Turn red light down for kids

By Wang Ru (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-26 10:25

Every evening on my way home, I walk down an infamous street - a "red light district", many of my neighbors say - which has been there since the community formed six years ago.

Behind the glass doors in the dozens of shops, with red or pink neon signs of "foot massage and body health care", women mostly aged their 20s, wearing heavy makeup and minimal clothing, await their customers.

The street is located between two big residential areas and many residents walk through it after dinner. The neon-lighted massage shops don't bring them delight but rather embarrassment, anxiety and anger.

The street is also near a primary school. Many pupils have to pass through it after school finishes for the day. I have heard many times my neighbors complain about how those "dirty shops" corrupt the environment and badly affect their children.

But this is not a unique case. There have been media reports about the appropriateness of these "massage parlors" all around the country.

I recently saw video footage filmed by a reporter with a hidden camera. It showed a woman trying to get him into a "massage" parlor.

"I am still a student!" the reporter said. "So what? Come in and I will make you feel very good!" the woman said.

How do these kinds of businesses exist in a society that forbids any form of sex-related service, let alone the existence of "red light district"?

Once I went for a real massage in a shop owned by a blind middle-aged man.

"They register as 'hairdressing shops'. I heard a rumor that they have connections with the local police bureau," the man told me. "Foot massage? Even a blind man like me knows what they are!"

Two weeks ago, a picture showing a plainclothes police officer grabbing the hair of an alleged prostitute and pulling her head upwards triggered anger and criticism among Chinese.

In their online postings, most said that the excessive use of force humiliated the suspected prostitute's dignity and questioned whether it had broken the law.

I believe the policeman not only humiliated the poor woman, but also himself and the whole legal system: How can you show such uncivilized behavior to an individual while turning a blind eye to the fake massage shops scattering across our streets?

My friend Wen Jingfeng, the first man to open a sex shop in Beijing in the early 1990s, once bravely raised a proposal to ex-premier Zhu Rongji at the Boao Forum for Asia. "When can China have a mature, well-managed sex market like Thailand?" he asked.

Premier Zhu replied in a humorous and wise way.

But I think a licensed industry would be one way to address underground sex services.

I do not advocate sweeping away sex service from our society, which perhaps is a mission impossible for any country in the world, but at least keep it away from residential areas, especially the children who should grow up in a naive environment.