bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

'THE traditional morality and good virtue of the Vietnamese woman' may be a tricky subject to teach on a blackboard but Mrs Kim has a captive audience.

  Her pupils are the prostitutes rounded up on the river banks, pavements and barber shops of Ho Chi Minh City, the former Saigon, and its Chinatown, Cholon.

  Their pimps face court and jail; their customers fines and a criminal record. But the women themselves face six months detention in Mrs Kim's school for 're-training and re-education'.

  In one room they are taught the thoughts of Ho Chi Minh and the history of the Vietnamese revolution. In another they can practise hair-styling, learn computing and sing karaoke.

  'The teaching of political and moral thought can be very difficult,' Mrs Kim says.

  'Some of the girls that come here have a very low education. The best we can hope for is to show them another way and hope some of the skills we teach them will help them find a job. We know that some will go back to the street.

  'Many have got into prostitution due to family trouble. That can be hard to fix, but we encourage relatives to visit.'   The centre can hold up to 2,000 women under the shade of eucalyptus trees and bougainvillea vines amid the coconut palms and swamps of the Mekong Delta.

  Its rooms are filled with noisy labourers - sewing on machines and rattan weaving, producing goods for local markets and export.

  Ho Chi Minh City is no longer locked in the physical time warp of April 29, 1975, when communist tanks saw South Vietnam evaporate with the smoke of the last American helicopters.

  Parts of the city are now well-scrubbed and orderly. Hotels and high-rises are appearing. It is one of the fastest growing city in the world, and a new, controlled socialist wealth peers out from the poverty.

  But any allusions to Singapore are still a veneer.

  Wander anywhere on the river, and there is little that is not on offer.

  Up in the centre of town, men wrapped elegantly in the flowing ao dai grab at German tourists from motorbikes; many mistake the stroke of a burly hand on the arm for something more feminine and swiftly lose a watch.

  In Cholon, Hong Kong gangsters rile authorities by reportedly hustling virgins to Taiwanese businessmen who believe they will bring them luck and strength. A few streets away on a boulevard dedicated to the revolution, women try to flag down cars, seemingly oblivious to signs nearby warning of AIDS.

  Hanoi is concerned about AIDS and the breakdown of the family. The Department of Social Evils Prevention has moved to 'demolish' vice.

  Premier Vo Van Kiet is launching a major crackdown.

  But in the south, it all seems business as usual.

  'We can only seriously hope to control the social evils, not wipe them out,' one official said.



Prostitutes forced back to school in bid to make a virtue of necessity