China Law Blog

A growing sex trade? If it grows any larger, the Earth will fall off its axis. I suggest conducting an in-depth, hands-on study. Then we can all compare experience (what? who me?) and determine whether there have been improvements, and their socio-economic-political-legalistic effects; no other purpose permitted.

Is it cliche to draw connections between everything Beijing does and the Olympics? Probably, but cliches exist for a reason. These major international sporting events tend to lead to booms in the sex industry, as seen during Germany's 2006 World Cup. Beijing is already trying to curb spitting and cursing, not to mention altering the weather, they might as well put on a show of attacking their sex industry. Europeans might have a more liberal view of prostitution, but that large country across the Pacific from China tends to take a more Puritan view towards these matters.

That said, these new rules are hopefully a genuine "part of China's overall safety efforts." From 1990 to 1998, syphilis rates increased 20 times, gonorrhea rates tripled, and genital warts rates quadrupled. Estimates of HIV/AIDS ases in China range from Beijing's sanctioned 640,000 to 1.5 million and above. China's Ministry of Health claims that 43.6% of new HIV cases in 2005 result from sexual transmission, and that 19.6% of the total cases are the result of commercial sex workers and their clients. The bureaucrats in Beijing surely realize the huge detrimental effect that widespread HIV/AIDS can have on a nation's growth, as witnessed in West Africa. Beijing has already taken many steps to reduce HIV/AIDS, and this is probably one of them.

The problem is that this might be the wrong step in tackling STD health issues. Driving the sex trade out of massage parlors and bath houses might push the trade even further underground. The sex trade in China will not disappear overnight with these new rules, there is too much income disparity in China and too much money to be easily made in sex. Forcing the practice further underground will only lead to shadier, less reputable brothels. The government would accomplish their health goals more fully by sending boxes of condoms to these establishment, or forcing bath houses and massage parlors to post STD informational banners on their walls. This would curb transmission rates by discouraging demand for prostitution in these establishments and blocking the supply of contaminated bodily fluid.

I vote for D, all of the above.

If I have the time, I'm going to check out the actual law as this is all a bit confusing...

First, I don't think this has anything to do with the Olympics, its just a general move that is probably much needed.

Second, this makes sense and is a good thing if they are going to check massage (and not "massage") places to make sure the towels, bed, etc are all sanitized before a new customer uses them.

Finally, and this is the big other issue, is the sex trade stuff...What are they doing about that? It seems nothing...I like this "Shanghai introduced regulations last year requiring all bath houses and hair dressing saloons to have clear glass windows." Umm, like that helps? It's not like they do what they do in the front room anyways and it allows the place to show off its "goods" to passerbys who may be interested. What this isn't is a crackdown on the sex trade, which is what it should be...

Dan,
With all due respect, I've recently stopped reading your blog due to increasing "dragging" quality of the posts. However once I saw "Bath Houses" in my reader, I just couldn't refuse.

I've been meaning to write an entire book on the subject: "A Window to Asia from a SPA" (still working on the title :). To make it short, throughout my years in China I feel like I've been in every souna there is (perhaps it's my Russian blood kicking in). Any place in Beijing - you name it. From 8Kuai to, on some occasions, 3000 I've been there.

On a side note, if you ever need an advice (Shanghai or Beijing), just ping me at http://startuplay.com/

I second Todd's suggestion for the need of a field research report. ;)

There is an option E for explanation. China's bureaucratic has huge inertia and requires large external force to nudge it in any direction. WTO, Olympic and even the exported products problems have all being used for the party insider to move things in their directions.

"...will only lead to shadier, less reputable brothels."

Is the word "reputable" the right word here?

I'm o.k. with the word "shady"....

I like how China seems to be slowly and quietly, but openly, taking a liberal, pragmatic approach to such things as drugs and prostitution, and I like how this is one area in which local and provincial governments seem to be leading the centre in a positive direction. Yunnan is an example that springs to mind. And I see this report as another step in that direction. It's not so much a crackdown on the sex trade as a tacit acknowledgement that the sex trade will exist regardless of what the government does, that it brings certain public health risks, and that a liberal, pragmatic approach is more effective than self-righteous moralising. Oh, sure, the report talks about regulations requiring transparent windows and unlocked doors, but when push comes to shove, I suspect they're going to focus more on hygiene and disease prevention than putting an end to prostitution. Let's face it, you're never going to stamp out the sex trade. Hell, even countries like the Netherlands and New Zealand still have illegally operating brothels- and prostitution is legal in those two countries. But I think the key here is the pragmatic focus on hygiene and public health.

As for Steven Blayney's objection to the word 'reputable' being used in connection with brothels, it's well known that virtually every hotel here provides "services of ill repute". And yes, that includes very reputable hotels.

Aw shucks, Mr. Blayney... I think you got me there, ;). Is "A House of Ill-Repute" a single noun, or are there adjectives in there? It's probably a question for the folks at Netherlands Law Blog.

