How prostitution came on my radar - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

Author Zhang Lijia tells in The Millions how she became interested in prostitution in China, after discovering her grandma was a 'working girl'. It took years to write her bestselling novel Lotus: A Novel.

Zhang Lijia:

I’ve been interested in prostitution ever since a “deathbed revelation” in 1998. As my beloved maternal grandmother lay dying, my mother, an only child, cried her eyes out. She said to me: “You have no idea how much she has suffered: the famine, the Nanjing Massacre, all these political movements, and she was a working girl in the ’30s.” 

A working girl? I had a hard time reconciling the image of a sex worker with my grandma, a devout Buddhist who chanted Amitabha all day long and who raised me. A strikingly beautiful woman, she had high cheekbones and almond-shaped eyes. Dimples danced on her cheeks as she talked, always softly. As a traditional woman, she insisted on wearing a Chinese-style cotton jacket with a high mandarin collar, fixed by butterfly buttons. In the morning, she plaited my hair and, in the evening, she cooked for me and the family. 

My mother explained that grandmother had become an orphan as a child and was later sold into a local brothel in Yangzhou, a small town in Eastern China. She worked for 10 years until—while on the job—she met my grandfather, a small-time grain dealer. 

I kept wondering what her life was like inside the brothel. How did she cope? I quizzed my mother about grandma’s former life, but she was unable to enlighten me; she said the brothel was a middle-class establishment set in a traditional courtyard house named Pavilion of Spring Fragrance, its front always lit up by bright red lanterns. My grandma had never liked to talk about herself. 

I keenly read books, both fiction and nonfiction, on prostitution in China. I became fascinated with the subject. In China, the oldest human profession was wiped out after the Communists took power in 1949. Prostitution, in their view, was the vice produced by evil capitalism. In the reform era, however, it has made a spectacular return due to growing wealth, relaxed social control, and a large and mobile population. Although illegal, in every city in this vast country, there’s at least one “red light district” where working girls operate from massage parlors, hair salons, or bathing centers—all of them fronts for brothels.

More in The Millions.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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On Taoism and sex - Ian Johnson

Ian Johnson

Western interest on Taoism has much focused on sex and especially premature ejaculation, and Amuse author Kate Lister asked journalist Ian Johnson, author of The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, for his take on the subject.

Amuse:

“One act without emission makes the ch'i strong. Two acts without emission makes the hearing acute and the vision clear. Three acts without emission makes all ailments disappear. Four acts without emission and the "five spirits" are all at peace. Five acts without emission makes the pulse full and relaxed. Six acts without emission strengthens the waist and back. Seven acts without emission gives power to the buttocks and thigh. Eight acts without emission causes the whole body to be radiant. Nine acts without emission and one will enjoy unlimited longevity. Ten acts without emission and one attains the realm of the immortals.” 

Such teachings have fascinated the West for hundreds of years, and have been eagerly adopted by neo-Taoist and Tantra groups around the world today. But, our obsession with Taoist sex says far more about us than it does about the Chinese traditions being appropriated. 

Ian Johnson is a Beijing-based writer, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of religious persecution in China. He is also the author of The Souls of China: the Return of Religion After Mao, so it’s fair to say that he is man who knows a thing or two about Taoism in China today. And because everyone likes to receive unsolicited emails about sperm, I contacted him to ask him if Taoist practice in China was as preoccupied with ejaculation and sex as it is in the West. 

He explained: “The emphasis on sexual cultivation in the West is symptomatic for how exploration of foreign cultures often says more about the explorer than the explored. While Chinese do talk about sexual cultivation, it's an infinitesimally small portion of the overall discussion and the overall body of material. In other words, it's not really that important in the Chinese tradition. But sex is important in our culture, so it's not surprising that we mine ancient traditions to see what they say about it.” 

So, Taoists in China do view sex as important, and many practice self-control around orgasm, but sex is actually a very small part of their practice. It’s the Western rendering of Taoist tradition that has emphasized the sex part.

More in Amuse.

Ian Johnson is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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Why the sex industry boomed in China - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

Author Zhang Lijia of Lotus: A Novel, a book on prostitution in China, divided into the current sex industry and explains to Brave Media why it boomed. Earnings can be ten times as high compared to a factory job, she says.

