In this translated article published on wenxuecity. Source: Chris. In all of China, about three million people provide sexual services for a living. Average income across the industry is generally quite high, therefore most workers are voluntary rather than forced. Some local governments, in pursuit of a higher GDP, even set up free zones in which the government and police turn a blind eye to prostitution and sex work.
Governments, therefore, often rely on the erotic economy in order to generate income. From to , Pan Suiming visited 13 locations throughout mainland China and met with over a thousand young women working in the sex trade. How d o women come to engage in the sex trade? When he interviewed women in Dongguan he did not encounter one case of trafficking and noted that sex workers were recruited by ads for waitresses, karaoke girls, singers and servers.
What are they wearing? What do they eat? She earns about RMB a month and looks to see how much other women earn. Is their money clean or not? If she refuses and will only do clean work, then she will leave and go somewhere else.
If she stays then she will quickly earn more money, especially if it is her first time and she advertises herself as a virgin she can earn up to 5, RMB. Think about it, if a woman earns about 2, RMB a month that is two and half months pay. Pan Suiming said that before he came to Sichuan he did not know about girls advertising themselves as virgins, but it is more popular in agricultural based farming communities.
Looking at potential income, in Dongguan, even if a woman only works two nights with one guest every month she is guaranteed a salary of 3, RMB per month. He said he was able to estimate this figure because, out of the total population, he knew how many men visited prostitutes or sex workers and also knew how many guests each woman had every day on average. Women in the sex trade not only make money for themselves but also boost the invisible underground economy.
