Tourists explore seamy side of Beijing

A plan to attract tourists to Beijing's old brothels - which closed more than 50 years ago - has been a success despite claims that the scheme is morally questionable.

When the idea was first mooted in November 2001, the Xuanwu district government pounced on Hello Beijing, a tour operator that proposed renovating the brothel sites and organising trips. Local media said that showing off the murky side of Beijing's history was a bad idea, and Hello Beijing decided to pull out.

'Any activities making a profit at the cost of social morality should be stopped,' wrote one magazine.

But today about 10 guides roam the alleys, giving pedicab tours of the brothels and letting their clients walk inside.

The former brothels, which date from the Qing Dynasty, cover eight alleys in the Tianqiao area southwest of Tiananmen Square.

The two-storey wood, brick and stone buildings, which are up to 400 years old, were home to about 2,000 brothels. With open-air courtyards, arched windows and decorated doorways, the largest contained more than 20 bedrooms.

It is not immediately obvious that the buildings used to form Beijing's red-light district. Tour operators explain to visitors the differences between the former brothels, gambling dens, bathhouses, tea houses, official mansions and ordinary homes in the area.