When I took a European friend on a tour in Shanghai, he asked me surreptitiously,"Are there a lot of lesbians in China?" "Why would you ask that?" I queried,"well," he explained," I see a lot of girls holding hands and linking arms when they walk on the street.""Oh! No, not at all!" I laughed.

I had, in fact, become so used to seeing women walking hand in hand in China that I didn't even notice it anymore!

In China, holding hands and walking arm-in-arm ith people of the same sex is not indicate of homosexuality. Instead, It is a sign of closeness among friends. You will often find girls holding hands as they walk and shop together. The gesture tells everyone that they are best friends, You will also see mothes and grown-up daughters linking arms on a shopping trips. In fact, it would be unusual to find Chinese mothers and daughters walking independently from each other. They will have at least one part of their body touchig each other, whether it is one hand resting on another's arm, or the shoulders rubbing each other.

Similarly, it is also socilly acceptable for men to wrap arms around each others' shoulders while walking down the street. It simply says they are best male buddies. Body contact among males, in fact, does not dimidh a person's manliness. On the contrary, most often it is the most manly and athletic Chinese males who wrap arms around each other's shoulders.

(selected from 101 Stories for Foreigners to Understand Chinese People by Yi S. Ellis and Bryan D. Ellis, published by China Intercontinental Press in 2012)