Brave Media:

What kinds of women did you encounter through your research? Had most of them moved from villages into urban areas in search of work, like the protagonist in your novel, Lotus? 

They are usually migrant workers, from the countryside; something has gone wrong in their life, they are uneducated, unskillful, and of course there’s the temptation of money. In the vast majority of cases, women enter the trade of their own accord, but often driven by desperate poverty or something gone wrong: domestic violence, dumped by the husband, or falling pregnant as a single mother… 

How much more does prostitution pay in comparison to, say, a factory job? 

It’s huge. It could be ten times more. 

The sex industry has developed rapidly in China in recent years. Why is that? 

For many reasons. First, the growing wealth. We have a saying in Chinese: ‘once you have clothes to wear and your stomach is full, you start to think about sex.’ Of course in China for a long time people didn’t have enough to eat. 

And also relaxed social control: before, if you had a mistress or an extra marital affair, you probably ended up in a labour camp. China for a long time was sexually repressed. Now there’s freedom. I think some of the old attitudes towards women, which had been suppressed by Mao, have made a comeback. STDs are growing fastest among older men of above 55 or 60… They’ve probably now got some money, and felt they’ve missed out on something, and they are not switched on to how to protect themselves. They belong to the generation that believes that a decent woman shouldn’t have an interest in sex. 

Also, prostitution has become part of the business deal. For example I have a friend who is from Nanjing; he has a cushy job and his company does high end products, green energy, high tech stuff. According to regulations, such a company enjoys 15% of a tax deduction. But in order to get that, they have to invite tax bureau officials wining and dining. But these days wining and dining is not enough… Prostitution has become the lubricant of business. It’s very common. 

But the fundamental reason is the growing income gap between men and women. Many of my friends find it hard to believe, because within their circle they meet many very capable, high achieving young women. Sure. The reform brought lots of opportunities to both men and women, especially educated urban women. But overall China has shifted from a planned economy to the market economy, and women have shouldered too much of the burden in cost. 

When a company has to let off workers, women are always the first to go, and it’s so much harder for them to find jobs. Female graduates – before, they were allocated jobs. Women of child-bearing age are often refused. And sometimes when women get pregnant, they sack them. Sometimes they force them to write, ‘I promise I will not get pregnant,’ otherwise they will not get hired. UN Women did a research: women in the city earn 67.3% of what men make, and in the countryside only 56%. That has driven some of the most vulnerable women to take up prostitution.

More in Brave Media.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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Life of a prostitute - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia's book Lotus: A Novel got already much praise from reviewers. For the South China Morning Post she describes the life of Yong Gan, the main female character in her book, and how she ended, like 10 million other women, in prostitution in China.

Zhang Lijia:

Yong Gan went to the factory all the same, and life there turned out much as the woman had predicted. She quit the production line after just three months and headed to Tianjin to join the massage parlour, a middle-range establishment on the outskirts of the city. 

After a brief training period, she started working as a masseuse, usually for male clients. For a one-hour session, she would be paid 60 yuan (HK$68). Her colleagues, however, were making a lot more. Going slightly beyond her brief, so to say, would yield more than twice as much; offering full-fledged sexual services would earn 600 yuan – her monthly salary at the factory. 

Prostitution is illegal in China but is rampant in venues such as massage parlours, nightclubs, hair salons and karaoke bars. Some researchers believe there may be more than 10 million prostitutes in the country. The government has brought in more than a dozen laws to check prostitution in the past couple of decades, in the course of which it has shifted its emphasis from eradicating prostitution to containing it. As a result, shady parlours manage to operate without hindrance for the most part, even though raids are reported from time to time – last month in Beijing, three exclusive “nightclubs” were busted. 

Yong Gan’s slide down the slippery path to prostitution was as rapid as it was painful. At every step, she rationalised it was all for her daughter. The hours were long, starting at noon and dragging into the small hours. In between, she would usually fit in a couple of “small jobs” and a couple of “big jobs”. 

She would have to pretend to be cheerful in front of the clients, no matter how exhausted she was. Yet the worst part was the constant anxiety. When a client turned up, the girls would gather in the reception area, striking alluring poses and smiling invitingly. “If I failed to be picked, I would be disappointed and anxious. If I got picked, I felt anxious, worrying he might be difficult to please, or even violent.”

