User:User108t/Refugees and Sex Work in Shanghai in the 20th Century

Introduction
-       *Side note (I will be changing my title to “Sex Work in Shanghai within the 19th to 20th Century”)

-       Introduction will briefly cover all the following topics: history, refugees, political viewpoints, legislation, transition into the 20th century, life as a sex worker in the 19th- 20th century, child prostitution, male sex workers, transgender sex workers, labor markets, & sex culture

History
-       Will focus between roughly between the 1840s-1950s

-       Taiping civil war (1851-64) & Small Swords Uprising (1853-1855)

-       These events dislocated the economy and led many women to becoming sex workers

-       Prostitutes and gangs spread across Shanghai

-       By early 20th century Shanghai became known as “brothel of Asia”

Refugees
-       Shanghai was very busy entrepot

-       Factories expanded and employed women

-       Japanese control and warlord violence (1920s-1945) lead to constant immigrants and refugees

-       Work competition was strong and forced many women into sex work to survive

Political Viewpoints
-       Maoist period

-       “Prostitution was linked to imperial and feudal past”

-       Sex work was harshly punished, claimed to be eradicated by 1958

-       However, there are nearly 150 million migrants in China today which contribute to the sex industry

-       Traditional Confucians assumptions are prevalent

Sex Work Hierarchy
-       Pre-1949 Shanghai had 4-6 categories

-       Storytellers- high class courtesans

-       Sing song girls- wore elaborate costumes, banquets, parties

-       Tea-house prostitutes- sex was readily available

-       Pheasants - streetwalkers

-       Male sex work
-      Very common

-       Homosexuality was outlawed during the Maoist period

-       Would play as women in operas

-       Transgender sex work
-       Little documentation

-       Worse treated group

-       Child prostitution
-       Higher prices for virgins

-       Children grew up in brothels

Sex Culture
-       High level sex workers are tied with the elites of society

-       Zoned districts for different tiers of sex workers

-       Sex work is viewed as a get rich scheme for high class sex workers