"To be clear, I am not denying that Chinese LGBTQ content creators have been forced to survive... in regulatory blind spots by cleverly packaging their stories with less provocative keywords like 'youth' and 'romance'..."

"... instead of 'Boys’ Love' or 'LGBTQ.' Instead, I believe it’s important to look deeper into an ecosystem that allows Chinese queer culture to persist.... [C]reators rely on huge streaming platforms [that]... use queer content to pinkwash their reputations while pursuing younger, more liberal audiences.... Streaming media platforms’ support for queer culture is at best speculative; it can be, and often is, withdrawn when the political winds shift.... In 2020, the Chinese government [objected to] 'chaotic fandom activities' and unconventional gender presentation, a phenomenon exemplified by the so-called sissy pants idols, many of them straight, appearing on television.... [W]hile the past two years were unkind to LGBTQ content creators and platforms alike, there are reasons for optimism. Time and again, when offered a choice, Chinese audiences have proven receptive to queer content and themes...."

Writes Wang Shuaishuai, in "How LGBTQ Content Built, Then Vanished From, China’s Streamers/China’s LGBTQ content creators bet big on streaming. But when regulators came for digital platforms, they got caught in the crossfire" (at Sixth Tone, which is a state-owned website.)

I was interested to see the phrase "sissy pants," but this isn't the first time. Here's a post of mine from 2021. I quote an AP report:

"China’s government banned effeminate men on TV. Broadcasters must 'resolutely put an end to sissy men and other abnormal esthetics,' the National Radio and TV Administration said..." 1 "... using an insulting slang term for effeminate men — 'niang pao,' or literally, 'girlie guns.' 2 ​ 3 That reflects official concern that Chinese pop stars, influenced by the sleek, fashionable look of some South Korean and Japanese singers and actors, are failing to encourage China’s young men to be masculine enough...."

And I found this piece from the London Times, 2019,  "CIA turned our celebrities into ‘sissy pants’, says Chinese Academy of Social Sciences" (London Times, 2019): 

Beijing’s experts compared China’s entertainment industry, which “advocates feminine male artists”, to Hollywood, where “male stars are not like this, most of them are tough guys”. 

The biggest celebrities in mainland China often are imported from the K-Pop industry in South Korea.... An editorial in the state-run Xinhua news agency derided xiao xian rou as “sissy boys” unfit for the task of “helping our nation reach its renaissance”. 

Last year, Xinhua, the state news agency, lambasted singers in a new group, New F4, as “sissy pants” and said they were “not men, but not women”. 13 ​ 14 ​ 15 “They look androgynous and wear make-up. They are slender and weak,” the influential opinion columnist using the pen name Xinshiping wrote. “The impact this sick culture will have on our young generation is immeasurable.”