How 70 years ago in China they fought against prostitution

On the Yandex.Zen channel "Dreams about China", where they write subjectively about China, they told about how they came across an amazing document, the history of which I would like to tell.

Prostitution in China has been an integral part of culture for many millennia — there are poems of concubines, paintings, legends, and music. At least, this was the case until November 21, 1949, when a landmark resolution was adopted — the authorities announced the need to immediately close all brothels. A real raid was organized on 237 city brothels by the forces of more than 2,400 local personnel employees of the administration and the police. During the night, 450 brothel owners were arrested and sent to court, and 1,286 girls of easy virtue went to prison.

It is necessary to understand the importance of the current problem if the new Chinese government of a newly formed country is trying to fight not on the field of economics and politics, but with prostitution.

Since then, in the largest cities of the PRC, the authorities have been closing brothels and opening correctional institutions for re-education to help girls get a profession.

For example, in Russia, with all the spiritual ties, prostitution has always been well developed, and venereal diseases were the main concern of all military doctors. Realizing all the helplessness in front of such a powerful institution, Nicholas I legalized prostitution by his decree and established medical and police supervision over it. The so-called yellow tickets began to be issued to employees of the entertainment services sector instead of a passport.

And here is an analog of the yellow ticket in China. This is an application for a work permit belonging to a 20-year-old girl named Liu Yulin, who provides services at the Yichun Tolerance House (there are many translation options) in Beijing. The application was reviewed and approved by the Beijing administration in 1921.

In the Republic of China, there were absolutely clear regulations for registering sex workers. After foreign competitors began to appear on the market, similar regulations began to apply to them. A guarantee for the activities of each specific employee from the owner of the brothel, an application for registration with the city administration — all this was mandatory.

For the most part, there was no romance and highly spiritual relationships here — 99 percent of the girls ended up in brothels because of poverty. Many were sold by their peasant parents, and some simply could not find a job. The attitude towards women in China has always been mediocre — therefore, there could be no question of any "women's rights".

Life in China at the turn of the century is becoming more and more "prosaic" — institutions where singers and actresses used to perform for wealthy clients are increasingly being transformed into brothels exclusively for the provision of sexual services. And if earlier a trip to a brothel was more like a men's exit into the light — a place where you can relax and discuss business/government issues, now the demand for sex services is growing. Cities are getting bigger, there are more and more male workers and soldiers every day — the market responds to demand and actively supplies girls to brothels.

In the 1950s and 55s, 5,333 prostitutes were arrested in Shanghai. Most of the arrested, like their Beijing colleagues, were sent to labor camps for labor re-education, some pimps were demonstratively shot.

Local governments throughout the country report on the eradication of prostitution as a phenomenon. But even in the most totalitarian and closed systems, it continues to live — including in the PRC. And now the market of sexual services is being reoriented for the most part to members of the CCP — in this historical period, only these people have money and power, only they can pay for the work of women with both money and privileges, coupons, benefits.

In the early 1980s, State control over society significantly weakened, and prostitution again became a noticeable phenomenon not only in urban but also in rural areas.

Of course, there is no flair left in the prostitutes of the People's Republic of China. If in the past there were entire castes of courtesans who largely echoed the Japanese geisha, then in communist China it became common for women due to poverty and the lack of any suitable work.

Prostitution was prosecuted in mainland China. Involvement in prostitution and the shelter of prostitutes were prosecuted under the Criminal Code of the People's Republic of China. Persons who directly buy and sell sex services were convicted according to the administrative code.