The history and present of Hong Kong's Wan Chai "red light district", with nightclubs and neon lights all over the "brothels"

Wan Chai is the earliest development zone on Hong Kong Island and has one of the most famous "red light districts" in Hong Kong.If you visit Lockhart Road in Wan Chai at night, you will see the streets full of neon lights, nightclubs, and many foreigners mixed in between. Talking about this situation is inseparable from Hong Kong's economy, law, and international relations.

During the day, on Lockhart Road, the flags of Britain, Canada, Australia and other countries fluttered in the wind, and most of the bars along the way were closed. At this time, Lockhart Road had no colorful neon lights and was not conspicuous. Only the stalls with "killing pheasants" on the street and the tired women eating in Thai fast food restaurants showed that this place was unusual.



At night, Lockhart began to be restless, and adrenaline was intertwined with feasts and infatuation. When you walk into a nightclub decorated with tropical rainforests, you can see a stage decorated with plastic banana leaves, and you can smell the smell of tobacco and alcohol in old-school rock music. At the same time, many of them are Southeast Asian female faces and Western male faces.

Most of these heavily made-up girls are petite and delicate, with darker eyeballs and prominent cheekbones. It can be seen that they are mainly from Southeast Asian countries such as Thailand and Vietnam. The main force of consumption is white men, who are well-dressed and wear expensive watches, and have just finished a busy day. It must be mentioned that the "red light district" in Hong Kong has a unique form of existence, that is, "one floor, one phoenix", "floor" refers to the room, and "phoenix" refers to the sex workers in the room.



In Feng's opinion, it is easy to make a living in Fuji Building. She pays 9,000 yuan in rent every month and can earn 40,000 to 50,000 yuan a month. Tweety said that the charges here are higher than other places. The basic service fee of Fuji Building is 500 yuan, and the asking price for additional services such as uniforms and massage may be one to two hundred yuan higher. In Sham Shui Po and Yau Ma Tei, only 300 can be collected at a time, and the quality of the guests here is really high! There are few uncles and tribes (referring to coolies), and our sisters in Fuji Building have always been high-quality! "

When it comes to the factors that determine the existence of the "red light district", the economic system is the first. The "red light district" has existed in China for a long time and played an important role in promoting the development of the ancient economy. For example, the Qinhuai River in Nanjing and the Bada Hutong in Beijing are not only places of Fengyue, but also places where the commodity economy is prosperous.



Hong Kong is different. Under the influence of capitalism, her business soul is highly mature. On the basis of the free port, Hong Kong has formed an important feature of Hong Kong's economy-the free market economy, which improves the efficiency of capital allocation through the supply and demand mechanism, the competition mechanism and the price mechanism. Hong Kong returned to the motherland in 1997, but China implemented the "one country, two systems" policy, giving Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy, and still taking the capitalist market economy as its economic system.

Sex is an animal instinct. As a higher animal, it is normal for people to have physiological needs. It just so happens that Wan Chai has the World Trade Center, shopping centers, a highly prosperous commodity economy and a perfect market mechanism. Under the regulation of the market's "invisible hand", there is supply when there is demand, and there is capital injection when there is profit. If the demand is not interrupted, the market will not disappear. Wan Chai's "red light district" was formed on this basis and has remained steadfast. Sexual services belong to a high-risk gray area. Compared with most ordinary industries, it can create high profits.



In the economics community, Lena Edlund and Evelyn Cohen explored the mystery of "sex work is low-tech, a labor-intensive industry, and most employees are women, but the salary is high." Research. In an article titled "Prostitution Theory", they applied the "marriage market theory" and logically concluded that the income of sex workers must be higher than other jobs. Only in this way can they make up for giving up the marriage market. The opportunity cost of income.

