If that was the case, many punters have already committed an offense in HK and Macau. Have been told by a girl working now in a SN in CHina that she had worked since 15 at the Venetian. Also told me that she has a GF from her hometown who had worked in Mongkok since she was 14.

I'm absolutely sure you're right there.  

Not just HK and Macau, probably true of most Asian countries - Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and at least one report on here talks of a specialist provider in PRC - does anyone actually think underage sex (paid or unpaid) is at all unusual?  Nah, didn't think so ...

But just because someone else has done it, it doesn't mean anyone should take the risk.  The consequences are LONG term and can be life-changing ... as in the case of Polanski.

Yeah it's hard to be clear.  

The issue is the law doesn't say "you can do xxx", instead giving a long list of "you can't do yyy" "you can't do zzz" etc - so you can't just read part of it and be sure, you have to read the whole of it and remember how it all hangs together   
Question is if there's relevant case law, or if a provision that's intended for something else (e.g. making a contract?) would be applied.

Same as anywhere = if someone rats on you and sicks the dogs on your trail.  

Seriously, that's the only way you'll get caught in the USA also: if LE never finds out you won't get arrested there either.  

Of course they're less likely to find out what you did in another country, but the risk is a real one.  Especially in a known hot-spot, there's a good chance of someone keeping a sharp eye on what's going on, looking for that moment they can make their name.

polanski is a different story.
he was breaking the law.
if you don't break the local law, you should be safe,  right?

Apparently not if you are American ... if you were born in the wrong place, you are a vassal for life ... or until you go through complicated obstacles to formally renounce your US citizenship.  

Ironic, given how the USA was originally formed out of a rebellion against unreasonable control by a central authority.

[ Last edited by  DArtagnan at 20-8-2010 12:15 ]

... putting another nail into the coffin of my reputation, as a bleeding heart ...

Article in SCMP about girls in PRC:-

"With her painted eyebrows, dress and long, hennaed hair, worn in curls, 20-year-old Xiao Min looks like a university student. She always smiles at people and listens to others carefully, just like the girl next door.
But her seeming naivety masks a cruel reality. Xiao was forced into prostitution nearly four years ago. It is a story she says is not unusual for hundreds of thousands of rural girls."

...

"As soon as she arrived in Wuhan, Xiao was taken to a hair salon and raped by its operator. "The girl [her friend] and the other girls were all under the control of the men," she said "They just sat next door while I was raped."

Xiao said she was forced to become a prostitute after the men took nude photos of her and threatened to hurt her family if she ran away. Eight months later, the men were arrested for trafficking drugs but Xiao kept moving from one hair salon to another, still working as a prostitute.

"It's too late to restart my life," Xiao said. "I've already lost my virginity and I don't want to be a factory worker. Why not take advantage of our beauty and get rich?"

... OK she's now a willing participant ... but ...

www.scmp.com - but you need a subscription to access the full article.

It's very sad indeed but that was 4 to 5 years ago. These days, this hardly happens as the law has now been changed in China to the death penalty for the kidnapping and trafficking in women. In China girls still get tricked quite often into the trade but outright kidnapping and forcing them, not so much.

I certainly hope so ...

... but given that sexual slavery can even happen in a quiet suburb of a developed European City, do you really think it's been eradicated in PRC?

Well, I am sure it still happens when a psycho kidnaps a girl and makes her his own personal sex slave but to kidnap several dozen girls and make them slaves in a brothel in China with up to 10 customers a day? That would be a bit tough to keep under wraps. As you say, let's just hope so.

It happens everywhere. Even in the states. There are asian massage parlors here also. They just move around a lot more. Every once in a while a big human trafficking ring gets busted.

haha, the standard for "young" in asia are 18-22 yrs old.
all the WG, HGs, KTV girls, in HK/china are in that age range.
They could barely survive past 25 in that industry.