Sex in the city

Prostitution has long been a part of Hong Kong society's seedy underbelly, with women and men plying their trade along the shadowy streets and laneways of well-established red-light areas such as Wan Chai and Mong Kok.

But as police continue their battle against the illicit side of the business, landmark research from the University of Hong Kong has cast new light on a booming prostitution industry that has led to crammed prison cells housing thousands of mainland offenders, and raised concerns about inadequate policing methods, and abuse and neglect of suspects and criminals.

The study, compiled over 18 months by criminologist Karen Joe Laidler and law professors Robyn Emerton and Carole Petersen, indicates that 70 per cent of all the women jailed in Hong Kong are suspected mainland sex workers.

The survey found that in 2000, 3,646 mainland sex workers were jailed in Hong Kong. In 2005 that figure had risen to 11,794, reflecting a dramatic influx of mainland sex workers into the local industry. A 1993 study showed that 1 per cent of foreign sex workers arrested in Mong Kok came from the mainland, while the latest research draws on figures from the Immigration Department, showing that by 2003, 94 per cent of the total number of sex workers arrested in Hong Kong were mainlanders.

'The opening up of the border [between Hong Kong and the mainland] has created new legitimate, and illegitimate, opportunities. With China on the fast track to capitalism, the opportunities have become more open and visible,' Dr Laidler said. 'People are getting cultural messages about the push towards capitalism. But poor and rural families are financially strapped because their families can't earn a living. So, sex work is a viable option for some.

'It's a logical assumption that some of the independent travellers will be sex workers. Our study is the first that we are aware of that looks at the experiences of mainland sex workers imprisoned in Hong Kong.'