Police closed down the Mr Gay China pageant in Beijing, just as it was about to begin. One of the organisers, Ben Zhang (pictured above from AFP) explained to the waiting media that he’d been told they didn’t have the correct license for the stage show. Most had expected the event to go ahead, given the level of advance publicity it had received in state-run media.

“Its a disaster. I’m full of disappointment. I thought the government was becoming more and more tolerant,” said Jiang Bo, 29, a contestant from Sichuan province in southwestern China. “They were making a big step. The whole world was thinking China was doing a very good thing. But now I think everybody will be disappointed.” (more here)

The clampdown on this event will sadden many in China and elsewhere, as it was being seen as an example of growing openness about homosexuality and an increasing level of tolerance towards the gay community by the authorities. And it appears that the cancellation of the event is creating more of a media stir around the world than the pageant itself might have done.

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These are just five of the eight finalists in the first-ever Mr Gay China contest (you can see them all here). The winner will be decided this coming weekend in Beijing, and will go on to take part in the Mr Gay World Ambassador pageant in Norway next month. Ryan Dutcher, one of the organisers of the Beijing event told fridae.com about some of the challenges of getting gay men to enter a contest like this is in China. “Though most lead relatively open lives… and may be very active in the gay community and dedicated to the cause, they still tend to hide their sexuality from employers, old classmates, even family. They are afraid if they enter this competition, with all of its media exposure, they will not be able to keep their sexuality hidden from those people.”