More in the South China Morning Post.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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Prostitution, a free choice - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

One remarkable conclusion by author Zhang Lijia of Lotus: A Novel  on sex work in China is her conclusion that prostitution in China is largely a free choice, where women are free to enter, and free to leave. Yes, there is economic pressure, but no organized crime or human trafficking on a major scale, she says.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

Are you looking for more stories by Zhang Lijia? Do check this list.

Exploring the life of Chinese sex workers - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

In her upcoming book Lotus author Zhang Lijia explores the life of Chinese sex workers, taking the life of her grandmother, a concubine, as a starting point. On the weblog Zhen de Gender, she explains what it took to do her research. "Prostitution is just a device, a window to show the tensions and the changes."

Zhen de Gender:

I discovered that many people have the same fantasy. People ask me: are these prostitutes beautiful? They’re just normal women – some are ugly, some wear more makeup, they wear more revealing clothes, but they are just normal women. 

Their lives are very complicated. All the prostitutes I have met help their family. It is out of obligation but it also makes them feel good. They know prostitution is wrong so they argue, ‘look I’m helping my family, you cannot say I’m a bad person.’ Also, because they have money, they improve their position in the family, who are proud of them, which gives them a lot of pleasure. 

I stayed with them, those prostitutes. I was really interesting. I asked one woman, ‘what’s your favourite [food]?’ and she said, ‘toast on jam.’ She had begun to experiment with things; in the village you would never have heard of such things. I went to see her mother. I asked her what to buy for her mother, she said, ‘buy something my mother hasn’t tried.’ So this was all part of her trying new things. I bought her mother a durian. 

Why does the world need to know about China’s sex workers? 

Prostitution is just a device, a window to show the tensions and the changes. You can pack in so many important issues: migration, women’s position, the gap between city and rural. 

What challenges did you face when researching Lotus? 

Part of the biggest challenge is their life is so far removed from mine. One of my friends said: ‘try and work as a prostitute, you can satisfy your sexual needs, and you can make some money, and do your research.’ Imagine, if I had to work as a prostitute! I know I have lots of choices in life, so it’s difficult to identify with their life. 

They’re just humans, they’re very complicated. I really had lots of fun. They talk a lot about breasts and some of them have implants. One woman’s implants go sideways! You know, just awful. Before they are successful [with a client] they often go to the back room – they really compare their breasts! 

I went to another of the prostitutes’ home to visit her family. She had become quite successful, she had bought her family a flat and she no longer lived in the village. She went back because she was supposed to be sweeping the tomb for her stepfather and when she arrived she put on high heels. High heels! When we were walking to the mountain she was wearing high heels. To show [her change in status]. 

Sounds like you quite enjoyed that process. 

Of course, yes. But it took me so long! I worked as a volunteer, distributing condoms. If we hadn’t met, how could we have language, what would we talk about? If they’re not in my life, it would be difficult to imagine. So many small details in the book are real.

More in Zhen de Gender.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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Sex in a country without sex education - Zhang Lijia

Zhang Lijia

Next year author Zhang Lijia will publish her novel Lotus, on sex workers in southern China, inspired by her grandmother. Caijing interviews her about this inspiration and about how sex changed in China.

Caijing:

Your first novel, Lotus, which will be published by Henry Holt and Co. next year, revolves around the story of a sex worker in southern China. Where did you find the inspiration for it? 

Before she died, I discovered that my grandmother was a sex worker. She was an orphan and was sold into a brothel. She met my grandfather, a married small-time grain dealer, on the job, and then became his concubine. I was curious about how she coped, what her life was like. 

Then, when I was in Shenzhen for work, I went to a small saloon to get a haircut. The women there just giggled and said the only person who knew how to cut hair was not around. When I looked at the saloon floor there were no hair shavings. I just stared at those girls in their low-cut dresses for a few minutes before I realized the shop was just a front for a brothel. 

My grandma's story had planted the initial seed of curiosity in my mind. I interviewed several sex workers while in Shenzhen. I also worked as a volunteer for a non-governmental organization distributing condoms among sex workers in northern China. 

Many small details in the book are real. Prostitution is just a window to see the tensions and the changes happening now. You can pack in so many important issues like migration, women's position in society, the gap between cities and rural areas, etc. It's just a literary device. 