High income attracts a group of girls who do not have longevity, such as Suzhou Fengjie Dui in Fuji Building, who can earn 40,000 to 50,000 US dollars a month, and there are 30,000 to 40,000 US dollars left after paying the rent. It is much easier to make money than doing physical labor in their hometown. Another example is a Filipino girl. In the motherland, the average monthly income is only about 1,800 Hong Kong dollars, while in the "red light district" of Wan Chai, you can earn 1,200-2,000 Hong Kong dollars a night, which is equivalent to a month's salary of hard work in the motherland.



It is worth mentioning that most mainland girls and Southeast Asian girls do not come to Hong Kong for sexual services, but come to Hong Kong from their hometowns. They do not have any skills and suffer the cruel reality of high rents, so they have no choice but to make the fastest way to make money. For the "red light district", in addition to the socio-economic system, the socio-economic order is also important. The latter will affect the status of the "red light district" to a certain extent. If the social order is stable, the market operates healthily and the upward flow is smooth, it will open up space for the good development of the "red light district". If the unemployment rate remains high for a long time, the cost of living rises sharply, and the social class solidifies, it will bring many aspects of chaos to the "red light district". For example, in recent years, sex workers in Japan are getting younger and younger.

In the 1930s, Hong Kong enacted a "prostitution ban", forcing prostitutes to stop business in two stages. However, Hong Kong's "red light district" did not disappear completely, because Hong Kong law reserved space for sex work. According to Section 117 of the Criminal Offences Ordinance, Chapter 200 of the Laws of Hong Kong, premises, vessels or places can only be defined as "places for sexual services" in two cases.



One is "the place, vessel or place is used entirely or mainly for prostitution by two or more persons". The second is "the place, vessel or place is used only or mainly for organizing or arranging prostitution, or is related to organizing or arranging prostitutes." Therefore, if there is only one person engaged in prostitution in a place, then this place cannot be regarded as a "place for prostitution", and it is naturally not illegal. Today, Hong Kong's "red light district" has the form of "one floor and one phoenix", which has developed in this context.

On Lockhart Road in Wan Chai, there are many nightclubs and buildings juxtaposed, separating a large number of rooms and units to accommodate larger-scale "one floor and one phoenix". After the promulgation of the "Prohibition of Prostitution", a large number of sex workers moved to Wan Chai and continued to provide sexual services in the form of "one floor, one phoenix". Over time, Wan Chai's famous "red light district" gradually took shape.



On Lockhart Road, bar security guards with South Asian faces, sex workers with East Asian and Southeast Asian faces, and major consumers with Western faces together constitute Wan Chai's "red light district". This diverse ecology can be traced back to the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841. The British and Qing governments successively signed the unequal "Nanjing Treaty", "Beijing Treaty" and "Hong Kong Territory Special Extension", gradually invading Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, bringing capitalism to Hong Kong and letting capitalism in Hong Kong. germination.

Hong Kong has become a colony of an old capitalist country, and a large influx of white people has taken a different path from inland China. In 1932, Britain ordered all territories to implement a policy of prohibiting prostitution. Under this circumstance, Hong Kong promulgated the "Prohibition of Prostitution". However, under the influence of nearly a hundred years, Western values ​​have profoundly influenced the economic model and legal system of Hong Kong people.



After the Enlightenment, Westerners generally advocated natural human rights and the spirit of contract, abandoned deception and coercion, and sex transactions based on legal voluntary, which not only respected the desire for freedom, democracy and human rights, but also conformed to the contract and spirit of contract of the market economy. There is nothing wrong with this. Therefore, Hong Kong law has reserved space for sex transactions. Britain's prostitution policy actually pushed Hong Kong's "red light district" model to "one floor, one phoenix"

The Vietnam War in 1955 was about to break out, involving the United States, the Soviet Union, China and other countries. This was a large-scale local war in Southeast Asia. The US base camp was separated by many oceans, so the US military decided to stop the warship in Wan Chai during the war. The United States has a large number of soldiers and strong young people. This decision strongly stimulated the sex trade in Wan Chai. After the reunification of Vietnam in 1975, a large number of Vietnamese refugees came to Hong Kong by boat. According to statistics, in 1979, about 20,000 Vietnamese refugees worked in Hong Kong. This led to the current "red light district" in Wan Chai, many of whom were Southeast Asian sex workers.



