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“La Fermeture”: The Abolition of Prostitution in Shanghai, 1949–58*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Christian Henriot
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Extract

The liberation of women has been one of the priorities of the Chinese Communist Party since its foundation, with its sources in the evolution of ideas and the struggles that developed in urban China after the May Fourth movement. The Party, however, has put this ideal into practice only when it did not contradict the imperatives of revolution. The same holds true for prostitution: in 1949 the Party was eager to eliminate the most obvious forms of the exploitation of women, but practical measures were only carried out over several years. Article 6 of the Common Programme stated that “the People's Republic of China abolishes the feudal system that maintains women in slavery.” Prostitution appears in the discourse of the Party as the worst form of exploitation, as exemplified in an editorial of Xin Zhongguo funii in December 1949: “Prostitution is a sequel to the savage and bestial system of former exploiters and power holders to ruin the spirit and the body of women and to tarnish their dignity.”

Type
Issues in the History of Shanghai
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 142 , June 1995 , pp. 467 - 486
Copyright
Copyright © The China Quarterly 1995

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References

1. Croll, Elisabeth, Feminism and Socialism in China (New York: Schocker Books, 1980), p. 223.Google Scholar

2. “Cong gen chanchu jiyuan zhidu” (“Let us root out the system of houses of prostitution”), Xin Zhongguo funü (Women of New China), editorial, Beijing, No. 6 (December 1949), pp. 6–7.

3. The works of contemporary Chinese historians are marred by the same manichean perspective, cliches and biases. Although they provide relevant data, their analysis is weakened by ideological a priori that sometimes lead to the expression of untruths. No serious work has ever been produced on a topic considered as demeaning. A general history of Chinese prostitutes was published by Dan, Wu, Zhongguo jinti shenghuo shi (A History of the Life of Chinese Prostitutes) (Changsha: Hunan wenyi chubanshe, 1990).Google Scholar It seems to draw its inspiration largely from pre-1949 books. The most ambitious though arguably imperfect work on Shanghai so far is Guoqun's, SunJiu Shanghai changji mishi (A Secret History of Prostitution in Old Shanghai) (Henan: Henan renmin chubanshe, 1988).Google Scholar A collection of papers by various authors has appeared in Jiu Shanghai de yan du chang (Prostitution, Gambling and Opium in Old Shanghai) (Shanghai: Baijia chubanshe, 1988) and Weikang, Tanget al., Shanghai yishi (Anecdotes of Shanghai) (Shanghai: Wenhua chubanshe, 1987).Google Scholar A journalist, daughter of a cadre of the rehabilitation centre for prostitutes, has also published a book on the reform of prostitutes: Wannan, He, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua (A Short History of the Rehabilitation of Shanghai Prostitutes) (Shanghai: Sanlian shudian, 1988Google Scholar). Although it is incomplete and somehow biased, I have made a considerable use of it in this paper. For a systematic critique of the current historiography of prostitution, especially Chinese prostitution, see Henriot, “La prostitution à Shanghai aux XlXe-XXe siècles,” pp. 15–51.

4. This is also the point of view expressed by Cao Manzhi, the high cadre in charge of the reform of prostitutes in Shanghai, in his interview with Gail Hershatter. This simplistic and unrealistic vision deserves serious critical comments. Gail Hershatter, “Regulating sex in Shanghai. The reform of prostitution in 1921 and 1951” in Frederic, Wakeman and Yeh, Wen-hsin (eds.), Shanghai Sojourners (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), p. 168.Google Scholar

5. In its analysis of the causes of prostitution, the Communist Party fully agrees with the authors of the past decades. The fundamental cause was economic. Men sell their strength (maili), while women sell their sex (maiyin). “Chedi xiaomie changji zhidu” (“Let us fully destroy prostitution”), Wenhui bao (Shanghai Mercury), 27 November 1951.

6. This is a problem encountered by the police in every society in all periods. For a historical perspective, see Corbin, Alain, Women for Hire. Prostitution and Sexuality in France after 1850 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990)Google Scholar; Gibson, Mary, Prostitution and the State in Italy, 1860–1915 (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1986).Google Scholar

7. In his work on Tianjin, Kenneth Lieberthal highlights the role of secret societies and the difficulties the Communist Party encountered in their suppression. Lieberthal, Kenneth G., Revolution & Tradition in Tientsin, 1949–1952 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980).Google Scholar

8. The author does indicate Shijiazhuang, but the date she gives — November 1947 — is obviously wrong. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 22.

