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The place of prostitution in early twentieth-century Suzhou

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 November 2011

PETER J. CARROLL
PETER J. CARROLL*
Affiliation:
Department of History, Northwestern University, 1881 Sheridan Road, Evanston, IL 60208-2220, USA
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Abstract:

In early twentieth-century Suzhou, business and state leaders deployed female prostitution to foster commerce despite its controversial nature and sometime illegality. This political-economic policy variously pitted prostitutes and madams, police, commercial interests and social reformers against one another as tensions between gender reform and economic growth played out in urban development. This article analyses these conflicts to highlight the actions of prostitutes and the prerogatives of male desire in Suzhou's spatial and economic transformation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Urban History , Volume 38 , Special Issue 3: China's urban turn , December 2011 , pp. 413 - 436
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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References

1 Guan Zhong, a Warring States era prime minister of Qi, is popularly credited with initiating prostitution through his creation of a 300 woman harem. Nie'er, ‘Lun jiyuan shougui guoyou zhi quanli’, Shenbao, 1 Oct. 1912, 9.

2 Previously, when sex work had been legal and openly public, prostitutes had been required to be ‘licensed prostitutes’ (guanchang), i.e., they registered with the authorities and paid various fees and taxes, while also being potentially subject to health inspections or other state oversight. Nonetheless, before June 1929 and after March 1936, periods when vice was legal in Suzhou, the majority of prostitutes worked illegally, without licences.

3 Zhenhe, Zhou, Suzhou fengsu (Taibei, 1969 (orig. publ. 1928)), 94Google Scholar; Wei Miao, ‘Jinchang yuejin yueduo’, Jingbao, 29 Jul. 1935, 3; ‘Dui jinchang zhi huaji fanxiang’, Suzhou mingbao, 25 Jul. 1935, 7.

4 ‘Dui jinchang’.

5 Ibid.; Mu, ‘Sichang zejin’, Wuxian jingbao, 2 Aug. 1935; ‘Suzhou: Jin Chang sichang tingzheng shiwei’, Shenbao, 26 Jul. 1935, 8; ‘Changji bagong he yuyue’, Wuxian jingbao, 29 Jul. 1935; Xianren, ‘Suzhou sichang bagong shiwei’, Shehui ribao, 29 Jul. 1935, 2.

6 Mu, ‘Sichang zejin’.

7 ‘Dui jinchang’.

8 Weilü, ‘Jinchang shengzhong zhi quwen’, Suzhou mingbao, 25 Jul. 1935, 2.

9 ‘Dui jinchang’.

10 E.g. Hershatter, Gail, Dangerous Pleasures: Prostitution and Modernity in Twentieth-Century Shanghai (Berkeley, 1999)Google Scholar; Henriot, Christian C., Prostitution and Sexuality in Shanghai: A Social History, 1849–1949 (Cambridge, 2001)Google Scholar; Zamperini, Paola, Lost Bodies: Prostitution and Masculinity in Chinese Fiction (Leiden, 2010)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Remick, Elizabeth J., ‘Prostitution taxes and local state building in republican China’, Modern China, 29 (2003), 38–70CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Ho, Virgil K.Y., Understanding Canton: Rethinking Popular Culture in the Republican Period (Oxford, 2006), 287–8Google Scholar.

11 Carroll, Peter J., Between Heaven and Modernity: Reconstructing Suzhou, 1895–1937 (Stanford, 2006), 23–70Google Scholar. Re the road as a template for later development, see 71–98.

12 ‘Huashi’, Shenbao, 29 Feb. 1908, 2:2; ‘Pingshi: Suzhou zhi jinyan’, Shenbao, 26 Feb. 1908, 2:4. Re the importance of opium taxes for late Qing finance and the tensions between revenue needs and abolition, Liu Zenghe, ‘Duzhibu yu Qingmo yapian jinzheng’, Zhongguo shehui jingjishi yanjiu (2004), 54–64.

13 ‘Fafeng kejian’, Shenbao, 23 Sep. 1907, 12.

14 This discussion amends the treatment of this event on pp. 65–6 of my book through the addition of several key details. ‘Yuchi changliao ju malu’, Shenbao, 8 Oct. 1907, 12; ‘Yaqian jiguang shicheng xuyu’, Shenbao, 28 Nov. 1907, 2:4; ‘Gongbing quchu chengnei jiliao’, Shenbao, 14 Dec. 1907, 2:4; Soochow semi-official Maritime Customs reports, Cross to Breedon, 1908.2.20, No. 2 Archive of China, Nanjing, 679/32205. Thanks to Robert Bickers for pointing me to the semi-official reports.

15 ‘Shenshang buyi caiche jijuan weiran’, Shenbao, 7 Jan. 1908, 2:4.

16 bianzuanweiyuanhui, Jiangsusheng difangzhi (ed.), Jiangsusheng zhi: gong'an zhi (Beijing, 2000), 254–5Google Scholar.

17 Cangsu, ‘Funu jiefang yu feichang feini feibi’, Zhongbao, 23 Oct. 1927.

18 See Liu, ‘Duzhibu’; Baumler, Alan, The Chinese and Opium under the Republic: Worse than Floods, Worse than Beasts (Albany, 2007)Google Scholar.

