Dear Slate, yes there are chocolate bars in China
Cinematheque: Mulan is finally Chinese again! (and other film news)
Protest in Guangzhou: Why would you burn garbage?
Barbie Spa: For the cosmopolitan plastic beauty in you
Obama in China: Long gone, and still headlinin'
On the right is a powerful photo story of a 16 year old village prostitute, Ah-V, who eloped with her boyfriend Xiaowu from Guizhou to an unnamed province, and to make ends meet, Xiaowu makes Ah-V prostitute herself. Along the way, of course, Ah-V gets pregnant, and has to go for an abortion, but she is so poor that the only thing worth money in her possessions is a broken fan which she got from a rag-and-bone dealer for RMB10. As a result, because she couldn't pay for her hospital bed, they put her on drip by the door of her home.
The photo story continues to offer intimate glimpses and other snapshots of Ah-V's life - her love for her cat, her relationship with Xiaowu, old men lurking around her because they could not afford to pay her, other women of the street, their brief moments of happiness when they meet a cute client, etc. One powerful shot has Ah-V allowing another prostitute Ah-Lan to examine her to see if she has contracted some sexually transmitted disease.
The video clip has been viewed 164,412 times within a day of its release and attracted 730 comments. There is a part of us that really want to believe this story but for now there are many questions in our mind:
1. For how long was the photographer with Ah-V?
2. What was his/her relationship with Ah-V?
3. How did he/she get so far into Ah-V's private life to get such intimate shots?
4. Could the pictures have been stolen from someone's private collection and the words added to them by some raconteur extraordinaire?
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anyone happen to know the origin of photo(like photos on flickr)?
fake video? Possible
Real? Also as likely and more so. Thanks to the CCP's wise population planning and ancient Chinese (and Asian) traditional practices, this type of story will become very common. The UN may need to evacuate all of China's women to save them from a life of slavery and prostitution.
Bad, bad China.
nanheyangrouchuan
A Taiwanese metal band gaining fame in the West. Download "Chthonic".
Regardless of whether or not these pictures are fake. The fact that China has a sex trade problem is obvious and stories like this are not unplausible.
Something needs to be done, not just for sake of public health, but for the development of the Chinese social mentality. If it is left to continue generations of Chinese women will grow up with prostitution around them as a daily thing, and those of them who become desperate will become more and more likely to turn to a life of prostitution as it becomes more socially prevelant.
While my heart goes out to these women the Chinese government needs to be EXTREMELY strict on the matter. Its a case of love the criminal hate the crime.
Lamb Skewer - Criticism of China has many many places, but I really think trying to blame Ah-V's plight on anything but poverty and harsh circumstances (as opposed to anything cultural) is a slippery slope. Otherwise, who is to blame for the blight of crack whores in East St. Louis, Baltimore, Gary Indiana? Bad United States? Amsterdam? New Oreleans? Calcultta? Snake Alley? Thailand? The world is full of sad prostitution stories, surely there's no reason that Ah-V's story (true or not) has anything particular to do with China.
Nah, just awful circumstances.
#5;
While it is true that the world's oldest profession has lots of sources of "inspiration" for why people get started in it, massive gender imbalance will and is making women/girls a commodity to be traded and there will be no escape.
nanheyangrouchuan
Why do i get the feeling that China will become the next Africa for the Aids epidemic? And we know what will happen next.. disease, famine, strife, war...
But China is developing so this means they can act like savages and still feel good about themselves.
China is so backwards it's ridiculous. A different universe but they think they are so fucking great.
you are young and "pretty", and can't or don't want to find a job, that's the easy way out. let people be less money-oriented
Brilliant analysis, nanhe! I'd love to hear what convoluted reasoning you have for the rampant prostitution in South Korea or South Africa. The explosion in pregnancies or lack of a one-child policy in Africa doesn't seem to help their situation. Tough situation- no population control, prostitution. Too many restrictions, prostitution. Guess what the number one market for the sex-industry is? What does it say about the Western sex tourists. We all know what all these expat men are here for- "culture". Guess its better to shit in someone else's country than your own.
- observer
Oh, I forgot about India. Bad, bad India too...
Guest #10 - interesting way to blame westerners for China's problem. What % of whores in China do you think are visited by westerners? MAYBE 1% if that?
No morality, no humanity, badly governed one-party country, no sexual equality, no sexual openness... these reasons and many more are why there are so many whores.
hahahaha. Not blaming westerners, genius.
No morality, no humanity, badly governed one-party country, no sexual equality, no sexual openness... these reasons and many more are why there are so many whores.
This seems to exist in a whole host of countries. Not sure if I can equate one-party country to prostitution. Good lord, you're a judgemenal bastard.
-observer