脫去警服 建造一箇中國同性戀者的網絡王國
BEIJING
北京
MA BAOLI was accustomed to secrets.
以前的馬保力習慣於與祕密爲伴。
By day, he was a police officer in northern China with a wife and a knack for street chases.
白天，他是中國北方的一名已婚警察，深諳街頭追捕的訣竅。
By night, he led a life as a gay man, furtively running a website for gay people across China at a time when many were viewed as criminals and deviants.
晚上，他以一名男同的身份生活，在很多同性戀者被當成罪犯和異端的年代，祕密運營着一家面向中國各地同性戀者的網站。
For 16 years, Mr Ma kept his secret, worried that coming out would mean expulsion from the police force and estrangement from his family.
馬保力在16年間保守着自己的祕密，擔心一旦出櫃就會被清理出警察隊伍，並遭到家人的疏遠。
Then in 2012, his superiors at a police department in Qinhuangdao, a coastal city in Hebei Province, uncovered his website and he resigned.
到了2012年，他在河北省沿海城市秦皇島一家警察局的上司發現了他的網站，於是他辭去了公職。
His job lost, his family struggling to accept his sexuality, Mr Ma set out to turn his passion for connecting gay people into an empire.
馬保力一直滿懷熱情，想要把同性戀者連結起來。丟掉了工作、性取向難以得到家人認同的他，開始致力於把這份熱情轉化成一個王國。
He created Blued, now China’s most popular gay dating app with an estimated value of $600 million and more than three million active daily users, about as many as Grindr, a popular gay dating app in the United States.
他創辦了Blued，眼下是中國最受歡迎的同性戀約會應用程序，估值爲6億美元，日活躍用戶超過300萬人——與美國廣受歡迎的同性戀約會應用程序Grindr的用戶數相當。
Mr Ma, 39, said he saw his mission as working to legitimize same-sex relationships at a time when gay people, especially in China, still face discrimination.
現年39歲的馬保力說，他認爲自己的使命是在當下這個同性戀者——尤其是中國的同性戀者依然受到歧視的時代，致力於讓同性關係得到接受。
In the past people wouldn’t even talk about homosexuality because they thought it was dirty, it was filthy, he said.
過去大家避談同性戀，因爲他們覺得同性戀很醜陋很骯髒，他說。
The internet can help support gay lifestyles, to make people know they are not alone and that their feelings are genuine.
互聯網對於同性戀的生活方式給予了不少支持，也使得很多人瞭解到他們並不是獨孤的，他們的感情也是真摯的。
Mr Ma also sees a lucrative business opportunity in China’s so-called pink economy, as more people look to spend money on gay-themed social networking sites, entertainment and travel.
此外，當更多人有望把錢花在以同性戀爲主題的社交網站、娛樂和旅遊上的時候，馬保力在中國的所謂粉色經濟中看到了一個有利可圖的商業機會。
The spending power of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in China is estimated at $460 billion per year, making them the largest market in Asia, according to LGBT Capital, an investment management firm.
投資管理公司LGBT資本(LGBT Capital)稱，據估計，中國女同性戀、男同性戀、雙性戀和跨性別人羣每年的消費能力爲4600億美元，在亞洲位居榜首。
But translating Mr Ma’s instincts into an enduring business model has proved challenging.
但事實證明，把馬保力的直覺變成可持續的商業模式是一個充滿挑戰的過程。
Like many popular technology start-ups in China, Blued is only beginning to make a profit; most of its services, including chat, live-streaming and a news feed, are free.
像中國的很多頗受歡迎的科技初創公司一樣，Blued纔剛剛開始盈利；它的大多數服務，包括聊天、實時流媒體、信息流，都是免費的。
Attracting advertising remains difficult, with some companies reluctant to be associated with a business that caters to gay people.
廣告客戶依然難於招攬，因爲一些公司不願意和一個爲同性戀者服務的企業扯上關係。
Mr Ma has set his sights on foreign markets, hoping to take on established players like Grindr and Hornet.
馬保力已經把目光投向了海外市場，想要和Grindr、Hornet等老牌玩家相抗衡。
While Blued now dominates in China with more than 80 percent of the gay dating market, analysts said it would probably be difficult for the company to build a large following overseas.