9. Ibid, pp 22–24.

10. Interview with Cao Manzhi, former director of the Bureau of Civil Affairs (minzhengju) of the Shanghai municipality, 5 September 1988; Jiyuan, Tu, “Pan Hannian tongzhi he Shanghai de gaizao” (“Comrade Pan Hannian and the reform of Shanghai”), Wenshi ziliao xuanji (Selection of Materials on the History and Literature of Shanghai), No. 4 (1982), pp. 104–106.Google Scholar

11. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 28; “Xingbing hejiyuan” (“V.D.s and houses of prostitution”), Wenhui bao, 25 November 1951.

12. Dagong bao (L'impartial), 24 November 1951. Furthermore, the January figures did not represent the actual number of active prostitutes in the city. To assess the number of prostitutes accurately is an impossible task. During the civil war period, the most probable figure was 50,000, all categories included. For a critical review of sources and figures, see Henriot, “La prostitution à Shanghai aux XlXe-XXe siècles,” pp. 515–528 and 1015.

13. Xinmin bao (wankan) (The New People (evening edition)), 1 July 1949; Wenhui bao, 4 August 1949.

14. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 4.

15. Wenhui bao, 9 July 1949. On these auxiliary modes of prostitution, see Henriot, “La prostitution à Shanghai aux XlXe-XXe siècles,” pp. 476–514.

16. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 28.

17. On the status of prostitutes, see Henriot, “La prostitution à Shanghai aux XlXe-XXe siècles,” pp. 319–321, 539–559 and the chapter “Le marche des femmes à Shanghai et en Chine,” pp. 626–697.

18. “Guanli jiyuan de zanxing guiding” (“Provisional regulation on the administration of houses of prostitution”) in He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 28.

19. Dagong bao, 26 November 1951.

20. On the Beijing experience, see Beijing fengbi jiyuan jishi (The True Record of the Closing of Beijing's Houses of Prostitution) (Beijing: Zhongguo heping chubanshe, 1988).

21. “Shanghai de jiyuan he jinii” (“Shanghai's prostitutes and brothels”), Wenhui bao, 27 November 1949.

22. Dagong bao, 20 January 1950.

23. Dagong bao, 11 June 1950.

24. Dagong bao, 24 November 1951.

25. Dagong bao, 12 October 1950; 18 November 1950.

26. “Shanghai de jiyuan he jinii.”

27. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 31.

28. Wenhui bao, 4 August 1949.

29. Dagong bao, 11 June 1950.

30. Dagong bao, 20 January 1950. The conversion to these trades is not surprising. Many small merchants and craftsmen had become brothel-keepers during the civil war after they went bankrupt in their trade. Prostitution offered a quick return for little investment. Under pressure from the police, these brothel-keepers “by accident” shifted back to their original trade in the more stable situation created by the end of the war. Similar measures of restriction were imposed on the dancing-halls. In March 1950, advertisements disappeared from the press. Three years later, there remained only 721 registered taxi-dancers and 579 waitresses. The dancing halls were finally banned in November 1954. Wenhui bao, 10 July 1949; Dagong bao, 19 January 1950; He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, pp. 56 and 110.

31. Wenhui bao, 23 November 1951; Dagong bao, 24 November 1951.

32. Li, Lin, “Ba youmin changji gaicheng xin ren” (“To transform prostitutes and vagabonds into new beings”), in Shanghai jiefang sanshiwu nian wenshi ziliao jinian zhuanji (Special Issue of Materials of History and Literature for the 35th Anniversary of the Liberation of Shanghai), No. 4 (1984), pp. 128–29.Google Scholar

33. Ibid. p. 133.

34. Interview with Cao Manzhi, 5 September 1988.

35. See Martin, Bryan, “The Green Gang in Shanghai, 1920–1937: the rise of Du Yuesheng,” Ph.D. thesis, Australian iNational University, 1991.Google Scholar See also Roux, Alain, Le Shanghai ouvrier des années trente. Coolies, gangsters et syndicalistes (Paris: L'Harmattan, 1993).Google Scholar

36. Henriot, Christian, “Medicine, V.D., and prostitution in pre-Revolutionary China,” Social History of Medicine, Vol. No. 1 (1992), pp. 95–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

37. Dagong bao, 7 April 1950.

38. Dagong bao, 10 April 1950.

39. Dagong bao, 24 November 1951.

40. Jiefang ribao (Liberation Daily), 23 November 1951; Dagong bao, 27 November 1951.

41. “Jinümen tiaochu sanqian nian kuhai” (“Prostitutes have come out of three thousand years of misfortune”), Wenhui bao, 23 November 1951.