Allons, Dan ressaisis-toi! Comment un avocat americain peut-il parler de tels sujets dans un pays politiquement correct?

David Li: You may have a point, as bizarre as it seems in this sex-trade context. When you see brothels with signs in the windows supporting WTO, world peace, save the environment, and so forth, you'll know the business has come a long way. Hmmm, thinking WOFE, JV,...?

Actually, the word "shadier" is appropriate. One of the things I like about China is the lack of ambiguity when it comes to buying art and sex. The crackdown on bath houses only has a tangential relation to the Olympics, but it has very real connection to the importation of Western morals and ethics, which are oh-so-very delicate and based in repression as opposed to expression. The word "shadier" is appropriate because in order for the Chinese to not offend the Western investors that are now making their homes in China or the tourists, the Chinese are being pressured to infuse their sex culture with ambiguity and to push it into the background, into the alleys, and out of sight. That is, they're feeling pressure to treat it the same as we do, which will require it to be a very shady business endeavor indeed, making it a dirty secret that everyone is afraid to talk about and partake in. It's truly a horrible consequence of foreign investment but such is the way of the world.

Travis Hodgkins: Doesn't the pushing of the sex trade into the background date back to the Revolution? Weren't all the prostitutes rehabilitated or re-educated or something in 1949? I can see a Western influence here, but it has less to do with foreign investment and more to do with Western political philosophies.

Yep. Mao said no more prostitution and he struck it down like Zeus with lightening bolts. Deng Xiaoping said let there be foreign direct investment and shrugged off the oppressive yolk of Mao-ism. And, viola, China's 5,000 year old sex trade reemerged from under the thumb of communism.

The most dangerous people in the world are theologians and philosophers. You don't hear about millions of people being slaughtered in the name of a poem, or prostitutes being re-educated for the sake of a painting. But, whoa, you feed people a little of Marx's utopian fantasy and psychotic leaders line up around the block for a chance to kill millions. Who killed more? Stalin or Mao? Of course, Chinese philosophy is not lacking in this department. Chinese philosophers have been detailing the art of war practically since the inception of the Middle Kingdom. However, they have been big supporters of sex workers until Mao got his hands on that blasted book by Marx and managed to expel Chiang Kaishek.

The sex industry in China already survived Western political philosophy and is now facing a new horror, and that is the horror of Western sexual morals, which were wonderfully explicated by Michel Foucault. Woops! Is that another philosopher?! Look, sex workers shouldn't be ashamed of their profession anymore than a stay-at-home dad should be ashamed of his job. I like that China hasn't stigmatized sex the same way the West has, and I hate to see those stigmas spreading across the Pacific like a virus (digression: the Chinese also believe HIV was a western import).

How the West and China are melding is a fun topic to cogitate on. I look forward to seeing how it all works out over the course of the next 40 years.

I'm with chriswaugh...One of the biggest shocks about Shenzhen is how "open" the sex trade is. In all my time in Beijing and Shanghai, you'd see places that appear to offer "extra" services, but there's at least a front. In Shenzhen, its glaringly obvious and what makes it "stranger" is that some of these places are mere steps from a police station.

Sorry for getting off topic, but Travis, this has nothing to do with "westerners." This is a country where beyond banning "political" sites, porn websites are blocked to prevent "spiritual pollution."

B.Cheng: I hate to burst your bubble, but in Shanghai, there are plenty of shops where the girls sit in the windows in skimpy suggestive outfits that leave no doubt of their profession. Not that I have any personal knowledge of those ladies' activities, you understand, it's simply on information and belief.

Good piece - I have written a little post on this topic.

Some good comments here - you have some tuned in readers.

Notwithstanding cliches about how these girls earn astronomically more than factory or office workers can, and how men like to visit such establishments alone or in groups to seek companionship, self-esteem, and sexual pleasure, it seems most men who can afford to spend the money at these establishments are already aware of the risks, dangers, and methods of protection. The ladies are even more concerned not to shorten their term of profitability by contracting disease. Unless government directives drive business away by personalizing the enforcement of regulations, such that anyone feels stigmatized, it would be surprising if the business is negatively-affected. Most of the girls and establishments have long furnished protection. It is doubtful that any establishments will be driven underground. If anything, standards in small towns and cities will rise as a result. Greater health protection, not elimination of this industry, appears to be the goal.

Todd L. Platek: I've heard the exact opposite. Remember: The girls working in such establishments probably don't have that much education, and even if they do, it ain't necessarily up to international standard (I work in a university; you would not believe the astoundingly ill-informed stuff I hear from my students sometimes), and they won't necessarily take the same precautions with Chinese customers as with foreign customers, for a whole variety of reasons. So sorry, but this is one area the government does need to step into and provide some appropriate education and guidance.

Chris, you'll have to take it from me on faith at the moment, if you're not doing your empirical research. The shared education and experience in those parlors is rather thorough. But more from the government can't hurt if it is limited to providing wider health coverage.

Very very nice!