Eye on Gay Shanghai: Panda bears in the French Concession?!?!

That’s right, Shanghai’s No. 1 fag hag ran into a sleuth of bears or "pandas”, as they prefer to call themselves, right in the heart of the French Concession. As Shanghaiist has previously mentioned, the city has its very own bear bar, Bobo. (See here for updated address.) Located in the basement of a swanky apartment complex, fortunately or unfortunately, the small drinking establishment was not filled with wild, gigantic, hirsute men as in Shanghaiist’s vivid imagination.

Actually, there wasn’t a "big" man in the place on the night we stopped by and, for clarification, many of the resident bears prefer to call themselves chubbies, smaller than bears, but not as petite as baby bears. Bobo’s patrons were also much friendlier than wild bears. As only an inebriated Shanghaiist can do, we sat down at any table that was near our vicinity to make new friends ... which ended up being every table by the end of the night.

In between karaoke renditions of "YMCA" and swilling red wine and sprite (yes, mixed ... please don't ask), Shanghaiist had a chance to play truth or dare dice with some sociable guys. Rather than the typical, frivolous questions, Shanghaiist asked scintillating, journalist-worthy questions like “why do you like bears” and “have you ever slept with a married man”. Regrettably, Shaghaiist and our friends have no recollection of the answers, however, a “I’m from Chinese Bear’s Club” T-shirt serves as proof that the night wasn’t a total fairy tale.

What we can say with assuredness is that Bobo's, with its bear paw decor, is a nice, mellow place for those with a larger-than-average-size man fetish, especially if you’re an exhibitionist (like Shanghaiist when drunk) and enjoy singing or dancing to karaoke in front of strangers.

Other brief gay news ...

• Mint bar has started a new special on Thursdays for the “Gay and Glorious”.
• A new gay bar has opened in Hongkou that promises to have lesbian nights on Fridays. Shanghaiist caught a salacious pole performances there recently that makes it one of the steamiest gay bars in town. Email shanghaifaghag at gmail.com for the location!
• Gay or straight, a recent Survey shows 'dangerous' AIDS ignorance in China, so be careful!

Photo from mkl.