42. Wenhui bao, 23 November 1951; Xinwen ribao, 23 November 1951.

43. Dagong bao, 24 November 1951; Xinwen ribao, 24 November 1951.

44. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizo shihua, p. 40.

45. Wenhui bao, 25 November 1951.

46. Wenhui bao, 27 November 1951; Dagong bao, 27 November 1951.

47. Tu Jiyuan, “Pan Hannian tongzhi he Shanghai de gaizao,” p. 106.

48. Dagong bao, 24 November 1951; 26 November 1951.

49. Dagong bao, 25 November 1951.

50. “Jinumen kewang xinsheng” (“Prostitutes thirst for a new life”), 25 November 1951; see also “Xingdong qilai, yingjie xin de shenghuo” (“Act up, welcome a new life”), Dagong bao, 26 November 1951; “Women yao zhanqilai” (“We want to stand up”)Wenhui bao, 25 November 1951.

51. “Wo yao gaosu dajia wo zai jiaoyangsuo dedao xinsheng le” (“I want to tell everyone that I have found a new life in the rehabilitation centre”), Dagong bao, 7 December 1951.

52. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, pp. 49 and 53.

53. Ibid. p. 110.

54. Hershatter, “Regulating sex in Shanghai. The reform of prostitution in 1921 and 1951,” pp. 178–79.

55. See the photographs published in the Dagong bao, 2 December 1951; Xinwen ribao (Shanghai News), 2 and 28 December 1951.

56. “Dao le funü jiaoyangsuo zou shang xin sheng de dadao” (“The great road to a new life starts at the entry into the rehabilitation centre,” Wenhui bao, 27 November 1951.

57. Yinjun, Zhou, Jiezeng, Yang and Suzhen, Xue, “Xin shehui ba gui biancheng ren: Shanghai gaizao changji shihua” (“The new society transforms devils into human beings: a short history of the rehabilitation of Shanghai prostitutes”), Shehui (Society), No. 1 (October 1981), p. 47Google Scholar; He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, pp. 34–35. In Beijing, the cadres of the centre for prostitutes were also mainly women without any experience in this field. Some had just graduated from the university and had suddenly to face a world they had ignored totally. Adaptation was not always an easy task. Beijing fengbi jiyuan jishi, pp. 7–14.

58. Wenhui bao, 27 November 1951.

59. Zhou Yinjun et al., “Xin shehui ba gui biancheng ren: Shanghai gaizao changji shihua,” p. 48.

60. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 37. See also the photographs published in Dagong bao, 27 November 1951; Xinwen ribao, 2 December 1951.

61. The regime devoted a particular attention to V.D.s throughout the whole country. Systematic blood-test campaigns were organized among the population, among certain ethnic minority groups and in large cities such as Shanghai. A local newspaper reported that one-tenth of the residents had venereal infections. On China's anti-V.D. campaigns, see Horn, Joshua S., A way With All Pests. An English Surgeon in People's China: 1954–1969 (London & New York: Monthly Review Press, 1971), pp. 81–93Google Scholar and Banister, Judith, China's Changing Population (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1987), pp. 53–54Google Scholar; “Xingbing he jiyuan” (“V.D.s and houses of prostitution”), Wenhui bao, 25 November 1951.

62. “Huifu zimeimen de jiankang” (“To restore the health of [our] sisters”), Dagong bao, 30 November 1951; 29 November 1951; Xinwen ribao, 29 November 1951.

63. Cf. the idyllic description in Xinwen ribao, 28 November 1951.

64. Wenhui bao, 29 November 1951.

65. Dagong bao, 2 December, 1951; Xinwen ribao, 2 December 1951.

66. The municipal government kept a record of the period of rehabilitation of the prostitutes. The Shanghai movie company came to the centre and filmed the inmates to produce a documentary that served for the education of the masses. Dagong bao, 2 December 1951.

