Sex trade sweep captures 7,500 people this year

• Source: Global Times
• [10:09 August 30 2010]
• Comments

By Chen Xiaoru

Local police have vowed to work with governmental agencies to get tough on prostitution, after 7,500 individuals in the city were detained from a months-long crackdown on the illegal activity.

Police said Sunday that the campaign targeted at stopping those facilitating paid sex services between clients and customers involved raids at more than 2,000 venues around the city, which began early this year.

The Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau Sunday denied that the clampdown on prostitution has anything to do with fostering a good public image for the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

"Our campaign to crack down on prostitution and sex services around the city is routine in keeping public order," Zhuang Liqiang, spokesman for the Shanghai Municipal Public Security Bureau, told the Global Times Sunday. "We've been getting tough on the illegal activity for a long time."

According to Zhuang, the scope of the problem is far-reaching, with the recent arrests for prostitution and sex-related services made at all kinds of locations around the city, from dingy barber shops and massage parlors to high-end karaoke bars, clubs and hotels.

He said that police had the help of some 800 tips received from residents this year, and cash rewards will be offered to those residents whose tips help in solving major prostitution cases.

Tightening the rope

For the next leg of the campaign, police plan to work with various governmental departments to better regulate recreational venues such as karaoke bars, bathhouses and night clubs, where illicit activity typically runs high, said Zhuang.

"Our next goal is to really keep tabs on recreational venues and their employees," he said. "If a place is caught providing paid sex services, we'll cooperate with local authorities to have the businesses suspended and the involved employees detained, and in serious cases, we'll revoke business licenses altogether."

Zhuang said that stricter regulations are being implemented for recreational venues, such as barber shops, which are no longer allowed to have separate rooms in their shops, as the cordoned-off areas are often used to host clients seeking paid sex services.

In full swing

According to Lu Xiaowen, director of the Institute of Sociology at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, the reality of the situation is that prostitution has long been rampant in the city, and the activity will continue to thrive despite the best intentions of the police crackdowns to thwart the problem. 

"It's hard to control prostitution," he told the Global Times Sunday. "Paid sex services usually happen in secret places, and people working in this industry easily get around police inspections by changing work places frequently.

"This also makes it difficult for police to catch them," he added.

Lu said that solving the problem of prostitution in the city will take time, and is one that will improve as society continues to develop, saying that most women only resort to offering their bodies up for money because they believe no better options are available to them.