BEIJING  He is 25, Muslim and comes from a part of China recently known for deadly ethnic rioting. This weekend, he is competing for the title of Worldwide Mr. Gay.

As with all such endeavors in China, the journey has been long and winding.

The Chinese delegate at Worldwide Mr. Gay was supposed to have been the winner of Mr. Gay China, a pageant originally set for Jan. 15 in central Beijing. But at the last minute, the Chinese authorities shut down the show, saying the organizers did not have the right permits.

Nevertheless, 11 people  the three organizers and eight pageant participants  quietly got together in late January and voted to send one of the contestants to Norway. That turned out to be a man from the western region of Xinjiang known publicly only by his nickname, Xiao Dai, or his English name, Andrew. His official pageant name is Xiaodai Muyi, and he landed in Oslo on Tuesday, a day after getting a Norwegian visa.

“After the cancellation, we thought our attempt to educate the Chinese public had failed for now,” Ben Zhang, an organizer of Mr. Gay China, said Friday in a telephone interview. “By sending someone to Oslo, I guess we’re sending out a message to the world that still China is able to send a representative.”