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Prostitution was seen not only as a moral issue, but also as a biological threat to power, rule, and race. It was regulated through the licensing of brothels, the registration of sex workers, and the medical inspection of women whose clients were Europeans. Commercial zoning for geographic control marked the racial segregation of brothel clienteles. All ‘foreign’ and Chinese brothels were divided into three classes: first, second, and third. The ‘foreign’ houses were especially separated by race and class.
Female sex workers were objectified by the male gaze in sexual commerce, in prostitution policing, and in medical surveillance. Whether voluntary, pawned, or sold, they were treated as ’property’ by their brothel keepers. Gender identities were related to the social-sexual hierarchy of the brothel system as well as individual roles and status inside the brothels.
In the early 20th century, a sense of women’s consciousness was evident in the photographic images of sex workers, who appeared as bearers of tradition and modernity for attracting customers in a changing society.
Brothel entertainments required girls to sing and entertain. Their musical talents could have brought them into the entertainment sector, yet they operated in the exploitative sexual economy of brothel prostitution. Some were sold by despairing parents to become mui tsai in brothels where they were trained and used by the brothel keepers or purchasers as a source of income.
Courtesy of the Library of Congress, LC-DIG-stereo-1s19127 DLC
“These convivial meetings take place very often; in fact, they are the petit soupers of the Celestials.”
The Illustrated London News, 19 Sept, 1857
“These convivial meetings take place very often; in fact, they are the petit soupers of the Celestials.”
The Illustrated London News, 19 Sept, 1857
At fashionable night banquets at the brothel, the host and guests were attended to and entertained by girls working in the brothel. On a typical night, the entertainment would commence with music and singing around 5:00 to 6:00 pm and last till about 8:00 pm. After that time, the guests would amuse themselves by smoking opium and conversing with the girls. At midnight, the guests would again gather around the table for a meal that would last for three or four hours. The girls had to sit around the table and accompany the guests throughout the evening until the event ended around 4:00 or 5:00 am.
Courtesy of the Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans
First-class ‘foreign’ houses in the Central area were found at the doorsteps of the Central Police Station compound, including Lyndhurst Terrace, Wellington Street, Old Bailey Street, Elgin Street, Peel Street, and Hollywood Road. The flower stalls on Wyndham Street served the segregated communities, including visitors to the brothels.
Lower-class ‘foreign’ houses that catered to soldiers, sailors, and Malay ‘coolies’ were located in Wanchai. The Chinese-only brothels were concentrated in the west in the Tai Ping Shan area. They gradually moved to Possession Street and relocated to Shek Tong Tsui in 1903.
Courtesy of the Hong Kong Museum of History
Brothels and restaurants in this neighbourhood catered to a Chinese clientele. These were also places for business transactions. In its heyday, in the 1920s, the area housed over 50 brothels with more than 2,000 sex workers and 20 restaurants.
Courtesy of Cheng Po Hung
COURT HOUSE
& POST OFFICE
CENTRAL
POLICE STATION
CENTRAL
MARKET
WESTERN
MARKET
TUNG WAH
HOSPITAL
1879
Foreign Brothels
Chinese Brothels
Map: Adapted from “Race, Space and the Regulation of Prostitution in Colonial Hong Kong” by Philip Howell.
Photo: Courtesy of The University of Hong Kong Libraries
The Lock Hospital detained infected sex workers to cure venereal diseases. Every sex worker of a licensed brothel was liable to medical examination by a doctor. One motivation for this policy was to protect the British servicemen, especially the army and naval forces, from being infected with sexually transmitted diseases. Additionally, there were also anxieties over political security, social morality, as well as biological and racial purity.
Chinese women, serving Chinese men, protested the indignity of these examinations, especially by European doctors. In practice, this regulation applied only to those brothels used exclusively by the foreigners.
Courtesy of The National Archives of the UK
This type of identity card was handed over to a registered prostitute. Her photo was mounted on a separate card, which went with her and had to be produced whenever called for.
