[Big Booger]

Excellent article. Nothing like knowing the whores of the orient. I would've never pegged Shanghai as a prozzie stomping ground. You would have thought that communism would ruin prostitution because you have to share everything LOL equal distribution of resources etc..

It's nice how they point out that foreigners visit these spots, which certainly they do, but I am sure, lurking in the background are natives getting their rocks off as well... long live the blacklisted sex tourists!

[Taro Toporific]

You would have thought that communism would ruin prostitution because you have to share everything LOL equal distribution of resources etc..

Obviously, the working girl hasn't got concept of supply-and-demand fully understood yet]'Whore of the Orient' shrugs off Maoist straitjacket
"I'm having to charge a bit more tonight. It's been hard with so many places closed due to SARS," she said in the wee hours of one Sunday morning[/quote]

[cstaylor]

Well, if places have closed due to SARS, that means she (still working) may be in higher demand?

[kotatsuneko]

i wonder if that cheap dvd vendor does mail order? ^^

[Taro Toporific]

i wonder if that cheap dvd vendor does mail order? ^^

Sure, just send your credit card number and all the details.

[GomiGirl]

I would've never pegged Shanghai as a prozzie stomping ground. You would have thought that communism would ruin prostitution because you have to share everything LOL equal distribution of resources etc..

I have been to shanghai many times from about 7 years ago. It has always been a heap more cosmopolitan than stuffy old Beijing. Hair styling/setting is huge for many women and back-yard hair salons are everywhere.. in grotty alleys and the like. This even during the height of cultural revolution.

First time I was in Shanghai I was visiting my parents who were on exchange.. they were not expats, rather living an "adventure". My mother is a teacher and was on a teacher exchange to a local chinese middle high-school. They lived at the school in a "hotel". To say they were living in squalor would be generous.. but it was certainly an interesting year for them... this was well before the building boom and was just at the start of the foreign investment/globalisation phenomenon and so everything was still quite basic. This was before the new airport opened and before Nan-jing liu became a pedestrian shopping street.

my father tells a story about the time he was walking around the neighbourhood and a young girl of about 15 fell into step with him and wanted to "practice English". (Being the only foreigners in this area at the end of Sichuan Bei-liu was interesting as people literally stopped in their tracks whenever they walked by. Some people would have never seen a foreigner before and my father is over 6 foot and has a formidable presence.) I digress.. to cut a long story short, this young girl offered to be his "girlfiend" and for him to "sponsor" her. When he suggested that perhaps his wife (my mother) wouldn't be too thrilled, the girl was not fazed and suggested that they all meet for tea to discuss it... this was politely declined and the security guard at the school was warned not to let this girl near onto the grounds.

Shortly afterwards on his daily walk to the Bund, a young guy fell into step with my father and basically offered the same thing as the young girl. Both were offers he could and did refuse.

This happened quite frequently during their stay..

On the times I have been to Shanghai - either for work or visiting friends, I have been to quite a few bars where there are working girls hanging about trying to snag a foreign "sponsor". It is pretty obvious and I have chatted with some of these girls who are actually a heap of fun and don't take any crap from the arrogant expats who hang out in these places as well. The bars would be in the same sort of district as Roppongi in Tokyo and are not even in the "pink" districts.

[American Oyaji]

GG, do you speak Chinese?

BTW, on a side note. Have any of you ever played the game Jet Set Radio or Jet Set Radio Future? The gang you are a part of is called the GGs

[kotatsuneko]

jsr! loved/hated that game, loved the concept, the design, music, charas etc, but the actual bit where you did the graffiti just didnt work for me.. ruined the game really on the dc at least a damn shame, apparently this was addressed on the xbox version though..

its out for gba this month if im right along with space channel 5.. ulala!

[GomiGirl]

GG, do you speak Chinese?

ni hou maa.. That is about the limit to my chinese.. My mother speaks Mandarin though - despite being tone deaf..

[cstaylor]

Don't forget: shei shei.

[American Oyaji]

Kotatsu, I played Jet Set Radio on Dreamcast and had no problems.

HOWEVER, playing Jet Set Radio FUTURE on xbox was a LOT more fun.