In 2011 Lin Yan attended the Chuanwei Psychological Counselling Centre in Shenzhen, a southern city. Worried that his parents would not accept his homosexuality, Mr Lin, who was then 24 (and now uses a pseudonym), spent $1,700 on three months of so-called "conversion therapy". He was shown sexualised images of men and induced to vomit by an injected drug. Other techniques included what he describes as "mental torture". A counsellor would repeat that his family would never forgive him and that being gay was immoral. He endured electric shocks. Mr Lin's treatment may be abhorrent but it is far from uncommon in China's big cities. The country declassified homosexuality as a mental disorder in 2001. Today urban centres harbour vibrant gay scenes and even hold cautious gay-pride festivals. There are over 100 support groups around the country. But the idea that homosexual- ity is a curable disease prevails in rural areas and among older generations.
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