These lines printed in her card tells of the hypocrisy of a system based upon money bargains and sexual slavery: “You prostitutes: your persons are your own. You can come or go away at liberty.”
Courtesy of The National Archives of the UK
Here is an example of a deed for the sale of a mui tsai, used in the New Territories, dated to the Guangxu era (1875-1908).
The contract states the names of the child, the parents, and the purchasers, as well as the renumeration. Acknowledging the uncertain future of the child, the contract adds: “All should acquiesce in Heaven’s decree.”
Courtesy of Tim Ko
Clara Haslewood came to Hong Kong with her husband, Hugh Haslewood, in 1919. She was appalled by the mui tsai system and wrote a letter to the press criticising the system as child slavery. Her action infuriated the Governor, Sir Reginald Stubbs, who then orchestrated the resignation of her husband from the Navy. Back in Britain, the couple campaigned against child slavery. In 1922, an appeal was made to the Parliament to review the mui tsai system. Consequently, a new bill was passed in Hong Kong in 1923, followed by an amendment in 1929, stipulating that mui tsai were to be registered and paid wages. In 1938, further legislation made it compulsory to register all adopted girls with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
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Image from A Brief History of Anti-Mui Tsai Movement (Fandui xu bi shi lue), by Mai Meisheng, 1933.
Stella Benson (1892-1933), an English writer and social reformer, fought against licensed prostitution, which she argued was a cause of human trafficking. Her efforts were similarly dismissed by the then Governor, Sir William Peel. Benson campaigned with a small group of European women and social reformers, particularly Gladys Forster, conducting research to prepare a report for a local League of Nations sub-committee in 1930.
The government eventually announced that the brothels for Europeans should be closed on 1 January 1932. All other Chinese brothels would run for another two to three years and were eventually closed by 1935.
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Stella Benson (1892-1933), an English writer and social reformer, fought against licensed prostitution, which she argued was a cause of human trafficking. Her efforts were similarly dismissed by the then Governor, Sir William Peel. Benson campaigned with a small group of European women and social reformers, particularly Gladys Forster, conducting research to prepare a report for a local League of Nations sub-committee in 1930.
The government eventually announced that the brothels for Europeans should be closed on 1 January 1932. All other Chinese brothels would run for another two to three years and were eventually closed by 1935.
Read More
Clara Haslewood came to Hong Kong with her husband, Hugh Haslewood, in 1919. She was appalled by the mui tsai system and wrote a letter to the press criticising the system as child slavery. Her action infuriated the Governor, Sir Reginald Stubbs, who then orchestrated the resignation of her husband from the Navy. Back in Britain, the couple campaigned against child slavery. In 1922, an appeal was made to the Parliament to review the mui tsai system. Consequently, a new bill was passed in Hong Kong in 1923, followed by an amendment in 1929, stipulating that mui tsai were to be registered and paid wages. In 1938, further legislation made it compulsory to register all adopted girls with the Secretary for Chinese Affairs.
Read More
Image from A Brief History of Anti-Mui Tsai Movement (Fandui xu bi shi lue), by Mai Meisheng, 1933.
Were there avenues of change within the system? Were there different cultural concepts of women’s freedom?
The life story of Liang Tan Yuying (1902-1983) was an exceptional example showing a woman’s destiny and identity in flux.
In her book, Memories of the Leisure Retreats (Yanju congyi lu), Liang reveals her humble origin as a mui tsai being sold again into a brothel when she was 15 years old. At age 18, she became the 8th concubine of Liang Shiyi (1869-1933), an eminent figure in charge of China’s railways and fiscal affairs, and later the premier of the Beiyang government from 1921 to 1922.
Giving a unique insight on what it meant to be a concubine, Liang wrote about her affectionate and respectful relationship with her husband, their travels, and glimpses of family life. Her work is also a memoir of a notable man from a woman’s perspective. Liang was instrumental in preserving and publishing the letters kept by her husband, which are important historical documents for their times.
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Courtesy of Ming She