Blued目前在中國同性戀約會市場上居於主導地位，佔據着超過80%的市場份額，但分析人士稱，該公司可能很難吸引大批海外追隨者。
Culturally, people work differently, said Paul Thompson, a co-founder of LGBT Capital based in Hong Kong.
從文化角度看，大家的行事方式各不相同，總部位於香港的LGBT資本聯合創始人保羅•湯普森(Paul Thompson)表示。
It’s much easier to build up this real concentrated drive in one marketplace than it is to do it in lots of places.
集中力量深耕單個市場要比同時進軍很多個地方容易得多。
Growing up in northern China as the son of a factory worker and a housewife,
馬保力在中國北方長大成人，父親是工廠裏的一名工人，母親是家庭主婦。
Mr Ma hoped to go to college and become a teacher.
他曾經希望進大學讀書，然後成爲一名老師。
But his parents thought his dreams were too costly, and he was sent to the local police academy instead.
但父母認爲他的夢想花費太高，將他送進了當地的一所警校。
It was there, he said, in a macho culture that revolved around talking about women, that he realized he was gay.
他說，正是在那裏，在一種聊天圍繞女性展開的硬漢文化中，他意識到自己是同性戀者。
At the time, in the mid-1990s, gay sex was considered a crime in China and homosexuality was classified as a psychological disorder.
當時是上世紀90年代中期，同性性行爲被視爲犯罪，同性戀被列爲一種心理障礙。
At the police academy, Mr Ma took courses on criminal psychology where cadets were told that gay people should be viewed suspiciously because they were more likely to commit crimes.
馬保力在警校學過犯罪心理學，學員在課堂上被告知，應該以懷疑的眼光看待同性戀者，因爲他們更有可能從事犯罪行爲。
When I realized I was different from other people, he recalled, I thought I was ill.
當我意識到我和其他人不一樣的時候，他回憶道，我以爲自己病了。
Mr Ma turned to the internet for advice.
馬保力曾到網上尋求建議。
But instead of finding a supportive community, he found rants describing gay people as lunatics and perverts.
但他沒能找到一個可以帶來幫助支持的社區，而是發現了一些把同性戀者描述成瘋子和變態的發泄言論。
On health websites, he was bombarded with recommendations to seek medication and electroshock treatment.
在健康網站上，他看到了太多關於求醫以及接受電擊治療的建議。
After becoming a police officer, Mr Ma was inspired in 2000 to start his own website, , Chinese for light blue, evoking the clear coastal skies of his childhood.
受此觸動，馬保力當上警察以後，於2000年創辦了自己的網站淡藍()，這個名字來自他小時候沿海地區澄澈的天空。
The site offered chat forums and advice on reducing the risk of H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted diseases.
網站上有聊天論壇，還提供降低感染HIV及罹患其他性傳播疾病風險的建議。
Danlan soon became a popular way for gay men in China to connect in an age when many had been resorting to scrawling meeting dates and places on bathroom stalls, worried about the stigma of coming out.
在此前的中國，由於擔心出櫃所帶來的恥辱，很多同性戀者都是在公廁座位間內草草寫下會面的時間和地點，而淡藍很快就成了深受男同歡迎的聯絡平臺。
At work, Mr Ma chased burglars, filed incident reports and recorded public service announcements.
在本職工作中，馬保力要追捕竊賊、給事件報告歸檔、錄製公共服務宣傳片。
In his spare time, he raced to the keyboard, writing essays for Danlan and chatting with friends under the pseudonym Geng Le.
在業餘時間裏，他會迫不及待地敲擊鍵盤，以耿樂這個化名爲淡藍寫文章、跟朋友聊天。
Mr Ma kept up the routine for more than a decade.
馬保力就這樣日復一日地生活了十多年。
He married, under pressure from friends and family.
在來自親友的壓力下，他結了婚。
But when his supervisors confronted him about his website in 2012, he offered his resignation.
但在2012年，當上司就其網站質問他的時候，他遞交了辭呈。
His family was devastated.
