao's hand, wrapped only a towel through the gay sauna, escaped the temptation of the shirtless boy's eyes, pushed into a small black room door at the end of the narrow alley of the red light, kissed each other, felt each other's body temperature and skin texture. Many people realize the gay sauna in Hong Kong because of the movie "Uncle Uncle", in which the two older male comrades are liberated from their repressive life and can finally be themselves in the sauna. Even with the change of the times, comrades can frankly show their true selves than in the past, but the gay sauna is still a gathering place for old, middle-aged and young comrades. What kind of place is the gay sauna, and what kind of transformation has it undergone in the past 30 years?
Community center for older gay men
In the movie, the 70-year-old taxi driver Bai (Tai Bao) came to Hong Kong from the mainland when he was young, and he had a son and a daughter with his wife, who has always hidden his gay sexual orientation, and sometimes wanders to the park public toilet and encounters the same sex to solve sexual desire. Once, Bai meets his 65-year-old single father Hai (Yuan Fuhua) in the park, and Hai knows his sexual orientation early on, but is forced to marry due to family responsibilities. After giving birth to a son, he divorced and raised his son alone, and because he lived with his religious son and daughter-in-law, Hai never dared to come out. Most of Kashiwa's dating venues are in a gay sauna, where they make love in a separate room with only a double bed, commonly known as the "black room" in the sauna. After the two make love, they will eat on the same stage with other guests, gossiping about home.
Yang Yaokai, director of "Uncle Uncle", explained that the film was inspired by the book "The Biography of Men and Men", so he also interviewed some older gay men in the book before filming began. He remembered that one of the comrades shared that he had been refused to enter the general gay sauna on the grounds of old age, "I asked him, so you usually go to the side room?" He answered the galaxy (hereinafter referred to as the Galactic Sauna)."
In addition to the "black room" is set up, the sauna plot in the play is filmed in the galaxy live action. Before filming began, Yang Yaokai had secretly visited the Galaxy several times. I still remember the first time I went, he deliberately chose about 4 p.m., thinking that the crowd was less, but the whole place was full. But by 6 p.m., the guests were almost gone. "I asked the receptionist why they left so early, and he replied because they all had to go home for dinner. In the afternoon, there are the most people, because many people have retired, and there is hea."
The Galaxy space is quite large, clearly divided into two areas, the left side of the reception is the lust-specific "black room" area, and the right side has a TV room, karaoke room, mahjong room, such as a community center. "It's an exaggeration, there are two karaoke rooms, one broadcasts 1970s songs, that is, singer Aoyama' kind, and the other is more energetic, it is a big drama." 」 Once, he saw the guests eating together, so he set up a table, "I remember someone pushing the dish over and asking me if I could clip it?" It feels a little warm."
Flesh meets each other and removes the mask
The most surprising image for Yang Yaokai was that in a sauna where guests knew each other, he saw a fairly elderly uncle chatting with another younger man, and the uncle took out the phone to show the other party the picture of his granddaughter, blatantly like chatting in a restaurant. He found that people in the sauna understood and accepted each other that they already had a family, partner, and children, or had become grandfathers or fathers-in-law. "For a few hours in the sauna, they don't need to wear a mask as father and husband to be themselves. And other people understand you, because 4 of the 10 people in the sauna have the same background as you, and you don't have to talk about it.
Decommunalization of gay sex
When the British ruled Hong Kong, the colonial government introduced legislation dealing with "serious indecent acts" between men into Hong Kong in 1901. It was not until 1991 that gay men's sexuality was decriminalized in Hong Kong. It means that older comrades born after the war have lived most of their lives in a Hong Kong society where gay sex is a crime.
Jiang Shaoqi, author of "The Biography of a Man" and an associate professor of sociology at the University of Hong Kong, said that many older comrades are still depressed and miserable, especially married gay men. Even if they break through the psychological barrier to confess their sexual orientation to their families, many times their wives and children do not want him to cheat, so they continue to rely on lies to maintain the family. Therefore, he knows that many elderly people go to the gay sauna almost every day, and it is secondary to meet sexual needs, but more importantly, to meet with friends, gather old, chat and pass the time, after all, Hong Kong society lacks the space for gay men to do their own activities.
Eat, sauna a table warm
The reporter visited 6 gay saunas in Yau Tsim Mong District last week, but found that 4 had closed down, leaving only two open. Even a notice was posted outside the door of the Galaxy sauna saying that due to the impact of the epidemic, it will be closed from March 16, and there is a chance to see you again. However, the market rumors that galaxy business has been very good, I believe that this time is to take advantage of the epidemic shareholder restructuring and interior decoration, may reopen in the future.
At about 9 p.m. on Thursday, there were not many tourists in the area from Central to the Mid-Levels escalator. The façade of the Central Gay Sauna Central escalator is written "ce" in a low profile, the doorbell is pressed, and the boss Ah Hua comes to answer the door. There was a "members only" notice hanging at the counter, several foreign muscular macho writing truth films, and the price tag clearly stated that the weekday admission fee was 125 yuan; coffee/tea was 10 yuan; and an extra large towel was 5 yuan. Although there is no explicit provision, everyone tacitly agrees that the gay sauna only welcomes male guests. Ten minutes later, Ah Hua told, "There are only two customers left in the store, if you don't mind, come in and sit in the store." When entering the store, the reporter glimpsed a guest in the room who was only wrapped in a towel, and the reporter consciously did not look over his face very politely, but the guest took the initiative to come forward and say hello to the reporter.
Ce and Galaxy's facilities are similar, with about 1,000 square feet of space including lockers, massage rooms, saunas, steam rooms, bathing rooms and Jacuzzi rooms. Gay guests can pass through the dark and narrow alleys like a small labyrinth after "looking at each other" in the TV room to 4 dark rooms.