What were the challenges you faced when researching your novel? 

The biggest challenge was that the lives of sex workers were so far removed from mine. One of my friends said, "Try and work as a prostitute, you can satisfy your sexual needs, and you can make some money, and do your research." All the sex workers I have met sent money to their families. They knew what they were doing is wrong so they argue, "Look I'm helping my family, you cannot say I'm a bad person." I really had lots of fun researching the book. They talk a lot about breasts. One woman's implants had gone sideways, they really compare their breasts! 

Have attitudes toward sex and sex education changed? 

It has changed dramatically. I spoke with Li Yinhe, a famous sexologist, recently. She conducted a survey in 1989 and 85 percent of the respondents said they had no sexual experience before marriage. Now, by the time people get married, very few will have had no sexual experience. 

While sex before marriage has become commonplace, there's not enough sex education, especially among the rural population. When a couple gets married, they'll be given condoms. Village officials will demonstrate how to use them by putting the condom on the thumb. But, the woman still gets pregnant and they say, "Oh, how did that happen?" 

Sex education is supposed to be part of the curriculum but it is not taught in many schools. There's this explosion – the divorce rate is increasing, the number of abortions and cases of STDs have gone up rapidly – but sex education is lacking.

More in Caijing.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your conference or meeting? Do get in in touch or fill in our speakers´request form.

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Journalist Ian Johnson discusses spiritual values: what are Chinese looking for?

How Uniqlo could have handled its steamy video - Tom Doctoroff

Tom Doctoroff

A video of two customers having sex in a changing room of a Beijing outlet of Uniqlo went viral last week. Uniqlo even had to deny this was a marketing trick. Advertising guru Tom Doctoroff says in the Wall Street Journal it could have handled the issue more relaxed, in line with its own branding,

The Wall Street Journal:

The retailer, owned by Fast Retailing Co., sells mix-and-match clothing — so why not respond with a playful, yet serious line that connects consumers to the brand? That’s the advice of Tom Doctoroff, Asia Chief Executive of JWT, who offered one possible slogan: “Make your own style, but don’t take it too far.” 

In response to the viral sex video that was shot in a dressing room of one of its Beijing stores, Uniqlo said in a statement that it reminded “all customers to abide by society’s moral standards.” A spokeswoman for the company declined to respond to questions about the tone of the company’s response but said it was not involved in the video and that it has turned the matter over to the police for investigation. 

While Uniqlo didn’t opt for comic relief, other companies and consumers did. China-based car company Chery Automobile Co. posted on its social media sites last week a message that said, “Don’t try another room, try a car.” 

Venucia, Nissan Dongfeng’s low-price brand for China, sent this message over social media: “The car is equipped with power seats. Why go to Uniqlo?”... 

Of course, there is a serious side to the video. Making, publishing or spreading pornographic or obscene material is illegal in China and is considered a criminal act. And sex videos–no matter how much traction and attention they get online–don’t exactly match with this retailer’s brand message, said Mr. Doctoroff.

More in the Wall Street Journal.

Tom Doctoroff is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers´ request form.

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Why Chinese class rooms avoid sex education – Zhang Lijia

+Lijia Zhang 

Today sex education is firmly on the curriculum of school, unlike when author Zhang Lijia grew up. Important, because with knowledge the kids become vulnerable in society. But it does not mean sex education is wholeheartedly embraced, fears Zhang Lijia in CNN.

CNN:

When Lijia Zhang was 10-years old, her mother told her babies are born from armpits. 

"I thought that's strange, because there's no hole there," Zhang recalls, adding that she "had absolutely nothing" in terms of sex ed when she was growing up in Nanjing in the 1970s, beyond what her mother told her. Now a journalist writing for English-language publications, Zhang publicly revealed her own experience of molestation by a schoolteacher in a recent opinion piece on the severity of child sex abuse in China. 

Zhang is part of a growing number of voices calling for better sex education to combat child sex abuse, rising rates of sexually transmitted diseases, and unwanted pregnancies. Parents spur this on, pressuring their children to concentrate on academics above all else. Zhang adds that Confucian thought doesn't encourage open discussion of sex. As a popular saying goes: "Lust is the worst of all wicked things; Filial piety is the best of all good things." 

