In late July 2025, when the England and Spain women’s football teams competed for the championship in Switzerland, a queer-friendly community space in Beijing also welcomed its opening day. Pushpull (推拉), as its name suggests, is gradually creating a fluid yet closely connected community in the city.

For those already in the know, Pushpull isn’t a brand-new space, but rather the revival of a previous one called Peas (豌豆黄). Although the name has changed, the core values and ethos still remain, with Pushpull continuing to offer a friendly coffee shop and meeting spot for a diverse group of people. Activities like tai chi are remembered by many from the old Peas days, or lengthy banter about population flows in sociology. It was—and still is in its new form—a safe haven that offers support and solidarity from people who share the same viewpoints and who simply want a place to kick back and be themselves.

The reason behind the closure of Peas and the reincarnation of Pushpull? They got shut down. As simple and silly as that. What Peas stood for didn’t gel well with certain folk, and as such, they had to shut down. The challenges the team faced didn’t stop there either. With a litany of restrictions, Pushpull was literally built by the all-women team and the local queer community, brick by brick.

When the members Dongni and Amu first announced the reopening, many familiar faces came to help. Some new faces even showed up—people who had only heard about Peas after it was shut down. Bashing down walls with hammers, building tabletops from scratch, redoing all the floor tiles—these passionate young people transformed the space into a new sanctuary for everyone.

Now, let’s not forget that Beijing is big. Too big for spaces like this to survive easily. In the summer, we heard of Postpost, a record store/community space, shutting down its store in Yangrou Hutong. Meanwhile, Déjà Vu in Duozhuayu, a like-minded second-hand clothing store, was also revived together with Postpost. Nugget, another record store, returned in another format and managed to restart its monthly event in an underground space—this time in Berlin.

Dongni mentioned on social media that in the year and a half without any physical space, they thought about giving up thousands of times. But the desire for expression overcame the obstacles—“We want to speak up.” Even though Beijing’s cultural map keeps shifting, there will always be young people trying to find gaps in the system to speak out for what they deserve within the city.

Currently, Pushpull is settling into a more regular opening schedule, hosting workshops, conversations, screenings, and live events—as well as simply serving good drinks for good people.

Check out Pushpull’s latest updates here. Cover image and all other photos by Dongni, unless otherwise noted.