19 ‘Shangdeng jiyuan bagong’, Wuyu, 16 Dec. 1927; ‘Suzhou: Boxi jiatie yinhua zhi diaoshi’, Shenbao, 12 Dec. 1927, 9; ‘Suzhou: Shimin zonghui fandui fangjuan cengtie yinhua’, Shenbao, 22 Dec. 1927, 10; ‘Suzhou: Fandui cengtie yinhua zhi fenqi’, Shenbao, 26 Dec. 1927, 9. A 1928 move to impose a similar 1 mao surcharge in Guangzhou sparked a brothel strike. Ho, Understanding Canton, 268–9.

20 Henriot, Prostitution and Sexuality, 313. ‘Changji wenti’, Shenbao, 28 Oct. 1935, 17; re abolition in Nanjing, see Lipkin, Zwia, Useless to the State: ‘Social Problems’ and Social Engineering in Nationalist Nanjing, 1927–1937 (Cambridge, MA, 2006), 162–99CrossRefGoogle Scholar; re GMD regulation of entertainment, see Wakeman, Frederic Jr, ‘Licensing leisure: the Chinese nationalists’ attempt to regulate Shanghai, 1927–49’, Journal of Asian Studies, 54 (1995), 19–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

21 ‘Suzhou: Shizhengfu chouqian jinchang’, Shenbao, 21 Feb. 1929, 4; ‘Changji zhi mori yizhi’, Suzhou mingbao, 9 Dec. 1928, 2.

22 The number of registered prostitutes: 1st class, 40+; 2nd class, 260+; 3rd class, 120+. Wumeng, ‘Suzhou zhi changji jianyan’, Jingbao, 21 Dec. 1927, 3; ‘Suzhou: Shizheng chuchang ceng yijue'an’, Shenbao, 30 Dec. 1927, 10.

23 Jin Songcen, ‘Feichang duanyan’, Suzhou mingba, 5 Jun. 1929, 3; ‘Shimin duiyu feichang zhi yijian’, Suzhou mingbao, 25 Feb. 1929, 2.

24 ‘Bannianlai yewu zhuangkuang’, Suzhou shizheng yuekan 1, 4–6 (1929), 2; ‘Sushi feichang yundong zhi jinxing chengxu’, Suzhou mingbao, 4 Jun. 1929, 3.

25 Various financial tables, Suzhou shizheng yuekan, 1 (1929–30); Remick, ‘Prostitution taxes’, 55–7. On Guangzhou, also see Ho, Understanding Canton, 286–8.

26 ‘Pi Changmen malu quanti shangren Shen Rukuan deng wei tiaochu feichang yijian’, Suzhoushi zhengfu gongbao 1 (1929), pishi:62.

27 ‘Feichang yundong zhong: malu shimian tucheng shuaisa xianxiang’, Suzhou mingbao, 10 Jun. 1929, 2.

28 E.g. ‘Feichang de chengji ruci’, Suzhou mingbao, 14 Jul. 1929, 2; ‘Suzhou jietou de xunli (shang) xiri fanhua jin anzai?’, Shidai ribao, 12 Dec. 1933; ‘Suzhou de changji – jin buru xi’, Suzhou mingbao, 26 May 1937, 4.

29 ‘She chashe genü zouyi’, Suzhou mingbao, 26 Jul. 1929, n.p.

30 ‘Malu yipian jianzu sheng’, Suzhou mingbao, 26 Jul. 1929, n.p.

31 ‘Ge jiyuan niqian rizujie’, Shenbao, 14 Sep. 1928, 12; ‘Jiyuan you qian zujie shuo’, Suzhou mingbao, 12 Aug. 1929, 3; Meigui, ‘Yinye zhaolaichu’, Wuxian jingbao, 12 Jul. 1935.

32 Yimei, Zheng, Zuixin Suzhou youlan zhinan (Shanghai, 1930), 91–3Google Scholar.

33 ‘Minsheng genü’, Suzhou mingbao, 14 Jul. 1935, 7.

34 Meigui, ‘Yinye’.

35 See Gerth, Karl, China Made: Consumer Culture and the Creation of the Nation (Cambridge, MA, 2004)Google Scholar; Chan, Winston, ‘Selling goods and promoting a new commercial culture: the four premier department stores on Nanjing Road, 1917–1937’, in Cochran, Sherman (ed.), Inventing Nanjing Road: Commercial Culture in Shanghai, 1900–1945 (Ithaca, 1999), 19–36Google Scholar; Carlton Benson, ‘Consumers are also soldiers: subversive songs from Nanjing Road during the New Life Movement’, ibid., 91–132.

36 Meigui, ‘Yinye’; ‘Minsheng genü’; Wunong, ‘Suzhou genü jincheng wenti’, Suzhou mingbao, 20 Jul. 1935, 2; Gerth, China Made; idem, private communication, Jun. 2007.

37 ‘Suzhou de changji’.

38 Lemiere, J., ‘Sing song girl: from a throne of glory to a seat of ignominy’, Chinese Journal of Science and Art, 1 (1923), 126–34Google Scholar.

