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Just fill in your email and we will help you reset your password. Research showing underage users registering on the platform and meeting older men for sex has raised safety concerns. The app, founded by a former police officer and backed by investors including Hong Kong-based CDH Investments, boasts 40 million registered users, including 12 million outside China. It has evolved from a simple platform allowing users to match and chat with each other to one offering functions like e-commerce and livestreaming, now considered prerequisites for success among Chinese apps.

According to Zhang Beichuan, a prominent Chinese researcher of LGBT issues, Blued has overlooked key safety steps and allowed underage users to create accounts on its platform, exposing them to explicit content and sexual exploitation by adults. The company will uncover underage users disguised as adults and clean up text and photos related to minors, the statement said.
Blued was started in by Ma Baoli, then a police officer in the northern city of Qinhuangdao, under the pseudonym Geng Le. He called it Pale Blue Memories and mainly recorded personal stories and his own feelings in its early posts. The website was shut down many times, and Ma found himself having to switch servers repeatedly, he told Caixin. After media reports outed him, he faced enormous pressure from his workplace and even considered suicide, he said.
Gradually, and with the help of a small team, Ma grew his site into an online community. In November , they launched the Blued app, closely modeled at the time on U. Users were able to connect with others near them, view their profiles, and start chatting. Chen Liang — an early adopter of Blued who is identified here with a pseudonym — said that before apps like Blued appeared, LGBT people in China often had trouble finding dates and friendship, especially in smaller cities. Zhang interviewed boys who said they had created their Blued accounts when they were as young as Multiple high-schoolers that he spoke to said they had met up with older men through the app, and some said they had been pressured into having sex.
Zhang said that a number of underage interviewees told him they had contracted HIV from people they met through Blued. Zhang has not published his research, but he shared his findings with Caixin. Hu Wei, the leader of a major LGBT community welfare organization who is not identified here by his real name at his request, said that in the past two years, almost all the new cases of HIV infection found by his organization involved people who had met sexual partners through Blued, including one year-old boy.
Hu also told Caixin he had encountered in his work children as young as 12 who said they were using Blued.
But Zhang said men who contracted HIV through sex with other men were in an especially vulnerable position in China, since official organizations in many parts of the country refuse to discuss homosexuality and avoid doing necessary community health care and outreach work. Blued has tried to fill that gap through Danlan, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Blued that provides sex education and free HIV testing, as well as through educational videos livestreamed by the group.
Blued executives contacted by Caixin did not deny that there were minors using the app, but Ma said the intention had never been to target minors. Amid a mass crackdown on Chinese livestreaming services in the past two years, Blued changed its policies to require real-name authentication from all streamers.
They either live with their parents or with their wives, so there is a lot of secrecy surrounding gay relationships. Blind eyes are definitely turned in a lot of cases. I also spoke to some other female friends of mine who have never dated or fancied Chinese guys. There is no general consensus.
One girl blames physical incompatibility. Another friend cites the place of Chinese women in society as her reason for steering clear of Chinese guys. Australian Jess says she would happily date a Chinese guy, if one would show interest.
So in conclusion, it clearly pays to keep an open mind about dating, in every respect. Who knows — your perfect guy might be just around the corner, and he may be Chinese. To receive career advice, articles and job alerts in China. Tell us a little about yourself so we can customize your site experience. All comments are subject to moderation by eChinacities. Because we wish to encourage healthy and productive dialogue we ask that all comments remain polite, free of profanity or name calling, and relevant to the original post and subsequent discussion.
Comments will not be deleted because of the viewpoints they express, only if the mode of expression itself is inappropriate. Please login to add a comment. Click here to login immediately. Apr 14, Report Abuse.
LESDO (乐Do) is arguably the largest lesbian dating app in China, boasting million users. Founded by a team of gay women, the startup. It is easily among the most popular gay dating apps in the world. Like WeChat, Blued aspires to be a Swiss Army knife for its users, absorbing.
There seems to be a different standard of masculinity here, I have issues even being 'bros' with han guys. No issues with Mongol or Uyghur just Han. Apr 11, Report Abuse. Anyone, Foreigner male or female, who are dreaming of dating or worse, marrying a Chinese man or woman is just crazy, dumb, stupid or high as a kite!! Chinese women age like coffee, cold and bitter, as for the men, wow I mean, now you talking someone who is, generally speaking of course, just plain ignorant, delusional, usually spoiled, always on mission impossible Mar 17, Report Abuse. This article is exactly why Western women have a bad reputation amongst straight men.
It shows the idiocy of a society that trains women to think like men.
You're reduced to nothing more than a prostitute. And what type of men do prostitutes have as friends?
Blind eyes are definitely turned in a lot of cases. Register Already have an account? Hesha is a dating and social app based around wine. It looks very similar to Momo, and uses the same location-based system to find people nearby. Blued provides communication, social networking and live streaming services based on geolocation.
Sep 06, Report Abuse. Read article with smartphone. Sep 25, By Susie Gordon , eChinacities. Comments 4. Share this Article:. Photo: JasonDGreat To get some alternative perspectives on the issue, I sought the opinions of two friends of mine who do like Chinese guys. Sign up a free account and receive the free career advice from other expats. Sign up with Google Sign up with Facebook Already have an account? Sign in. To continue reading the full article, please sign up a free account Sign up with Google Sign up with Facebook Already have an account? Looking for jobs in China?