People get curious about what’s going on in China, “behind closed doors”.
Well, the Beijing police (see earlier posting 2 Sept) is trying to improve the morals of its citizens. This is a periodic occurrence, much like influenza. Caused yearly by the upcoming party congress (this month) and by the 2008 Olympics. No more monkey business and doors should not be closed anymore – massage (a VERY wide definition) rooms should be unlocked and have “transparent windows”. Yes, yes, we all know, the city of Beijing is famous for “transparency”.
Promptly, raids were done on some of the sauna houses and other “entertainment” venues, creating fear among the staff and drug withdrawal symptoms with the addicted customers (no dude, not “those” drugs). No problema, I was told by well informed sources, all swell again, business is normal, people need to make a living.

See here pic of SCMP dated 2 September, one of the raids; the police even has English vests. Unlike the crew that beat up some black people walking in Sanlitun recently – no pics coz all cameras and mobiles were promptly “cleaned”.
For the naive sort who allege prostitution and suspicious activities are illegal in China: right. So they are in most countries. Good we have the USA embassy here and the website That’s Beijing (see my favorite links). See here some extract from their website on 7 September (I have the full article, exciting reading I can assure you):
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Massage City.
It doesn’t mean that Beijing is prude. Quite the contrary is true. Sex is as available in Beijing as Chinese food. Sex for eat-in, sex for take-out, sex for home delivery. There are even restaurants where you get a massage when you pay the bill. There are neighborhoods where every barbershop routinely relieves you of excess hair and of undue tension in your male organ. No hotel bar is complete without a complement of willing females. And if you forgot, there is a card on the nightstand that reminds you of massage services. For a tip with happy ending. If you think that at the many foot massage establishments only feet get massaged, think again.
According to a study published by the US Embassy to China (your tax dollars at work … imagine the research) they estimate “that Beijing has at least 200,000 – 300,000 prostitutes.” What’s more ,”the contribution of the ‘sex industry’ to the GDP comes in at about 12.1 – 12.8 percent,” the study claims. In case you want to get in on the booming business, the embassy links to an excerpt of Pan Suiming’s book “Red Light District,” published at the UN China website. This book is a proverbial business manual to setting up a sex business in China.
You can rent a girl by the hour, for the night, for a day, or for the length of your stay. The savvy businessman hires an “assistant” for a week or two, she provides sexual favors and if she’s really good, then she can provide secretarial services, or tell the taxi driver where to go.
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Anybody not convinced or ill-informed, I organize all kinds of seminars and guided tours. ANY topic, not only that boring story about the preparation for the 2008 Olympics. Comes at a price tough! Experts wanna be paid. Of course as said you can simply navigate to “That’s Beijing”, it’s free and you don’t need anybody to help. There goes my business model.