Police raid a “hair salon” and arrest prostitutes in Dingfuzhuang, Chaoyang district in Beijing, on June 21, 2011. Photo: CFP

Lin is just 17 and has already joined the workforce. Although she knows nothing about cutting hair, she’s employed by a hair salon that can be spotted from the street by a sparkling pink barber pole that glows through the windows at night.

After being sexually assaulted and dropping out of school, she left her village to find work in the nearby city of Yulin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, where she was ushered into the profession of servicing men.

Neither her parents nor her three brothers and sister know that she is a sex worker or that after just six months in the business she has already suffered the humiliation of being handcuffed and detained by police several times.

The salon owner surnamed Wang and an employee surnamed Li get worked up as they rant about the treatment they receive from the police. 

Li said police have raided her shop twice in the last four months, and that she has been left handcuffed at the police station without a bathroom break for hours. 

Wang jumps in with angry tales of frequent visits by the police that cost her 600 to 800 yuan in fines to retrieve her employees from the police station. She has never been issued a receipt and believes that some of the officers pocket the money. 

A day or two after the raid Wang’s salon is back in business. Wang said she would rather pay for a license, get legal protection and follow required health regulations.  

“I offer a service that I’m not forcing anyone to take. I’m doing a good thing. It’s not easy making  money these days,” she said, adding that one of her four employees was abandoned by her husband, and another has several children to feed. Wang takes a 20 percent commission from the women who average little more than 100 yuan per day.

Prostitution has been seen at various times throughout China’s history as an exotic, mysterious profession that was sometimes tolerated but rarely condoned. 

After the founding of People’s Republic of China in 1949, the central government criminalized prostitution and liberated thousands of women who worked as sex slaves. Records show more than 200 brothels were closed and 1,286 prostitutes released from bondage in Beijing. In Tianjin, more than 400 brothels were shut down at that time.

Only in the last couple of decades has prostitution made a revival with small barbershop brothels springing up in most urban centers. The ubiquitous salons mainly employ women from the countryside, who have little education, few opportunities at home and little chance of doing well in a cosmopolitan city. 

It’s apparent that many of the salons operate on the fringe of the law and provide sex services to some of the millions of migrant men who leave home for many months at a time. The need for clandestine sexual relations is likely to continue to grow in China where there will be 30 million more men than women by 2020, according to statistics from the National Population and Family Planning Commission.

Young teen, Lin, resisted becoming a full-time sex worker. She felt disgraced and uncomfortable with her coquettish colleagues. She went home to her village but there was nothing for her to do and soon returned to Yulin and sex work and now supports herself and her family.

She moved to another salon that treats her better and says she actually enjoys the job.

Publicly humiliated

A xiaojie, which is a euphemism for sex worker, is treated with disdain by open society. They are seen as un-redemptive failures who have fallen into an unsavory occupation.   

None of the sex workers interviewed by the Global Times would give their real names and all say they hide their occupation from their families. 

Their shame is used by the police who often publicly humiliate the xiaojie in hopes of deterring others from entering the profession or in an effort to be seen to be cleaning up a neighborhood.

The main targets of the police are the migrant xiaojie who work in small salons or massage parlors. The high-end call girls working out of big nightclubs and luxury hotels are seldom harassed.

Prostitution in China is punishable by a maximum 15 days in detention and a fine of 5,000 yuan.In July 2010, police in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, paraded two xiaojie and two johns in front of the local media. The sex workers and their clients were bare foot, handcuffed and hitched together by rope, like dogs on a leash. Their uncovered faces were broadcast on television.

A more notorious case of public humiliation by police occurred five years ago in Shenzhen when more than 40 sex workers were paraded on the streets where their names, birthdays and hometowns were read aloud to more than 1,000 onlookers.

Although the police were later reprimanded by provincial authorities, the media continues to report on police violating the privacy of sex workers.

Working in an illegal profession, migrant prostitutes garner little sympathy and until recently have been without a voice or an advocate. 

Ye Haiyan, founder of China Grassroots Women’s Rights Center, says the indignity suffered at the hands of the police is only one of many hurts suffered by sex workers.

Ye, a former waitress at a Karaoke bar, began writing feminist erotica on her blog in 2011. “All the attacks on me by netizens made me realize how vulnerable women are when facing the public.”

Five years ago, Ye opened a studio office to support sex workers in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province, that is staffed by several volunteers.  

She said a woman’s body is a gift and she has the right to decide if she wants to make money from it.

“Most women in this industry come from poor families in rural areas or small towns. They include jobless young women and divorced middle-aged women, and many are financially burdened,” Ye said.

As a fierce advocate of sex workers’ rights, especially poor migrant prostitutes, Ye has heard many sad stories from women in the world’s oldest profession.

It’s not uncommon for sex workers to be physically and verbally abused. Sometimes clients refused to pay and many xiaojie are frequently robbed, said Ye, adding that they have little recourse in law to protect themselves.

Contribution unrecognized

Ye holds monthly talks with sex workers in Wuhan, usually in a local massage parlor. She says since 2006, she has reached out to more than 2,000 sex workers in the city.

While Ye offers advice and knowledge on sexually transmitted diseases and their legal rights, the first chapter of her lecture is about self-esteem.

She helps build their dignity by telling the women that their work contributes to society.

“Thank you for your contribution in relieving social conflicts and reducing sexual assaults. Thank you for caring for migrant workers and sex addicts. Thanks to your courage in a harsh work environment, you have boosted the recreational industry and enhanced the country’s GDP,” says Ye at the beginning of her lectures.

Zhang Ming, a political science professor with Renmin University of China, agrees that changes in attitude and the law are needed. “The xiaojie deserve to have their human rights protected. Since the authorities are not ever likely to eliminate prostitution, it should be legalized,” he said.

Li Yinhe, a sexologist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said legalization of prostitution is beneficial to China. “Sex workers are contributing to social stability. The job helps reduce unemployment and the incidence of sexual assault,” she said.

While a few scholars are taking a liberal attitude toward sex workers’ rights, they remain in the minority and have been sharply criticized.  Many commentators believe prostitution has a bad influence on neighborhoods, spreads disease and is harmful to loving, monogamous relationships.

In 2006, National People’s Congress delegate Chi Susheng attempted to submit a proposal to the NPC to legalize prostitution, but it was dismissed by his provincial delegation as too sensitive, Hong Kong-based Ming Po reported.

Most migrant sex workers have little knowledge of the law and advocate Ye helps them better understand their rights. She tells them they have a right to demand a police officer’s badge number and to ask why they are being questioned or detained. She tells the women that only a woman officer can search them.

Ye established a second outreach studio for sex workers in Guangxi earlier this year. 

Ye’s efforts have not been appreciated by all sex workers. A self-claimed prostitute, who calls herself of Ruo Xiao’an on Sina microblog, had a feisty online debate with Ye.

“I don’t want to be seen as a disadvantaged person. Sympathy can hurt as much as discrimination,” Ruo told the Global Times via e-mail. “The entire society needs to change.” Ruo currently has more than 160,000 followers on Weibo. 

Ye seems to have understood Ruo’s point and decided to experience sex work firsthand which she announced on her Weibo.

Ye believes if it was legalized prostitution could be better regulated. Currently the only official involvement with sex workers is through police raids that drive the business underground and make it more vulnerable to other crimes. “It makes it more difficult for us to monitor their health,” said Ye of the women who service men. 

Ruo doesn’t care what the government and legislators do to improve sex workers’ rights. “It’s their business. My wildest dream is to have people not see me as a monster,” she said.