<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?><oembed><version><![CDATA[1.0]]></version><provider_name><![CDATA[The Dish]]></provider_name><provider_url><![CDATA[http://dish.andrewsullivan.com]]></provider_url><author_name><![CDATA[Andrew Sullivan]]></author_name><author_url><![CDATA[https://dish.andrewsullivan.com/author/sullydish/]]></author_url><title><![CDATA[China&#8217;s Faux Marriage&nbsp;Frenzy]]></title><type><![CDATA[link]]></type><html><![CDATA[<p>The closet&#39;s corrosive effects are <a href="http://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2012/07/attitudes-towards-homosexuality" target="_self">alive and well</a> in China, where an estimated 70% of gay men marry women to satisfy parental expectations.&#0160;While most of these marriages involve unwitting straight women, some of them are consensual, often conducted via a gay men-lesbian matchmaking site with some 153,000 members. The personal account of one of such couple:</p> <blockquote> <p>Zhuang Xiang, a 30-year-old accountant from Shanghai, came to understand why he was drawn to boys when he was 17. On flicking through a gay comic book in a shop, he had his great &quot;a-ha!&quot; moment. He met his boyfriend in 2004. And then he married his lesbian wife in 2009. He and his wife don’t live together, but they visit each other’s parents once a week. Mr Zhuang even keeps some of her clothes on display at home, in case of unannounced visitors.</p> </blockquote>]]></html></oembed>