In order to dive into the world of rural sex workers so as to better understand and to speak up for them, Liumang Yan decided to become a prostitute for a day last week. To be more exact, she didn't exactly prostitute herself -- she offered sexual services free of charge to migrant workers. Along the way, she posted updates on Sina and Tencent Weibo, telling her followers about the hardships faced by the women she met, and the men she served. more ›

In Guangxi, Nanning police recently arrested 14 "girls" who were patrolling the streets looking for customers, and discovered all of them were actually men. more ›

A few links to finish off your day: Terminal 3 shenanigans, smartphones, China's Miami, and post-80's nostalgia more ›

Two days ago, we heard about Chinese women getting trafficked into Ghana as prostitutes to service expatriates working in the country. Today, Shanghai Daily tells us of a transnational police action which has seen a prostitution ring busted in Angola and ringleaders captured in China: more ›

A man has plunged to his death after trying to flee from the police during a crackdown on prostitution, Guangzhou Ribao reported. more ›

Around 20 girls under the age of 18, including two under the age of 14, have had a prostitution ring of their own making uncovered in Shanghai's Zhabei district, after a customer who had his watch stolen reported the ring to local authorities. more ›

"POLICE have freed 22 women forced to become sex workers in a south China city, local authorities said. Six suspects have been arrested. The women were lured by job promises to the city of Xiamen in southeast China's Fujian Province, where the suspects forced them to work in an entertainment parlor as sex workers, police allege. Police raided the parlor in downtown Xiamen on Saturday after being tipped off by two abducted women who fled from a rented house on the outskirts of the city. The women were kept in the house when they were not working. Police said the women they rescued were abducted from other parts of Fujian, as well as Henan, Sichuan and Chongqing. Young rural women, eager for high-paying jobs in the cities, have become easy prey for human traffickers." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

"ALMOST 50 people were taken away last night by police investigating alleged prostitution at hair salons and foor massage parlors on a street of Minhang District. Police raided more than 10 hair salons and foot massage parlors on Jiangyan Road. Seeing officers approaching, some women inside the venues fled, leaving their belongings such as cell phones and wallets behind. It took an hour for police to round up the suspects at the venues." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

If you're the sort to believe in online rumors, here's a juicy one for you: Abbot Shi Yongxin (释永信) of the world-famous Shaolin Temple was reportedly caught soliciting a prostitute during a recent vice crackdown in Henan province. more ›

God, this is a good giggle. An unidentified man got caught up during a police raid at a Jilin brothel and escaped by jumping over the side of the building and climbing down...naked! He very nearly got stuck but eventually maneuvered his way down using a drainpipe. Prostitution is illegal in China so we can see why he got out of there in a jiffy. In the last two shots, you can see another man and woman fleeing the scene barely covered. more ›

Recently, the Chinese internet went abuzz with an allegedly smuggled video (watch after the jump) showing one not particularly famous singer, Ma Ruila (马睿菈) prostituting herself. While it's probably nothing new that some small-time acts earn money on the side doing titilatting work, Ma also managed to allege that A-listers could be bought as well, including a "Bingbing" who would totally do you for the low price of 500,000rmb. more ›

Liu Shaowu (刘绍武), director of the security management bureau under the Ministry of Public Security, recently emphasised to public security bureaus nationwide the importance of respect as a key touchstone in the crackdown against vice and prostitution. Sex workers, he said, may not be subject to verbal and physical abuse, discrimination and shaming by public parades. He also suggested that the public security bureau would henceforth no longer call prostitutes「卖淫女」(lit. "women who sell vice"), and encourage the use of the term「失足妇女」(lit. "women who have lost their way"). The statement sparked off a flurry of debate in the public, but the ministry's move has received a thumbs up from notable feminist and sexologist Li Yinhe (李银河). Here is our translation of her latest blogpost: more ›

The one on Kangding Road? No? Well, it's too late to make your way there now because police have shut the Xuangong Club down and detained 15 people there for prostitution and sex shows following a police raid that was part of a nationwide crackdown on vice and prostitution in nine cities across China. Shanghai Daily reports some staggering figures: 1,800 venues across the city, mostly hair salons and massage parlors, have been fined or shut down this year for prostitution. Also, approximately 200,000 employees of massage parlors and karaoke bars (that's about 1 percent of Shanghai's population!) have been made to register with the police since 2005, ostensibly for easier supervision by police. more ›

