China decriminalized gay sex only in 1997, and stigmas remain, but a doubling of HIV infections among young urbanites has made for some unlikely bedfellows.

Towleroad:

In 2011 Ma Baoli left his job as a Chinese police officer after it was discovered that he was the creator and administrator of Danlan.org, a popular Chinese social network for gay men. Soon after resigning Baoli created Blued, a geo-location based mobile app similar to Grindr.

In the three years since Baoli launched Blued, the application’s userbase has expanded to over 15 million people. Unlike many of its predecessors, which the Chinese government has been known to proactively shut down, Blued has found an unlikely ally in governmental officials looking to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS throughout the country.

In the early days of HIV/AIDS the virus was widely thought to be a larger problem for China’s rural population. In recent years, however, the rate of new infections is steadily rising within younger populations in more metropolitan areas.

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For those who aren’t so familiar with hookup apps such as Grindr and Tinder, they’re mobile social networking programs that allow would-be lovers to find nearby dalliances (or more). They were pioneered in the gay community, and have really taken off since finding heterosexual adoption.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer

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