他的家庭遭受了毀滅性的打擊。
Both of his parents were very traditional,
他的父母都是很傳統的人，覺得自己的小孩有一份很不錯的工作。
and they thought their kid had a really good job, said Wu Guoxin, 38, a friend from the police academy.
馬保力念警校時交到的朋友吳國新說。
There was nothing he could do.
他自己也挺無能爲力的。
Mr Ma’s relationship with his wife soon dissolved.
馬保力和妻子的婚姻很快便土崩瓦解。
His mother was stricken with cancer and Mr Ma worried that his decision to come out had contributed to her illness.
他母親患上了癌症，他擔心自己的出櫃決定是導致母親生病的因素之一。
The family agreed to never speak about his sexuality again.
全家人一致決定，再也不談論他的性取向了。
IN his new life as a high-powered technology executive, Mr Ma still goes by the alias from his Danlan days, Geng Le.
作爲一名位高權重的科技企業高管，馬保力在新生活中仍以淡藍網時代的化名耿樂示人。
In meetings with business partners, he retains the deliberative demeanor of a police officer, nodding his head intently in silence, as if interviewing a witness at a crime scene.
會見商業夥伴時，他的言行舉止依然帶有當警察時的審慎做派，會安安靜靜、心無旁騖地點頭，彷彿正在犯罪現場詢問目擊證人。
In a sprawling office in central Beijing,
在位於北京市中心的龐大辦公室裏，馬保力領導着約由200名員工構成的團隊。
where portraits of scantily clad men hang on the wall, Mr Ma leads a team of about 200 employees.
辦公室的牆上掛着一些衣着暴露的男人的圖像。
In one corner, workers scan Blued posts for illegal pornography.
一個角落裏，工作人員正在掃描Blued上的帖子，搜尋非法色情內容。
In another, a team adds Chinese subtitles to a movie that Blued produced in Thailand.
另一個角落裏，一個團隊正給Blued在泰國製作的一部電影加上中文字幕。
The company is trying to increase its revenue by expanding into gay travel and entertainment.
該公司正試圖把業務拓展到同性戀旅遊和娛樂領域，以增加收入。
Mr Ma also hopes to bring more advertising to the app, and he sees potential for growth in live-streaming features,
馬保力還希望給這個應用程序拉到更多廣告，他從實時流媒體功能中看到了增長的潛力。
a wildly popular form of communication in China.
在中國，實時流媒體是一種頗受歡迎的通訊方式。
Blued has more than 200,000 hosts who broadcast around the clock on a variety of topics — music, dating, fitness and cooking.
Blued上逾20萬名主播，會全天上傳與音樂、約會、健身、烹飪等多種話題有關的內容。
Some earn up to $15,000 a month in tips paid by users, the company says, with Blued taking a share of each payment.
該公司稱，有些主播每個月收到的用戶打賞多達1.5萬美元，Blued能從每筆打賞中獲得分成。
As he works to build his business, Mr Ma said he was also looking for ways to improve the lives of gay people in China.
馬保力說，他一邊致力於創辦企業，一邊想方設法地改善中國同性戀羣體的生活。
Blued offers free H.I.V. testing at clinics in Beijing, and the company has helped pay to fly same-sex couples to the United States to be married.
在北京的一些診所裏，Blued提供免費的HIV檢測，該公司還幫助一些飛往美國結婚的同性情侶籌集了相關費用。
Mr Ma said he was optimistic that long-entrenched stereotypes were fading in China and that within two decades, the country would embrace ideas like same-sex marriage.
馬保力說他樂觀地認爲，在中國，長期存在的刻板印象正在淡化，不出20年，這個國家將會接受同性婚姻一類的觀念。
He quoted his idol, the founder Jack Ma, in describing both the challenge of building a successful start-up in China and the struggles of the gay-rights movement.
提及在中國打造一家成功的初創企業所面臨的挑戰，以及開展同性戀權利運動所遇到的困難，他引用了他的偶像、阿里巴巴創始人馬雲的話。
When I’m at my most painful moments, he said, I remember what Jack Ma said: ‘Today is hard, tomorrow will be worse, but the day after tomorrow will be sunshine.’
我最痛苦的時候，他說，總會想起馬雲的一句話：‘今天很殘酷，明天更殘酷，後天會很美好。
