Prostitution in China

After taking power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) embarked upon a series of campaigns with the aim of eradicating prostitution from mainland China by the early 1960s. Since the loosening of government controls over society in the early 1980s, prostitution in mainland China not only has become more visible, but can now be found throughout both urban and rural areas. In spite of government efforts, prostitution has now developed to the extent that it comprises an industry, one that involves a great number of people and produces a considerable economic output. Prostitution has also become associated with a number of issues, including organized crime, government corruption, hypocrisy, as well as sexually transmitted diseases. Notably, a CCP official who was a major provincial campaigner against corruption was removed from his post and expelled from the party after he was caught in a hotel room with a prostitute in 2007.^[1]

Prostitution and related activities in mainland China appear in diverse forms, at various venues and prices, and with prostitutes coming from a range of social backgrounds. They are almost all female, though in recent years male prostitutes have also emerged. Venues include hotels, massage parlors, karaoke bars and beauty salons.

Officially, prostitution is illegal in mainland China.^[2] The government of China has vacillated, however, in its legal treatment of prostitutes, treating them sometimes as criminals and sometimes as behaving with misconduct. Since the reemergence of prostitution in the 1980s, government authorities have responded by first using the legal system, that is, the daily operations of courts and police. Second, they have relied on police-led campaigns, clearly delineated periods of intense public activity, as a form of social discipline. Despite lobbying by international NGOs and overseas commentators, there is not much support for legalisation of the sex sector by the public, social organizations or the government of the PRC.

While the sale of sexual intercourse remains illegal throughout mainland China, as of 2013 erotic massage, more commonly known as massage with "happy endings", is legal in the city of Foshan in Guangdong province. In June of that year, the Foshan Court determined that the sale of erotic massage is not the same as prostitution.^[3]