39 E.g. police apprehended three sing-song girls and eight male clients in a horse-road hotel room. The women claimed that they were not soliciting: they were staying at the hotel and had been paid to sing. The men agreed. The johns were fined 5 yuan and the women 10. The singers were warned that they would face a larger fine if caught again. ‘Genü sichang tongchu zejin’, Suzhou mingbao, 19 Dec. 1935, 5.

40 ‘Wudian yidi minsheng nan jiejue’, Suzhou mingbao, 18 Apr. 1934; ‘Gong'anju qingjiao yu funuhui ruhe yingfu Minsheng genu’, Suzhou mingbao, 18 Apr. 1934, 5; ‘Funuhui yu minsheng she’, Suzhou mingbao, 13 May 1934, 5; ‘Jinchang banfa’, Suzhou mingbao, 22 May 1934, 5; Weilü, Jinchang wenti quexu kaolu’, Suzhou mingbao, 22 May 1934, 6.

41 Jiangsusheng (ed.), Jiangsusheng zhi; Wuxi also delayed implementing the new licensing regime. The Suzhou press expressed a complete lack of confidence in local authorities’ competence to institute licensed prostitution, yet Wuxi nonetheless sent an official to observe Suzhou police procedures in preparation for launching its own permit system. ‘Choubei gongchang’, Suzhou mingbao, 24 Nov. 1935, 5.

42 Li, ‘Changji kaijin yu fou’, Wuxian jingbao, 8 Jul. 1935; Wei, ‘Jinchang yuejin yueduo’; ‘Bujin zijin zhi tuoyuan gongchang’, Jingbao, 24 Aug. 1935, 3.

43 Weilü, ‘Changji wenti’, Suzhou mingbao, 22 Nov. 1935, 2.

44 Brothels paid a monthly tax of 20, 10 or 5 yuan, depending on their class. Individual prostitutes likewise paid monthly charges of 5, 3 or 1 yuan. Women also paid 1 yuan for their health inspection. ‘Gong'anju ling disan fenju’, Suzhou mingbao, 1 Nov. 1935, 7; ‘Suzhou siyue yiri shixing gong'an’, Shehui ribao, 22 Mar. 1935, 4; ‘Yidengchang jianyan jieguo’, Suzhou mingbao, 4 Mar. 1936, 7.

45 Weilü, ‘Gong'anqu de chanquan’, Suzhou mingbao, 24 Nov. 1935, 3.

46 ‘Gongchang dengji zhanqi sitian’, Suzhou mingbao, 23 Nov. 1935, 7; Weilü, ‘Changji wenti’.

47 E.g. ‘Hongfen diyu’, Wuxian ribao, 25 Nov. 1935; ‘Kelian chong tuzhe duduo’, Suzhou mingbao, 27 Nov. 1935, 7.

48 ‘Gongchang sheng qingshu tian yuanyin’, Suzhou mingbao, 25 Nov. 1935, 7; ‘Kelian chong tuzhe duduo’; ‘Erdengchang chaoguo ding'e jiang ziyou jinji’, Suzhou mingbao, 28 Nov. 1935, 7.

49 ‘Gong'anju xian Minsheng genü yixingqi qianchu Minqingli’, Suzhou mingbao, 1 Dec. 1935, 7; ‘Minsheng genü yuan gaiwei yideng changji dan buyuan jiansu yake’, Suzhou mingbao, 21 Feb. 1936, 7; ‘Minsheng genü zunzhang dengji jieyu hua bian zushangrou’, Suzhou mingbao, 27 Feb. 1936, 6.

50 ‘Minqingli yidai fangdong dui gongchangqu jiang tiyiyi’, Suzhou mingbao, 20 Nov. 1935, 7; ‘Gongchangquzhong feichang zhuhu’, Suzhou mingbao, 3 Dec. 1935, 7; ‘Changji xuyou dengji: changqunei fangzu jun jiajia’, Suzhou mingbao, 14 Dec. 1935, 7.

51 In Yinxian, Zhejiang, the proviso that licensed prostitutes should not entertain clients outside of the brothel stirred public debate. Some surmised that the restriction would be too burdensome and that women might avoid registration, endangering the government's income, which ‘businessmen’ (i.e. self-interested hoteliers?) estimated at 20,400/yr. Hotel owners and the police were reportedly going to attempt to make the fines for licensed prostitutes caught spending the night with customers in a hotel more ‘reasonable’. It is unclear if Suzhou hoteliers asserted themselves in a similar fashion to negotiate the relationship between licensed prostitutes and the state. ‘Yinxian changji juan’, Shehui ribao, 11 Mar. 1936, 1.

52 ‘Minsheng genü zunzhang dengji’; ‘Suzhou changji gongsi xiaozhang yingye bujia’, Shehui ribao, 23 Feb. 1937, 1; Qingbai, ‘Suzhou roushi de dongtai’, Shehui ribao, 28 Jul. 1936, 2; ‘Suzhou de changji’.

53 ‘Xin cidian’, Suzhou mingbao, 13 Aug. 1935, 8.