Prostitution in Hong Kong - Types and Venues

Types and Venues

• Street prostitutes: They may sometimes be seen on the pavements of Yau Ma Tei, Sham Shui Po, Tsuen Wan, Yuen Long and Tuen Mun. Usually pimps or gangsters are not involved and the prostitute will loiter in the street in search of customers. After a deal is struck, they would go to a love hotel. Before the Asian financial crisis in 1998, street prostitutes would offer a "set course" of services; after that, the set price dropped by half. Some girls will hang around the lobbies of hotels, and will even knock on the doors of the rooms of single men after being tipped off by the concierge. In more down-market accommodation the concierge may ask customers if they require company. Russian and other European prostitutes generally charge higher and are generally located in the business district of Central.

• One-woman brothel: (一樓一鳳 jat1 lau4 jat1 fung2 Yīlóu-yīfèng): By Hong Kong law it is illegal for two or more prostitutes to work in the same premises. As a result, the most common form of legal prostitution in Hong Kong is the so-called "one-woman brothel", where one woman receives customers in her apartment. The expense of the older centres of such activity has led to towns in the New Territories such as Yuen Long and Sheung Shui. becoming centres for the one-woman brothel trade. This law however has little influence on the density of prostitute activity, the nature of Hong Kong housing meaning that entire floors of some buildings or even whole apartment blocks may consist of one woman brothels, with in some the letter of the law being adhered to by the subdivision of flats into multiple individual dwellings.

• Saunas and massage parlours: Ostensibly these are regular saunas with the management turning a blind eye to other services the masseuses may offer. Usually the "menu" on offer will fall just short of vaginal intercourse, with manual stimulation with hands ("hand-job"), breasts ("milk-job" or "Russian") and oral sex ("BJ") being amongst the services available after negotiation.

• Night club workers: The term nightclub in Hong Kong is being driven from general use for being used as a euphemism for hostess clubs. Hostesses receive a basic retainer and commission for having customers buy expensive drinks, customers pay the club for the privilege of taking the girls out by buying out the girls "time", whatever comes after being a matter of negotiation between the customer and hostess. A similar format can be found at some karaoke lounges with private rooms. Those that operate under the front of internet cafes have also existed but all were shut down in 2004.

• Freelance: The growth of the Internet has facilitated a practice similar to "compensated dating" with amateur prostitutes offering their services on message boards and forums. CNN (Asia) reported in 2009 that social workers had found "compensated dating" was growing among Hong Kong teenage girls, the caseload of girls engaging in this practice had doubled in two years, the girls engaging in this practice had cut across socioeconomic levels, and Hong Kong legal experts said the practice was a form of prostitution. CNN reported that students, often teenagers, sell sex so they can buy consumer goods such as cell phones and clothes. They are often victims of crimes. Hong Kong social worker Chiu Tak-Choi said that most girls who engage in compensated dating don't view themselves as prostitutes.