Recognition of same-sex unions in China

Since 1 October 2017, couples have been able to enter into guardianship agreements, offering partners some limited legal benefits, including decisions about medical and personal care, death and funeral, property management, and maintenance of rights and interests.

[2][3] Hong Kong courts have also ruled in favor of equal treatment for same-sex couples with regard to inheritance rights and parental recognition after the breakdown of the relationship.

The key beneficiaries were expected to be white-collar foreign expats whose partners and spouses were able to accompany them and gain residency status in Beijing as a result of the law.

Following the wedding, Leung attempted to update his marital status with the Civil Service Bureau, whose policy states that officers' partners can receive spousal benefits, which includes medical care and joint tax assessment.

"[10] A Hong Kong court ruled in September 2017 that a lesbian expatriate worker could live in the territory with her partner as a dependant and ordered the government to issue her a spousal visa.

Judge Anderson Chow Ka-ming ruled in Ng Hon Lam Edgar v Secretary for Justice that the policy was "unlawful discrimination".

[17] In March 2017, the National People's Congress amended Chinese law so that "all adults of full capacity are given the liberty of appointing their own guardians by mutual agreement."

[18] Specifically, article 33 of the amended law, which went into effect on 1 October 2017,[19] states: The system, called "legal guardianship" or "guardianship agreement" (Chinese: 意定监护, pinyin: yìdìng jiānhù, Mandarin pronunciation: [îtîŋ tɕjέnxû]), permits same-sex partners to make important decisions about medical and personal care, death and funeral, property management, and maintenance of rights and interests.

In case one partner loses the ability to make crucial decisions (i.e. mental or physical illness or accident), his or her guardian may decide for them in their best interest.

As of August 2019, guardianship agreements have been signed in Jiangsu (the first one was registered in Nanjing in late 2017), Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Shanghai,[18] Hubei and Beijing,[21] among others.

[22] According to a 2019 online opinion poll on Sina Weibo, which garnered over 5 million responses, 85% of respondents were in favour of the guardianship system, while 5% were opposed; the rest being undecided.

During the Song era, there are tales of two men, Pan Zhang and Wang Zhongxian, who fell in love and lived together in a relationship described as "affectionate as husband and wife, sharing the same coverlet and pillow with unbounded intimacy for one another".

Writing for the Journal of Religious Studies in 2022, Andi Fian, an alumnus from the Gadjah Mada University, argued that prohibitions against same-sex marriage in Confucianism may have influenced Chinese Buddhism.

[29] In September 2014, Brian Davidson, the British Consul-General of Shanghai, married his male partner, Scott Chang, in a ceremony officiated by Ambassador Sebastian Wood at his residence in Beijing.

[33][34] Research has shown that the social well-being of gay men and lesbians is significantly deteriorated by these "sham marriages", resulting in estrangement from family and suicide.

[35][36] On 5 January 2016, a court in Changsha, agreed to hear a lawsuit filed in December 2015 against the Bureau of Civil Affairs of Furong District.

Ouyang Jintong, a lawyer at Beijing Yingke Law Firm, said the court should have considered the length of the couple's relationship and cohabitation while arriving at its verdict, stating,[40] "The couple lived together, shared wealth, comforted each other, and relied on each other in their twilight years, but their union could not be recognized as marriage because they were of the same sex, even though their lives were consistent with the essence of marriage."

[52][53] Several government-related Sina Weibo accounts launched online opinion polls to gauge public support for same-sex marriage, with results as of 22 December 2019 being a ratio of 6 to 4 in favor.

[54] Results of an online Phoenix Network survey, which had garnered close to 10 million votes, showed a 67% majority in favor of same-sex marriage.

Despite the Chinese Society of Psychiatry having removed homosexuality from its list of mental illnesses in 2001, such change is yet to be reflected by the regulations of the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

[62] The Chinese Government did invite the Prime Minister of Iceland, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, and her wife, Jónína Leósdóttir, on an official state visit in April 2013.

[74] An August 2022 poll conducted by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute found that 86% Hongkongers aged 18 to 40 thought that LGBT people "should be treated fairly and should not be discriminated against".

[75] An online opinion poll from Phoenix Network in December 2019, which garnered close to 10 million votes, showed a 67% majority in favor of same-sex marriage in China.