Lesbians in Shanghai can get psychological help and support from a new hotline that opened this week, the first on the Chinese mainland dedicated to their concerns.

Sponsored by a Hong Kong foundation, the free hotline is staffed by trained counselors who are also lesbian or "lala" as they known in Chinese.

Many lesbians in China are pressured into marrying men and end up living miserable lives, said sociologist Li Yinhe.

She said the public and the families and friends of lesbians should be more understanding and tolerant.

Chung To, who heads the foundation called Chi Heng, hopes the hotline will provide real help for lesbians.

"We hire lesbians to operate the hotline because they have a better understanding of the pressures and stresses," said Chung who is an openly gay man.

While China has no official statistics on homosexuality, the Ministry of Health estimated at the end of 2004 that there were five to ten million gay men in the country. Some experts estimate the total homosexual population is at least 30 million.

Most gays and lesbians dare not declare their sexual orientation and are forced to find sex partners in places that make them vulnerable to HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.

According to estimates, one percent of gay men have contracted HIV.

Volunteer hotlines for homosexuals have emerged in a number of Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Most of these hotlines were founded by gay volunteers or by experts from the country's medical and family planning organizations.

(Xinhua News Agency November 22, 2006)