During my time on Rednote I’ve only really found people to be very kind and supportive but I have little real life experience because I’ve unfortunately never been to China.

I can’t speak too much about the other experiences lived by LGB people because I just don’t know enough to accurately say, I’ve heard mixed things, but for trans people I’ve heard interesting things. Generally there seems to be a larger concentration of trans people in Beijing and Guangdong. General acceptance can vary but living a happy life is certainly possible from what I have seen. I once had a conversation with a person on the topic who had been to China for the purpose of learning about and helping trans people in China. I think the most interesting thing they said about the subject is they had never in their entire time encountered a single trans person who was homeless.

Transitioning is legal but requires surgery (That is to say, you have to have surgery before your ID legal documents can be updated to reflect your accurate credentials) and gender affirming care is restricted. I am not sure how restricted but I do know that recieving care is possible as there are gender clinics in the country. As far as I was aware I did not think there were any other protections in place for LGBTQ+ people in the country but your friend says the opposite so for that I don’t know what to think but I’d probably take their word on that over mine. I really can’t speak to how the general populace views the average trans person but it largely seems to be mixed and depends on which region you are in and who you speak to.

Generally I think for a trans person it isn’t the worst place to live, I’d certainly rather live there than terf island but there is room for improvement. I do hope China will take inspiration from Vietnam and Cuba’s example in the future and I’m optimistic about that.

I wish I could paint a more accurate picture for you but that’s all I know from my brief investigation and limited information. I hope it helps you.