Rich but lonely Hong Kong wives are forming 'duck-picking groups' - in Cantonese, 'duck' means gigolo - to have sex, according to Surprise Weekly. To avoid being discovered by their husbands who pay their bills, the women visit Macau 'duck bars' where it costs about $5,000 to have a male companion for an evening. But if sex is involved, extra charges on the bill start at around $1,000, depending on how good-looking the man is. Some tai-tais have even been handing out expensive watches to their favourite boys. Gigolos claim they make more than $100,000 in a good month. Thai ducks are most 'hardworking', the cheapest and thus the most popular. Because of the booming business, many 'chicken bars' (prostitute)in the Portuguese enclave have been turned into 'duck bars'.
over-age sex China's southwestern city of Chongqing is still reeling from the social implications of a recent crackdown on prostitution, says Express News. Most of the people caught turned out to be illiterate, on a low income and aged between 50 and 70. One 70-year-old who lives on a retirement pension of $140 a month spent $6,000 on prostitutes. Some of the hookers caught were also elderly. One, a divorced woman over 50 with a son and daughter, collects only $8 per client but pointed out it was the best 'job' she could get. 'Selling my body is more comfortable than selling vegetables,' she explained.
small victories People have been expecting a flood of children coming across the border from the mainland ever since the Court of Appeal ruled illegitimate children of Hong Kong citizens have the right of abode here. But Sing Tao says most 'second wives' of Hong Kong men in China are not keen to send their children, because the kids give them the best bargaining power over their men. They believe even if men lose interest in their mistresses, they will not abandon the children. Besides, it's very cheap to keep a mistress - somewhere like Shenzhen's well-known 'second wives' village' will only costs about $2,000 a month, says the paper. And the wily women maintain their independence working in nightclubs whenver their 'husbands' return to Hong Kong.
jobs for the boys A cadre in the Guangdong city of Leizhou has taken the common mainland saying 'Power is wasted if it is not used in time' to extremes, says Express News. A few months ago, just before he quit his job, the man appointed 47 friends and relatives to important posts in a single day, kicking out incumbents, no matter how capable they were. But because the hastily-made appointments meant many names were written incorrectly, the ensuing confusion has drawn the city government's attention to the case. His appointees are out of a job and the cadre is under investigation.
a bit rich Deng Xiaoping's theory that 'to get rich is glorious' seems to have been taken to heart by mainland journalists, says Apple Daily. At company launches, receptions to announce results and similar functions, journalists are frequently being given gifts of $1,500. If a firm wants to pay for a flattering story about itself on a prominent page, the going rate is now $3 a word to the writer - 100 times more than the regular rate. As a result, many editors and reporters now have private apartments, cars, and have petrol, taxes and car maintenance expenses covered by their so-called contacts.