Reply #3288 JackTheBat's post
JackTheBat has requested that I do a bit of a write up on Dongguan/Chang Ping – so…. OK - here's my hypothesis on Chang Ping which I've touched upon in other posts.
Dongguan is a prefecture level City just north of Shenzhen with a population of approximately 7 million, ¾ of whom are migrants from other parts of China. Chang ping is just one of the 28 Towns in Dongguan and others you’ll read being mentioned on our forum are towns like ChangAn, Dalang, Houjie, HuangJiang, ZhangMutou, Tangxia or one of the 4 districts like Dong Cheng, GuanCheng etc. Please note that the Dongguan train station is actually Chang Ping station – a source of some confusion for those not familiar with the area - and why CP is such a bustling little town, as it is relatively easy to get to from Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou etc. by train.
The beginnings of the P4P trade in Dongguan coincided with the arrival of factories in the late 70’s/early 80’s, and the factory owners, managers etc need for entertainment and other gentlemanly diversions during those lonely nights and week-ends away from their SO and families; this was especially the case for the Taiwanese as in the past, they had to take a round-about trip via Hong Kong when commuting between China and Taiwan. Cross border truck drivers were also early purveyors of the ladies for in the 80’s and 90’s they were making anywhere up to HK$45,000/monthly driving and the China/Hong Kong borders at that time closed at midnight. Chang Ping was a particular favorite for these truck drivers in those days - but even up to today, locals who know its beginnings still looks down on CP as being a low class town catering to truck drivers only! But it is this very milieu that created the broad spectrum of services available in Dongguan – from Catacomb-like dirt-floored hovels offering gals as low as RMB 30/pop, to the RMB130-250 BBS’s, RMB 300 – 900 Saunas, 2/5/8, 3/6/10 and even 10/50/100 KTV’s (refers to the pricing of the KTV gals – add two 0’s to the number for their sitting fee/one pop/overnight rates in RMB – YUP, there ARE Barbie class KTV gals who charges RMB 10,000/night!).
OK, enough history – lets get on with my hypothesis. China has grown economically during the past few decades – to the point that the powers-that-be recognizes that it’s high time that they should try to improve their International image as a progressive and civilized nation. And of course being civilized means that they also need to show that they provide enough opportunities for their own people – including and especially their young ladies – to NOT have to resort to selling their bodies etc. Unfortunately, the oldest profession is still very much in demand and is indeed part and parcel of most social and business settings.
So what to do? A real and strong demand for “services” versus a need for China to maintain it’s “face?” Well, I believe that the authorities looked towards the model that Singapore and Hong Kong has taken as a copy book for their own plan of action. This means containment, more regulation/lawfulness in such areas of containment and…. a gradual “upgrading and gentrification” of services offered therein.
And this seems to be happening right now with the “clean-up” of Zhuhai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, even other parts of Dongguan like Chan An, while Chang Ping has been going from strength to strength. All sorts of uber-luxe hotels like the YiHao, EuroAsia, Mayflower etc (AND its KTV/Saunas therein) have sprouted up during the past year or so, the “Catacomb area” behind the Walter has been eliminated, BBS’s had raised their price from 150 to 200 and from 200 to 250 ST (which although is only RMB 50 more – is actually a 25-33% rise in pricing that happened practically overnight). And BTW – the BBS mommies are now, right after the Chinese New Year, charging an ADDITIONAL RMB 50 for their gals – hope that this price rise does not stick after the festival period!!
Anyway, I am postulating that Chang Ping is going to be this area of containment for the P4P trade and will as such still continue to prosper in the immediate future – but things are gonna be progressively more expensive. There is no way that the government can completely eliminate the sex trade – but they certainly can make it progressively more expensive ….to slowly wean the population from partaking too regularly and too much of young flesh!
And by the by, I gotta also give you non-Chinese a bit of a heads-up about mongering in China. No way that China would want any of its areas/cities to be known as a “Sex destination” like Angeles City, Pattaya, Phnom Penh etc. and as such, please do NOT come here expecting it to be a full blown sex destination. And please DO KEEP A LOW PROFILE when and if you do come to monger here – one never knows when “National Pride” may come to the forefront of the locals’ mindset…and decide that a foreigner partaking of the pleasures of “THEIR” Chinese maidens is just not on.
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