Face to face with a sex worker
(Shanghai Star)
Updated: 2004-05-31 08:53

For 19-year-old Xia Yan (not her real name), the scope of the world is rather small. Her lifestyle is quite simple.

A hair-dressing salon is often a venue for the sex trade. [file photo]

Her daily activities, for the most part, occur at the hair-dressing salon where she works and in the apartment she rents.

Apart from their apparent respective functions, the two locations have one thing in common: they are places where Xia and her co-workers earn a living by providing customers with covert sexual services.

The hair salon is located on a small street in Pudong and its proximity to a bustling bus stop as well as the densely-populated residential communities in the area have created many business opportunities -- a fact that can be proved by the cluster of similar facilities along the same street.

It has to be admitted that Xia, a native of Yangzhou of East China's Jiangsu Province, is rather good-looking and the teenage naivete that she exhibits now and then plus her casual sportswear-and-jeans dressing style makes people feel that she is little different from "normal" young girls in the city.

However, Xia soon showed her "professionalism" to the Shanghai Star reporter, who went to the salon under the guise of a customer. Xia claims that she only came to Shanghai three weeks ago and her previous jobs in Jiangsu were as a textile worker and a waitress.

"Do you want Qiao Da Bei (body massage)?" Xia asked soon after she, with her boss' nod, showed the reporter into a small backroom off the shabby salon and began massaging the reporter's arms somewhat unskillfully.

To the point

Xia was referring to having sexual intercourse with her, which is supposed to take place in the apartment she rents, about five minutes' walk away from the salon.

To Xia, Qiao Da Bei can be more profitable than fondling or Da Feiji (helping customers masturbate) which are supposed to be done in the backroom which also doubles as a dining room for Xia and her co-workers.

For sexual intercourse, Xia normally charges 150 yuan (US$18) per person of which 50 yuan will be handed to her boss. She receives 100 yuan (US$12) for each masturbation, from which the boss will deduct half as commission. A sex-free hair-wash and massage service costs 50 yuan (US$6) per hour at the salon.

Xia said the highest number of Qiao Da Bei services she had performed in one day was three and she once had a record six customers for masturbation.

"Most of our customers are middle-aged men in their 30s or 40s who work in Shanghai without their wives' companionship," said Xia.

"I almost have no feelings when having sex with them." However, she said that she felt "sick" when she had her first masturbation job.

Indifference

When asked about her feelings about her work, Xia surprisingly showed a kind of indifference for the profession regarded by many as shameful.

"It works well with me because I can make money quickly," she said.

Although the teenager claimed she had not yet received her first month's salary, she thought she could well earn some 3,000 to 4,000 yuan (US$360-480) a month, almost 10 times her previous earnings as a textile worker.

But Xia is not entirely satisfied with the job. "It's really boring staying all day in here," she said. Apart from when work walks in from time to time, Xia and two other sex workers - who are 17 and 18 - spend the days chatting and watching an old TV in the salon.

Xia further said that business in her salon, like its counterparts down the street, is a little slack these days because of intensified efforts to crack down on prostitution.

"We are now ordered to close around 11:00 o'clock every night, though staying open overnight usually brings more business opportunities," said Xia.

Towards the end of her talk, Xia was urged by her partners twice to quickly finish the conversation.

"You know time is money to us," said Xia, with an apologetic expression when closing the brief conversation.

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