67. Prostitutes did not hesitate to denude themselves to ashame their guardians or to pour the content of the pot de chambre on them. Xinwen bao, 17 December 1951.

68. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 50.

69. “Xiaochu gulii, rexin xuexi” (“To dispel worries and to study earnestly”), Dagong bao, 3 December 1951.

70. This method also implied the need for a minimum level of literacy. Classes for the study for basic Chinese characters were compulsory. “Tongguo shengchan xuexi jiji chuangzao jiuye tiaojian” (“[The inmates] actively create the conditions of their recruitment through study and productive work”)Xinwen ribao, 22 August 1952.

71. Zhou Yinjun el al., “Xin shehui ba gui biancheng ren: Shanghai gaizao changji shihua,” p. 50; “Tongguo shengchan xuexi jiji chuangzao jiuye tiaojian.”

72. “Funü jiaoyangsuo jinxing jieji jiaoyu” (“The women's rehabilitation centre carries out class education”) Dagong bao, 14 December 1951.

73. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 95.

74. Xinwen bao, 25 November 1951; Dagong bao, 7 December 1951.

75. Interview with Cao Manzhi, 5 September 1988.

76. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, pp. 111, 119 and 122.

77. Ibid. p. 95.

78. Dagong bao, 10 April 1950; 24 November 1951.

79. “Zhanqilai de zimeimen, kongsu ba!” (“Liberated sisters, accuse!”), Wenhui bao, 28 November 1951.

80. “Jinii jiaoyangsuo xueyuan qingsuan jiyuanzhu zuixing” (“The inmates of the rehabilitation centre settle the crime accounts with brothel-keepers”), Dagong bao, 28 December 1951; “Fanshen zimei yangmei tuqi de yi tian,” (“A day of happiness and pride for the liberated sisters”), Dagong bao, 28 December 1951; see also Xinwen ribao, 28 December 1951.

81. “Jinü jiaoyangsuo xueyuan qingsuan jiyuanzhu zuixing“; “Jinii jiaoyangsuo juxing kongsu dahui” (“The rehabilitation centre hold a meeting of accusation”), Wenhui bao, 28 December 1951.

82. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 66.

83. Xinwen ribao, 11 December 1951.

84. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 66.

85. Zhou Yinjun etal., “Xin shehui ba gui biancheng ren: Shanghai gaizao changji shihua,” p. 50.

86. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, p. 61.

87. Ibid. pp. 84 and 218. Cao Manzhi observed that they were the object of close supervision, especially by the security of their own unit and by the neighbourhood committee of their place of residence. Interview with Cao Manzhi, 5 September 1988.

88. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, pp. 133 and 136–37; Interview with Cao Manzhi, 5 September 1988.

89. He Wannan, Shanghai changji gaizao shihua, pp. 123–24; Lu Feiyun and Zhang Zhongru, “Shanghai jiefang chuqi de jinii gaizao gongzuo” (“The reform of prostitutes in the early liberation period of Shanghai”), in Shehuixue wenji (A Collection of Sociological Texts) (Shanghai: Shanghaishi shehuixue xuehui bian, 1983), p. 133.

90. Zhou Yinjun etal., “Xin shehui ba gui biancheng ren: Shanghai gaizao changji shihua,” p. 4. The figure of 500 prostitutes who settled in Shanghai was confirmed to me by Cao Manzhi and by Xue Suzhen, one of the co-authors of the article that gives a wrong indication. Interview with Cao Manzhi, 5 September 1988; interview with Xue Suzhen, 10 September 1987.

91. In Beijing where the number of interned women was less important (1,316), most of the women were either returned to their family (28.7%) or married (45.3%). A minority (4.7%) received special treatment because they were both prostitutes and madams. An equal number was integrated to opera troops or to groups of health workers. A few older women were placed in hospices. Finally, for 209 girls without family or specific qualifications, the government set up a textile plant. Beijing fengbi jiyuan jishi, p. 314.

92. Interview with Cao Manzhi, 5 September 1988.

93. See Henriot, “La prostitution à Shanghai aux XlXe-XXe siècles,” pp. 232–296.

94. Hershatter, “Regulating sex in Shanghai. The reform of prostitution in 1921 and 1951.” On the condition of prostitutes, see Henriot, “La prostitution à Shanghai aux XlXe- XXe siècles,” pp. 566–625.