Ah Hua, a 29-year-old founder of gay sauna ce, said he never "came out" to his family. (Photo by Peng Lifang)
The scene of the meal in the sauna is real, and the head of the Central CE, Ah Hua, has dinner with the guests that night. (Provided by respondents)
Ah Hua, who has been in the "base altar" for 40 years, said that the times have changed, and now most Hong Kong comrades are no longer living in repression, nor do they regard the sauna as a place of liberation. What I have seen is that many Hong Kong gay friends have both families and children, but they are handled well." However, because of the one-child policy, comrades in the mainland almost invariably have to marry and pass on their families at the request of their parents.
As for the warm scene in the gay sauna, it was true, and Ah Hua showed reporters their dinner that night, as well as photos of the birthday celebrations in the store and regular customers on Sunday. Although the main purpose of guests coming to the sauna is to find fun, Ah Hua said that everyone will not come with the mentality of finding a certain object, "because if you can't find it, there will be a psychological gap and unhappiness, so many times it is lucky."
30 years of change The source of customers has changed
After the decriminalization of local gay sex in 1991, local gay bars, saunas, massage centers and other mushrooms sprung up. Ce also opened in 1991, Ah Hua asked himself if he was a person who would go to the sauna to make friends, when the store was opened to provide a space for young comrades to have an activity space, "I was glad that I moved out to live alone when I was young, but I knew that most of the young people lived with their families at that time, and there was no independent room, and there was no space to get along with the object."
When it comes to the most beautiful period, it is around 97, "after those people decided not to immigrate, they made the money feel good." Ce received 50 to 100 guests per day in that year, and received "tips" of 5,000 yuan per month. He lamented that at the beginning of the opening, the entrance fee was 100 yuan, and only 25 yuan was added in 29 years. But now due to the popularity of dating apps, cheap hotels, and gay exchanges do not have to be as sneaky as in the past, the demand for gay saunas has decreased. From the pre-handover peak, there were more than 20 gay saunas in Hong Kong, and now only about 10 remain.
Behind the curtains filled with psychedelic lights are bathing rooms and saunas (CE Central). (Photo by Peng Lifang)
The real-life "black room" is cramped and only has a double bed (central ce). (Photo by Peng Lifang)
The TV room had a number of sofas and a stack of gay books, including "The Biography of a Man and a Man". (Photo by Peng Lifang)
Ah Hua recalled that the sars epidemic in 2003 was the most difficult to survive, and he had also thought about ending his career. Later, because the mainland opened up free travel in the same year, the Hong Kong gay sauna became a hot spot for comrades in the mainland, and the price of hotels and hotels soared, and many 24-hour gay saunas appeared in the local area. Until last year's legislative amendment storm, the industry was doing a good business, and many saunas were mainly tourist business, "but since last year, I heard many mainland comrades and Southeast Asians or Europeans and Americans working in the mainland say that it is a bit difficult to enter and leave Hong Kong." At the beginning of this year, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic forced CE to close for 6 weeks under the restriction order, and now even if it reopens, there are only about 10 to 20 guests left every day.
Because it is located in Central, ce guests are mainly local office workers, and one-third of the guests are foreign tourists, many of whom are foreigners who work in the mainland and come to Hong Kong and Macao on weekends. Although in recent years, many newly opened saunas have been advertised, only entertaining gay saunas with small fresh meat or muscular men, Ah Hua has insisted on not refusing for many years, unless they are drunken or strange guests, "I often say a word of talk, it is so miserable, doing gay has been discriminated against by many people, and my own people now have to discriminate against their own people."
Gay saunas exist only because of discrimination
Ah Hua, who is 57 years old and still has a good mood today, said that when he was interviewed by the media in 1992 and published his photos, suddenly there was a huge increase in customers, "There were a few boysfriends back then, and I came to see me. Of course, some of them chased me, and some of them couldn't." However, after seeing the newspaper, he was also frantically complained by the upstairs neighbors that he did not like gay sex in the store. "I complained to the Water Supplies Department that we wasted our drinking water, and I complained to the Fire Services Department, the Licensing Division, and the Police Station, and I have all called for them." Although, in the end, there was no trouble, but ah hua also moved the shop once.
Therefore, this time "Uncle Uncle" filmed the inner scene of the gay sauna, and Ah Hua could not avoid worrying about the negative impact on the industry. "I don't care, the owners and neighbors know what we're doing. But other stores are difficult to talk about, once the owners are homophobic, you can't do anything good."
Yang Yaokai said that if the sauna is affected by the movie, this is a social problem, "so it is more necessary to discuss (gay sauna), because you want to re-educate the society, why do they want to go to the gay sauna?" Gay saunas exist because society does not accept them, they cannot be themselves, so they have to hide in this place and talk in this environment. We can understand that this is a problem of social injustice. It shouldn't be a sauna problem."
Jiang Shaoqi also believes that the ideal state is not to have a sauna or bar for comrades, "In fact, why do you need a gay bar?" There will be no disabled or religious bars. Because if society fully accepts gay people, it is ok to go to any bar." But when Hong Kong society is still relatively conservative and still has a less positive view of comrades, the existence of this gay sauna is important, especially to give gay friends who can't come out a breathing space in the city.
What the? This time it is time for me and everyone to share entertainment information is coming to an end? It was unbelievable, it must be fake, I didn't listen to me, I didn't look at me unbelief. Forget it, I still silently accept the reality, but Xiaobian hopes to have a lot of encounters and interactions with you in my heart, if you like to eat melons as much as I do, and think that the melon eating incident shared by Xiaobian is not bad, you can like and pay attention to Oh, thank you for your support.