Educators have also largely ignored what calls the government has made to improve sex education. In part, teachers are too embarrassed to cover the subject, but primarily they concentrate on meeting their own academic targets. Sex is not a subject tested in the all-important university entrance exam and teachers have little incentive to emphasize the subject. 

"At school the focus is to get students to score high in exams in order to get them into good universities. Sex education is not considered important," Zhang explains. 

Parents spur this on, pressuring their children to concentrate on academics above all else. Zhang adds that Confucian thought doesn't encourage open discussion of sex. As a popular saying goes: "Lust is the worst of all wicked things; Filial piety is the best of all good things."

More at CNN.

Zhang Lijia is currently writing a book on prostitution in China, expected to be published later this year.

Zhang Lijia is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need her at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speaker´ request form.

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First sex, a precious gift in China - James Farrer

James Farrer

James Farrer compares the attitude of premaritial sex of Japanese and Chinese youth. Both accept sex in a dating relationship, but in China sex is part of a carefully planned deal making and seen as a highly valuable gift. ChinaShmina summarized the article.

ChinaShmina:

In China sex prior to marriage is linked to the concept of female’s chastity and male’s responsibility. Chinese (both males and females) base their judgments on the reactions of imaginary male (“future husband”) – “What would he think knowing that he wasn’t first?” 

As one of Farrer’s interviewees said:

Boys certainly don‘t want to eat somebody else‘s left-over dish, do they? 

In this sense Chinese woman’s decision to have sex is a kind of sacrifice and first sex is a valuable gift. Not only Chinese women but also Chinese men often hesitated whether to have sex if the woman was virgin... 

For Chinese young adults the requirement for having sex is the comparatively high level ofcommitment in relationships. It is most usually expressed through promises “to work hard, buy a house, or take the other traveling or as vows, such as I‘ll love you forever or I‘ll make you happy for a lifetime”. Even if these promises haven’t been voiced, there is often a mutualcommitment to the common future. 

Premarital sexual relationship, however, does not automatically qualify as engagement and Chinese accept that “sometimes things don’t work out.”... 

Many Chinese interviewees in Farrer’s research expressed the opinion that sex is appropriate only for people who have almost finished their education and are economically independent. 

It is probably the result of relative intolerance of Chinese education institutions towards the intimacy (dating) between students. Japanese, on the other hand, regard the high school years as appropriate time to start the sexual activity.

More in ChinaShmina

The original article is not yet online available. James Farrer, Gefei Suo, Haruka Tsuchiya, Zhongxin Sun. 2012. ―Re-embedding sexual meanings: a qualitative comparison of the premarital sexual scripts of Chinese and Japanese young adults ‖ Sexuality & Culture. Vol. 16, No.1, pp. 1-24.

James Farrer is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.  

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Second wives key for luxury consumption - Tom Doctoroff

Tom Doctoroff by Fantake via Flickr

China's second wives account officially for one third of the country's luxury consumption, says Tom Doctoroff in the Huffington Post, and elaborates on the distinction between marriage and sex in China.

Because China has never had a humanist revolution, sex and marriage have always been relatively divorced. That is why many Asian cultures have an immensely commercialised and categorised [sex industry]. The way they separate the two is quite stunning - the choices are up on neon boards like a McDonald's menu... 

Second Wives [like flashy brands] because they have to display that their man is dedicated to them. They lead very insecure lives. They are not independent and need to advertise the fact they have a sponsor.

Much more in the Huffington Post

Tom Doctoroff is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. When you need him at your meeting or conference, do get in touch.

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Sex, porn and their lessons for business - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein by Fantake via Flickr

Shaun Rein uses the lessons business can learn from the mixed messages the government is sending on porn and sex. On the internet it is porn crackdown all along the line, while sex and prostitution are everywhere commercially available.
The lesson is so obvious, many veterans like Shaun Rein forget to explain it to relative newcomers in China. In Forbes he makes up for that omission, The government is not one monolith with one message, but a conglomerate of competing interests, You have to be aware of this minefield of conflicting interests to survive in China. At a central level - and the internet is strictly controlled by that level - pornography and prostitution are not done.

