This page was created by Sijia Zhong. The last update was by Curtis Fletcher.
Prostitution
Brief Introduction:
The rising of prostitution is a phenomenon which exists nearly in every city, known or unknown to the public. From the end of the nineteenth century, the red districts of Los Angeles began to flourish in its own way. At that time, with the flooding in of Chinese immigrants, the prostitution in Chinatown also began to appear. Though it is hard to tell whether the first appearance of the prostitution industry in Los Angeles is the one in Chinatown or the ones in other racial communities, one thing that is for sure is that the prostitution in Chinatown has its special history and characteristics, mainly due to its relationship with the immigration flood and with other Chinatown industries at that time.
Around late 19th century, prostitution, together with gambling and opium, were three main so-called "industries" of Chinatown in Los Angeles. These three industries were actually more closely connected with each other than people usually think, and they were also all related to huiguan. Indeed, just as the author Zesch states in the book The Chinatown War: Chinese Los Angeles and the Massacre of 1871, a lot of members of tongs were earning their living by collecting money from brothels and casinos (Zesch 38). They extorted weekly or monthly sums from these prostitutes or merchants, saying that in turn they were going to provide protection from other tongs. Hence, in various times, the leaders of huiguan would even "compete" in this prostitution industry so as to get more profits from these regular extortion.
Immigration? Trafficking?
Due to the fact that the Chinese people who lived in Los Angeles Chinatown at that time were first-generation immigrants, the prostitution was also closely related with transnational sex trafficking and illegal immigration. Within this industry chain, the traffickers were often Chinese males or a few foreigners who were the friends of these traffickers and wanted to gain profits from this business. Many traffickers first lured these girls from China with good job opportunities or marriages to make them come to the United States. It is estimated that around six thousand Chinese women moved to the United States for the sex trade between 1852 and 1873, and most of them are trafficked involuntarily (Finckenauer & Chin 114).After these girls stepped on the land of the United States, they would then fall in the traps of those traffickers, who later sold them to brothels or rich Chinese males who needed a submissive wife. Besides these young women who were lured by false promises of marriage or jobs, other involuntary girls were either kidnapped privately, or were taken captive during civil warfare, or were sold into bondage by their families due to poverty. Usually after these girls went into prostitution, the contracts of service would require them to provide their bodies for the use as prostitutes for at least four years. During that time, they received no wages, or very little money; the only properties they could keep were the things which their regular customers left as gifts for them, such as jewelries, silk, or extra cash. During that period, from the end of the nineteenth century till the middle of the twentieth century (the time when the construction of the Union Station took place and gradually replaced the old Chinatown), women in prostitution were usually regard as properties of these brothels. Hence, even when some of them tried to run away, they would only be caught by local American law officers, and be sent back to these brothels again.
The Role of Chinese Males:
Besides the Chinese females in this prostitution industry, Chinese males at that time also played an interesting role in those brothels. Different from other cultures or other places where also had prostitution industries, Chinese men went to these brothels not just for sexual gratification, but also to relax and socialize in the company of women from their homeland. Like the Chinese casinos, opium parlors, and theaters, the brothel was also a place for them to escape for a few hours from the loneliness and harshness that they were continuously experiencing on this foreign land.Sources:
Finckenauer, J.O. & Chin, K. “Researching and Rethinking Sex Trafficking: The Movement of Chinese Women to Asia and the United States for Commercial Sex.” U.S. Department of Justice. 2011.
Meyer, M. D, E. S Gibson, and J. G Costello. “City of Angels, City of Sin: Archaeology in the Los Angeles Red-light District Ca. 1900.” Historical Archaeology, 39, no. 1 (n.d.): 107–125.
Wild, Mark. “Red light kaleidoscope: Prostitution and ethnoracial relations in Los Angeles 1880–1940.” Journal of Urban History, 28(6): 720–742. 2002.
Zesch, Scott. The Chinatown War: Chinese Los Angeles and the Massacre of 1871. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2012.
Meyer, M. D, E. S Gibson, and J. G Costello. “City of Angels, City of Sin: Archaeology in the Los Angeles Red-light District Ca. 1900.” Historical Archaeology, 39, no. 1 (n.d.): 107–125.
Wild, Mark. “Red light kaleidoscope: Prostitution and ethnoracial relations in Los Angeles 1880–1940.” Journal of Urban History, 28(6): 720–742. 2002.
Zesch, Scott. The Chinatown War: Chinese Los Angeles and the Massacre of 1871. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2012.