Zhao Peng entered the court room draped in a rainbow flag, carrying abanner explaining his grievances with 58.com and chanting LGBT slogans.

58.com is taking the gay blogger to court after he accused the website of "discriminating against gay people" and asked for 500,000 yuan (US$82,000) in damages.

Zhao explained to reporters that he had appeared on a TV recruitment show in which the CEO of 58.com offered him a job, but had not kept his promise.

Zhao told his 2.5 million Weibo followers that he had been turned down because of his sexuality. 58.com denies these accusations.