At the local level police and other officials face different issues. Police and local officials are way underpaid and aren't allowed to move into the private sector after they've reached a certain rank. Even relatively senior local officials often make only several hundred dollars a month. They get lots of benefits, like housing and cars, but they don't have much personal money of their own. One result is that corrupt officials protect brothels for protection fees.

These corrupt officials and police don't want to lose that income, so they let brothels operate freely as long as they don't become hubs for more serious crimes, like drug sales, or violence--and as long as there isn't overwhelming political will to shut things down, as there was around the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the run up to the World Expo in Shanghai this year. Many brothels throughout the country were shuttered in the three months leading up to the Olympics, but most were up and running again soon after.

More important lessons in Forbes.

Commercial
Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

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SARFT-ban of today: sex

Sex sells, all media know and since being attractive is the last thing the State Administration of Radio, Film and TV (SARFT) want their Chinese media to be the regulator has banned sex, reports Josie Liu.

Prompted by some sex talk radio programs on several radio stations in Sichuan, China’s broadcast regulator has banned television and radio stations from planning, producing and broadcasting programs relating to sex life, experience or medicines.

China's media have always found ways around the rather conservative character of the regulator. In the 1990s you could listen all night long to call-in programs on the radio where people could ask expert advice om their sex problems. This was of course meant to be purely educational.

Now, sex is everywhere and the boys at Xinhua even have their own soft-porn departments. But that is print and SARFT will not allow that for "their" media. Not that the ban will help though, but since it is their job to ban thing, they will even ban the rain, when then think they should do it.

Mattel has another Barbie problem

Danwei points at another problems toy giant Mattel is having with Barbie, although it is not the one with lead in its paint as far as I can see. Although China Barbie focuses more on an adult audience, Mattels seems to think that we might be confused.

Without the help of Mattel we would never have found this site, so, thank you. Mattel only wants a 100,000 USD in compensation, that is pretty low for this high-end promotion.

Sex in China - speaker availability

James Farrer

One of the cards in our sleaves of the upcoming China Speakers Bureau is our speaker James Farrer, a leading expert on sex in China. I just wrote in the profile for our upcoming website about him:

James Farrer is associate professor sociology at the Sofia University in Tokyo and a leading expert on sexuality in China and Japan. In a dynamic and knowledgeable way he addresses one of the fast-changing sides of China's dynamic society: its youth culture.
Mr. Farrer started his fieldwork as a sociologist and Fulbright scholar in the second half of the 1990s in Shanghai. His groundbreaking research made him to one of the most-quoted international sociologists in this field and led to the publications of his standard work on sex in China: Opening Up: Youth Sex Culture and Market Reform in Shanghai.

I just learned that James Farrer will be in China for most of August and September, creating an unique opportunity for speaking engagements. If you are interested is hearing him talk, please do drop me a line.

Sex glossary in Chinese

Danwei rightfully points at this glossary of sex-related words in Chinese, English and Swedish, since most of those words are lacking in the all-too-politically correct dictionaries.
"Blow the horn" (吹喇叭 ) is the Chinese word for a blowjob, for example, a new one for me. Seems time for some advanced language classes here.

Chinese men as horny as panda's

headache

Raymond Zhou has located the scientific proof (but unfortunately does not link to it): Chinese men as not as horny as the massive sex industry in China would suggest. He explains the panda-syndrome, a species that is know for its (lack of) sex problems.

Chinese men are invariably discouraged from premarital sex, but as they get older and richer they catch the panda vibe, so to speak. Too much pressure from office. Too much hassle. Too busy acting like a panda, potbelly and all.
Therefore, I propose to change our national mascot from panda to rabbit. Let kids learn to be adorable. "Real men" should be quick and strong. As Mae West put it, "A hard man is good to find."

So, what are these Chinese men then doing in those karaoke bars? According to my brother-in-law, who helps to run factories in Guangdong, very little. In his previous company, after lavish meals, the female managers of the plant would leave and then the karaoke girls would move in.
My brother-in-law said he would then leave too and wait in the lobby, drinking tea. (I never checked this but believe him on his word). So, I suggested, he had to drink loads of tea. He denied. "It never takes longer than five minutes, then they were all down again."

Chongqing beats sex and porn

Traffic to this weblog is going through the roof, I just noted. The Chongqing stories seem to do very well, even better than the sex-related stories and that is rather new.