Netizens beware! Posting salacious content on your blog could land you with a warning from the police, with the added bonus of the great firewall of china snaking its way around your site. A Shanghai blogger, surnamed Guan, has been warned by the police for 'spreading rumours' online, after a price list of mistresses from local colleges was posted. more ›

It's probably safe to say that police efforts to stamp out prostitution in China have a bad rep- and for good reason; considering the proliferation of pink Karaokes and massages, any "raid" seems arbitrary and possibly corrupt. That's probably why Shanghai police are getting rid of raids altogether, trying out a new route: undercover sex workers. more ›

Jessie Chen at Forbes' China Tracker lists the weird things that we get used to living here in China. Unfortunately, it's not stuff like "turning on the VPN" or "watching a kid pee on the street," heading into territory that's more like "mine disasters" and "violent evictions." Still, even if it's being serious, the list is hardly comprehensive. I'd add "useless prostitute busts" and "Premier Wen Jiabao showing up at another possibly man-made 'natural' disaster." You? more ›

In what's thought to be the first of its kind in the country, a small group of women have asked onlookers in Wuhan to end discrimination against sex workers by scrapping anti-prostitution laws and stopping the current sex industry crackdown. more ›

It's taken a while, considering public opinion had already turned against the practice years ago, but the Ministry of Public Security has finally issued an edict saying that police around the country are no longer allowed to publicly shame prostitutes and johns as a method of stopping the acts from happening. more ›

There's a lot of articles out there on China's female sex workers, but what about the males? Xing Zhao of CNNGo has an amazing piece about Shanghai Leyi, an NGO that provides support to male sex workers in the city. The group assists between 2000 to 3000 male sex workers (of the estimated 1 million to 10 million in China) per year, ensuring they have access to health care and protection. "We just want to create a better environment for sex workers,” says Zheng Huang, the founder of the NGO. “They’re still people, they have rights.” more ›

Think "sex trade" and chances are male and transvestite sex workers rarely come to mind, though they're just as physically and legally at risk as their female counterparts. To rectify this, CNNGo brings attention to Shanghai Leyi, an organization dedicated to creating a better environment for male and transvestite sex workers. They provide everything from legal training and medical services, to advice on STDs and HIV prevention and free condoms. Founded in 2004, it's a young organization that has thankfully thrived, collaborating with UNAIDS to establish the China Sex Worker Organization Network Forum, and expanding its services to solo female sex workers working the streets, another vulnerable group paid little attention to by aid organizations. more ›

Yikes! Syphilis, a killer disease which was almost eliminated in the 1960's has returned with a startling vengeance. As state policy has shifted focus onto HIV/AIDs prevention, China has been left without a comprehensive public STI screening programme. Health expert Paul Causey also cites the issue of screening married gay and bisexual men, many of whom remain deeply closeted and hard to reach. In addition, a booming economy means "both businessmen and migrant labourers [have] more cash and opportunity to pay for unsafe sex while away from home" and this has led to the shocking rise of maternal syphilis in China. more ›

Our most recent visit to the Windows Too bar in the Jing'an district revealed these hilarious posters. It looks like our favorite purveyor of dirt cheap drinks and equally cheap food has turned to The Simpsons to warn people off illegal behavior. And so: to illustrate the ban on gambling, there's Bart, Lisa and lil' Maggie in an intense game of poker; to show how prostitution isn't allowed, there's Homer grabbing a redhead's tit and offering her some Maojamins; and to warn against doing drugs, there's a Krusty the Clown-ish officer pulling... is that a pill out of Bart's butt? Marge would not approve. more ›

It seems like sex parties are a big no no under Chinese law... at least for now. China's best known sexologist, Li Yinhe, is now tackling an archaic law that "criminalizes private gathering activities regarding sex" and asking legislators to repeal it. While I'm all for Lin Yihe's efforts though, I'm not going to hold my breath - despite the rampant "pink KTVs" and "pink hair salons," prostitution is still illegal. I'm assuming orgies, even if they have been discovered to be the party theme amongst certain people, are much less common. more ›

