Community | August 05, 2008 | 14 comments

Sex workers disappear from Beijing

source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUKPAT41142720080804

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LindseyIndigo
Where have all the 'money boys' gone?, asks Reuters in its report on the sudden clean-up of Beijing's red light districts and hooker hotels, which neatly coincides with the advent of the Olympics, and worldwide attention on the capital.

Prostitution is illegal in China. Banished after the Communist revolution in 1949, it returned with a vengeance in the 1980s when the country embarked upon economic reforms and started opening to the outside world.

For prostitutes and pole dancers alike, pickings now are slim. They cannot wait for the Olympics to end.

Climbing down from her pole in a sparsely populated bar in Beijing's Sanlitun area, 22-year-old Yang Shuo sighed.

"Business is OK but it could be better," she said. "It's the Olympics, you know. Police are cracking down on places like this."

Looking out on a tacky bar filled with a handful of customers, she said: "I am looking forward to the Olympics finishing."

"Business is terrible," confessed one prostitute as she strode up to a passing westerner in a downtown Beijing street offering "Sex, Sex, Sex".

"We have been thrown out of the hotels," said the woman in her mid-30s, wearing a low-strung orange top. "We have to do our business on the streets and cut our prices."

She normally charges 600 yuan (45 pounds) for three hours. The special Olympic price is now down to 500 yuan.

"I hate the Olympics. We can't wait for them to finish -- then business can return to normal."

The outlook was equally bleak at a bar once notorious as a haunt for picking up Mongolian prostitutes. The guard outside said: "It is closed for renovation. It will not be re-opening until September."

Trying to find out how business was for the money boys -- China's name for gay rent boys -- was not easy. None was prepared to talk unless you paid them first.

The Chinese government has told discos, karaoke bars and other entertainment venues to install windows in private rooms and ensure staff dress modestly in an effort to crack down on prostitution and drugs.

The Ministry of Public Security has decreed that entertainment venues must install transparent partitions between rooms that ensure "the whole environment of the consumer's entertainment area in the room can be seen".

Discos and karaoke bars in China frequently have private rooms for hire and are a favourite place for businessmen to entertain guests, sometimes with prostitutes.

Skimpy outfits were also officially discouraged. Staff members should "dress tastefully and not be too exposing".

Is there any point in China taking action to present some kind of Stepford Wives front. when the rest of the world hears about *real* China via stories like this anyway? What do you think China is like, and have the stories pouring out of the country because of the Olympics actually done China more harm than good? Would you have more respect for the government if it was at least upfront about the reality of it's country?

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14 comments // Sex workers disappear from Beijing

  • Brotha_B
    • 0
      Brotha_B  

    • I can relate to this... When the Super Bowl came to town, the City of Detroit offered shelter to all of the homeless. Afterall - the city didn't want any "trash" on the streets, while international cameras were rolling. Surely enough, when Super Bowl week ended, the homelss were once again turned out on their arses. Don't worry - the Chinese whores will be back in black once the Olympics have ended.

      Hmmm - 45 pounds for 3 hours isn't bad! LOL

    • 3 years ago
  • 24French
    • 0
      24French  

    • The money boys have disappeared, cigarette smoking is banned and China suddenly has an HIV tolerant travel policy...we just need a couple of cartoon pandas taking us on a tour of the city and the transformation will be complete.

    • 3 years ago
  • taiwanlink
    • 0
      taiwanlink  

    • Prostitution in Beijing is cyclic. Since at least 1992, crackdowns happen once every couple of years, with the last several being more relaxed. Despite the hype over its "rise," China's development is uneven and could still be considered a third world country. Therefore, people often do what they can to make ends meet. Not everyone can rise up through the Communist Party and get cush jobs with state-owned enterprises. The "in your face" approach to the sex trade makes one wonder if the state turns a blind eye intentionally as a means to strengthen its foreign currency reserve.

    • 3 years ago
  • atharrach
    • 0
      atharrach  

    • If I were one of those prostitutes or pole dancers (from China or anywhere in the world), I'd feel pretty mortified basically saying "It sucks that I can't have random sex with with ten men a day like I've been doing since I was old enough to realize I had pubic hair. It also sucks that I can't prance around on stage being nothing but an object for men to oogle at, since they care not for me as a person, only as a pair of tits and a vagina. I hope the olympics are over soon so I can continue playing Russian roulette with HIV and chlaymidia."

      I'm thankful that I haven't had to do such things to make a living and I would hate it if the day ever came when I relt right in my conviction to say such a thing like that.

    • 3 years ago
  • yiyo21
    • 0
      yiyo21  

    • well... the world did not care too much about the olympics performing in China so now dont be surprised of all the "weird" things its govt is going to do. After all this is the country that has denied freedom to Tibet for yrs and yrs....

    • 3 years ago
  • EddieStarr
    • 0
      EddieStarr  

    • Am I supposed to feel empathetic for the sex workers?
      Imagine if you will, the Olympics was held in Las Vegas . . Wouldn't city and government officials do almost the same kind of "PR" preperation?

      I know some look at this as China trying to create a false image. However, this IS the Olympics. A spectacular event of huge proportions, globally broadcasted for the world to see. Its a no brainer that China would wants to "put its best foot forward".

    • 3 years ago
  • Swiyyah
  • PWNtheVOTE
    • 0
      PWNtheVOTE  

    • It's hilarious that the "godless atheists" of communist China are cleaning up their streets of sex workers for the Olympics but when I went to the Republican National Convention protest in New York City back in 2004 they were bringing bus loads of whores up from vegas for the "Moral Majority".

    • 3 years ago
  • cheakywillie
  • good_stuff
  • rwylie
    • 0
      rwylie  

    • Where the hell did they find THIS stock photo from? Those guys obviously had a pretty embarrasing time, and the one on the left seems fixated on his pants...

    • 3 years ago
  • LindseyIndigo
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