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Report in my local news feed:
Welcome to Dongguan, China’s revealing capital of sleaze
3 HOURS AGO FEBRUARY 13, 2014 2:49PM
IT IS widely known as China’s capital of sleaze where pretty much anything goes. But now this city is under siege from authorities determined to shut it down.
Sex workers are everywhere and for the prostitution operators, business is booming — or at least it was until last weekend.
Welcome to the industrial port city of Dongguan, a place where sex workers can be found across the city’s hotels, saunas and karaoke parlours.
In fact, it’s estimated that one in 10 migrant workers are involved in the sex trade or roughly a tenth of the city’s population of seven million, helping the city earn the title of China’s sex capital.
But last weekend more than 6000 police officers swept through the city in the southern province of Guangdong, arresting 67 people, closing 12 venues and suspending two police chiefs.
And while prostitution remains illegal in China, the raid by authorities has sparked a public backlash.
The raid followed a Sunday night report by China Central Television (CCTV) detailing the extent of the prostitution industry in Dongguan.
Filmed using hidden cameras, the half-hour CCTV program showed young women lining up in rooms and on stage at several venues, talent-show-style, while an undercover reporter inquired about prices.
The program showed a reporter making two phone calls to local police, but each time an officer failed to show up at the scene.
“Will the police come?” the reporter asked a brothel worker at one point. “Don’t worry about the police,” the worker responded.
Handcuffed and heads bowed, the women were paraded on TV in a very public humiliation.
Authorities have vowed that a “three-month crackdown” on the sex trade will help curb the booming industry, but social media criticised the move as shaming the women rather than addressing the root causes of the sex industry.
“Don’t cry, Dongguan! CCTV is ruthless, but the world is full of love. Hang in there!” read one popular message on Sina Weibo, a Chinese version of Twitter.
Chinese Web users — who typically post images of red candles online to show their sympathy for victims of natural disasters — also shared images of red condom-shaped candles in the wake of the Dongguan report.
Others mocked CCTV for sending undercover reporters to reveal an industry that is obvious to any visitor in Dongguan, and likened the report to a similar “exposé” last year by the broadcaster exploring whether Starbucks was overcharging Chinese consumers.
“Dongguan, hang in there” was a top trending topic on Sina Weibo earlier this week, with one variation of the phrase having been reported more than 1.5 million times by the following morning.
Some online users suggested the women ended up in the sex business because they had sick parents or siblings to support, and called for authorities to offer more care to them during the crackdown.
Others said police manpower would be better used rooting out corruption among public officials and other crimes, while called for China’s now-entrenched sex trade to be made legal and to end
discrimination against sex workers.
“There’s no way to eradicate it. Legalisation must take place under some narrowly-defined circumstances,” such as special zones that are regulated, Wang Yongzhi, 37, who works in IT in Beijing, said.
Shanghai-based Gong Bin, 26, who works as a trader in a food company, said he feels sympathy for girls who choose to make money through the sex trade to meet their financial demands, and blamed society and their environment.
“People are changing their minds toward prostitution. I was too embarrassed to watch this kind of report before while now so many people around me are talking about it,” he said. “The government could ask some organisations to help with caring for these girls.”
Some online posting expressed surprise that more venues weren’t targeted, and said Dongguan’s trade wouldn’t have flourished without the support of police and local authorities.
The Ministry of Public Security announced that local police would be investigated for dereliction of duty.
The government officially views prostitution as an “ugly social phenomenon” and the solicitation, sale and purchase of sex in China are illegal. However, despite frequent government crackdowns, prostitution remains rampant in massage parlours, karaoke bars and nightclubs, and sex workers regularly call hotel rooms looking for business.
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