• A recent prostitution bust in Henan has gotten netizens into a fury... against the police, who were videotaped interrogating a naked woman in an incredibly rough fashion. [CNNGo]
• We can't get enough of stories about the Chongqing corruption trials, so we're glad we get to hear two of our favorite China journalists, Paul French and Malcolm Moore, discuss "China's Chicago." [Ethical Corp]
• So how are Chinese propaganda departments dealing with new media rules that don't allow them to really "stop" people from being interviewed? By wining and dining reporters and other "soft" forms of intimidation. [Telegraph]

The Chinese economy boom has helped increase numbers of both great and not-so-great things. On one hand, you've got rising literacy rates, development and internet penetration. On the other hand, you also get more pollution, city overcrowding and... syphilis. According to the World Health Organization, cases of the STD are now growing by 30% a year, and it's all because of migrant workers who now make enough money to hire more prostitutes. All the more reason to take up Zhang Feng's proposal and give them sex toys, eh? more ›

Communist officials are being warned to just say "No" to escort girls after recent scores of corruption and criminal cases involving officials and ladies of the night (including, we suppose, the ongoing charges against Chongqing's highest judicial official, Wen Qiang, who regularly sought out underaged girls and starlets). According to Li Yuanchao, a top member in the CPC Central Committee, "Party officials ought to stay away from vulgar venues and are not allowed to visit 'sanpei xiaojie' (female escorts) for entertainment." Good luck enforcing that one, guys. more ›

We're hearing rumors that Shanghai's premier street of sleaze may have finally gotten the red stamp. A tipster rode by Tongren Lu earlier today and found that a big Expo wall had been put up in front of it. Simple renovations or did the Jing'an authorities decide that ladies of the night weren't what they wanted the city to sling - even if it's always been a big hit with the foreigners? UPDATE: We went to check it out ourselves last night. It seems that the strip is still alive and well - the Expo work is happening to the building next to it. more ›

Five sex slaves, including two minors, have been rescued from Changning, according to Shanghai Daily. They had been abducted from their home provinces and forced into prostitution here in Shanghai. Police arrested 24 suspects and pinpointed a total of seven gangs as the masterminds behind this human exploitation operation, and also arranged raids in Hubei to catch another gang. Let's hope that these women can now return to their home provinces and live unthreatened - and maybe, one day, we can actually put some sensible laws on prostitution in place to make sure that stories like this are much more rare. more ›

• On the Arrest and Detention of a Man in China…As Documented By His Wife [Aimee Barnes] "This evening I picked up on a simple tweet from Beijing-based @niubi who wrote: “beijing haze: Arrest and Detention http://bit.ly/T9ENI wife blogs trying 2 get hubby out of beijing jail 4 seeing hooker….” While sexcapades with consequence in China aren’t altogether unusual, this particular storyline written from a wife’s perspective happened to catch my attention. I therefore proceeded to check out the links provided which led me to the blog, Beijing Haze, launched less than a month ago by an American woman..."
• Beijing sets 'recycling' day and offers door-to-door collection [China.org.cn] "Beijing's eight urban districts have set down the last Saturday of each month to collect recyclable waste materials such as used paper and plastic bottles. On Saturday municipal authorities set up 18 collection spots in various city communities and made public contact numbers for collection companies designated for each district. Now residents can enjoy door-to-door service by making a phone appointment with collection agencies."
• China Concubines Return Thanks To Increasing Capitalism [Huffington Post] "Concubines are no longer kept hidden away behind closed doors. In modern China's far more open society, concubines can be seen in the shopping malls and cafes of the cities, especially in the south, where there are thousands of what are known as "er nai" or "second breast". By some estimates, more than 90 per cent of the country's most senior officials punished on serious graft charges in the past five years have kept mistresses."

A male prostitute has now been charged for knowingly spreading the AIDS virus in a highly unusual case, according to Shanghai Daily. Huangpu District prosecutors arrested the prostitute, named Zhang, after he got into a heated argument with a potential John over the price of sex. Zhang had tested positive for AIDS in February, but continued to work as a prostitute because he “didn't think much about the consequences... [he] just wanted excitement.” The rest of the article is a bit of a wash, calling this the first type of this case “this year.” This year? You sure it isn't “ever?” more ›