Wan Chai's Bar Girls and Freelancers
This article was submitted anonymously by a reader.
A question often asked on the Hong Kong forums, or by visitors in general, is about the working girls, or 'freelancers' in the bars, particularly in Wan Chai. There is information out there which either provides a couple of sentences, or hints at the reality. In this page we'll write about the facts in a no-nonsense manner...
Wan Chai is filled to overflowing with prostitutes from various regional nations (Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia etc). There are often visiting Hong Kong on a 30 day tourist visa, and will try to make as much money as possible during that time. Others are brought into Hong Kong by organised gangs or pimps, who will provide them with the tickets and accommodation. Obviously, this investment has to be repaid in multiples. There are also maids, that are working legally in the territory, but recognise the opportunity to substantially boost their meagre incomes by becoming commercial sex workers.
In order to make money, the girls will prop up the various bars of Wan Chai, fluttering their eyes at tourists or expats. Everyone knows the deal, the girls are tolerated by the bars because they attract paying customers. If you buy a girl a drink, the bar staff secretly hand the girl a slip of paper, which she will later use to claim her commission from the bar. Simply buying a girl a drink is helping her to earn money, whether you know it or not. If she's ordering expensive drinks, she could be making 50 - 80 $HK commission each time.
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Should a punter decide he wants to spend the night with the fair maiden he's been buying drinks all evening, the reality (even though it sounds prejudiced) is that if a girl is in one of these bars, the chances are she's available for sex in exchange for cash. Even though prostitution is legal in Hong Kong, this is all illegal of course, as the girls are generally working in the territory illegally. The going rates are anything from HK$1000 to HK$2000. She will probably take him to one of the nearby 'love hotels', where of course, she will again get a commission from the hotelier for taking him there... So she has the commission from the drinks, the hotel, and of course the cash in hand she will be paid by her customer.
This summarises the commercial sex worker scene in the discos of Wan Chai. There are of course the gogo bars and saunas, which are a different and covered in other articles on this website.
See also: Prostitution in Wan Chai and on the forum: Is Prostitution Inherently Wrong?
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