In the 1970s, Hong Kong Governor MacLehose decided to implement an open policy. On the one hand, MacLehose opened up to the Chinese mainland and personally visited Beijing to promote economic and cultural exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong. On the other hand, he opened up to the international community, abolished foreign exchange controls and gold trading controls, and attracted foreign investment to Hong Kong to invest in the financial and industrial sectors.

In the 1930s, Hong Kong enacted a "prostitution ban", forcing prostitutes to stop business in two stages. However, Hong Kong's "red light district" did not disappear completely, because Hong Kong law reserved space for sex work. According to Section 117 of the Criminal Offences Ordinance, Chapter 200 of the Laws of Hong Kong, premises, vessels or places can only be defined as "places for sexual services" in two cases.



One is "the place, vessel or place is used entirely or mainly for prostitution by two or more persons". The second is "the place, vessel or place is used only or mainly for organizing or arranging prostitution, or is related to organizing or arranging prostitutes." Therefore, if there is only one person engaged in prostitution in a place, then this place cannot be regarded as a "place for prostitution", and it is naturally not illegal. Today, Hong Kong's "red light district" has the form of "one floor and one phoenix", which has developed in this context.

On Lockhart Road in Wan Chai, there are many nightclubs and buildings juxtaposed, separating a large number of rooms and units to accommodate larger-scale "one floor and one phoenix". After the promulgation of the "Prohibition of Prostitution", a large number of sex workers moved to Wan Chai and continued to provide sexual services in the form of "one floor, one phoenix". Over time, Wan Chai's famous "red light district" gradually took shape.

On Lockhart Road, bar security guards with South Asian faces, sex workers with East Asian and Southeast Asian faces, and major consumers with Western faces together constitute Wan Chai's "red light district". This diverse ecology can be traced back to the British occupation of Hong Kong Island in 1841. The British and Qing governments successively signed the unequal "Nanjing Treaty", "Beijing Treaty" and "Hong Kong Territory Special Extension", gradually invading Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the New Territories, bringing capitalism to Hong Kong and letting capitalism in Hong Kong. germination.

Hong Kong has become a colony of an old capitalist country, and a large influx of white people has taken a different path from inland China. In 1932, Britain ordered all territories to implement a policy of prohibiting prostitution. Under this circumstance, Hong Kong promulgated the "Prohibition of Prostitution". However, under the influence of nearly a hundred years, Western values ​​have profoundly influenced the economic model and legal system of Hong Kong people.

After the Enlightenment, Westerners generally advocated natural human rights and the spirit of contract, abandoned deception and coercion, and sex transactions based on legal voluntary, which not only respected the desire for freedom, democracy and human rights, but also conformed to the contract and spirit of contract of the market economy. There is nothing wrong with this. Therefore, Hong Kong law has reserved space for sex transactions. Britain's prostitution policy actually pushed Hong Kong's "red light district" model to "one floor, one phoenix"

The Vietnam War in 1955 was about to break out, involving the United States, the Soviet Union, China and other countries. This was a large-scale local war in Southeast Asia. The US base camp was separated by many oceans, so the US military decided to stop the warship in Wan Chai during the war. The United States has a large number of soldiers and strong young people. This decision strongly stimulated the sex trade in Wan Chai. After the reunification of Vietnam in 1975, a large number of Vietnamese refugees came to Hong Kong by boat. According to statistics, in 1979, about 20,000 Vietnamese refugees worked in Hong Kong. This led to the current "red light district" in Wan Chai, many of whom were Southeast Asian sex workers.

In the 1970s, Hong Kong Governor MacLehose decided to implement an open policy. On the one hand, MacLehose opened up to the Chinese mainland and personally visited Beijing to promote economic and cultural exchanges between the mainland and Hong Kong. On the other hand, he opened up to the international community, abolished foreign exchange controls and gold trading controls, and attracted foreign investment to Hong Kong to invest in the financial and industrial sectors.