Okay, so we are BACK with part two of the "Lair of the Shanghai Voodoo Princesses". In our last episode, (like those wonderful days in World History class when you only had a film to watch), we reviewed the Canadian Broadcast film "Shanghai-Sin City". There will be a quiz at the end of the column, so here's a quick summary.
Ahem. Shanghai was a sleepy fishing town until the British kicked the crap out of the Chinese, burned the Summer Palace to the ground and decided they needed their own place in Shanghai. After all it was a port and would be a great place to distribute opium. Along with the opium came a veritable buffet of vices, earning Shanghai the "Vice Capital of the Universe" title for many years.
Shanghai was also "open" from the standpoint that there were three "governments", the French Concession, The International Settlement and the local Chinese government, (no visa, passport or identification was needed to enter the city). The city was run by the Green Gang. You can read up on the Green Gang here but they we some seriously evil dudes, yes sir.
Shanghai lost the Vice Leadership title (maybe to Toronto??) when Mao came to town. Shanghai suffered a major "clean-up" during the Cultural Revolution. We will now fast-forward to today, where Shanghai is the logistics capital of the world, the architecture capital of the world, and heir-apparent to Hong Kong on many if its titles.
But where is the vice?
Luckily, your friends at the Yellow RIver Chronicles are in possession of their famous "VIce Seeking" GPS. During our travels in many of the major cities of the world, we have accidentally wandered through shooting galleries, interrupted drug deals when looking for directions, accidentally asked itinerant prostitutes for restaurant recommendations, and generally have consistently blundered from Soi Cowboy to Makatai to Shimabara. How about a late night stroll in Belize City? Whoooooo boy.
So, using our GPS-VIce app, in a moment of breathtaking photojournalism, we now take you to the land of the Shanghai Voodoo Princess. But before we go, it should be noted that this is not prostitution. While prostitution is legal in over 50 countries in the world, (see here) it is illegal in Shanghai and in China.
No prostitution (as far as we have been told) is practiced there. Instead, the Lair of the Voodoo Princesses is involved in the universal sport called "Cheating Drunks and Tourists". The Lair involves tourists, drunks and drunk tourists. As you wander down this neon-lit lane in the old French Concession, you will see the following vignette:
Middle-aged, Western or Japanese men, intoxicated or seeking intoxication, wander nearly one or two blocks from the safety and serenity of their tourist hotels (The Hilton, for example).
They will pause curiously outside a bar with a name in English, like "Cats", or "Roadhouse" or "Route 66". The attractively dressed bar girls will then swoop out in a dark-clad swarm, grab the unwary laowai and bring them into the bar.
The Game in the bar is simple. You buy drinks for me, I keep you company for the evening and leave right before you get the stupendous bill. Easy, yes?
It's all innocent fun. Ha hhahaaaa hhaaa haaaaa. Your elite YRC staff was wandering south on Lair Street one fine evening when we saw a pod of wounded Kiwis surrounded by quick moving shapes, like sharks darting around wounded beluga whales. As we approached, three of the group were being forcibly dragged into a bar while one survivor fought bravely with two extremely attractive young predators.
As we passed we caught his eye and murmured..."Resisssst". Luckily, the spell was broken, the Kiwis disengaged and escaped with wallets and potential virtue unscathed. When they caught up with us a few blocks later, they wanted directions to "good Chinese food". That way, lads, be off with you, and beware the Princesses. Nobody, nobody escapes twice we murmured dramatically as we vanished into the night as silently as we had arrived.
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| Shanghai 1949 |
Shanghai was also "open" from the standpoint that there were three "governments", the French Concession, The International Settlement and the local Chinese government, (no visa, passport or identification was needed to enter the city). The city was run by the Green Gang. You can read up on the Green Gang here but they we some seriously evil dudes, yes sir.
Shanghai lost the Vice Leadership title (maybe to Toronto??) when Mao came to town. Shanghai suffered a major "clean-up" during the Cultural Revolution. We will now fast-forward to today, where Shanghai is the logistics capital of the world, the architecture capital of the world, and heir-apparent to Hong Kong on many if its titles.
But where is the vice?
 |
| Where is the Padd Thai restaurant? |
So, using our GPS-VIce app, in a moment of breathtaking photojournalism, we now take you to the land of the Shanghai Voodoo Princess. But before we go, it should be noted that this is not prostitution. While prostitution is legal in over 50 countries in the world, (see here) it is illegal in Shanghai and in China.
 |
| One of the many Lairs of the Shanghai Voodoo Princesses |
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| We cheat drunks, tourists and Japanese |
Middle-aged, Western or Japanese men, intoxicated or seeking intoxication, wander nearly one or two blocks from the safety and serenity of their tourist hotels (The Hilton, for example).
They will pause curiously outside a bar with a name in English, like "Cats", or "Roadhouse" or "Route 66". The attractively dressed bar girls will then swoop out in a dark-clad swarm, grab the unwary laowai and bring them into the bar.
The Game in the bar is simple. You buy drinks for me, I keep you company for the evening and leave right before you get the stupendous bill. Easy, yes?
It's all innocent fun. Ha hhahaaaa hhaaa haaaaa. Your elite YRC staff was wandering south on Lair Street one fine evening when we saw a pod of wounded Kiwis surrounded by quick moving shapes, like sharks darting around wounded beluga whales. As we approached, three of the group were being forcibly dragged into a bar while one survivor fought bravely with two extremely attractive young predators.
As we passed we caught his eye and murmured..."Resisssst". Luckily, the spell was broken, the Kiwis disengaged and escaped with wallets and potential virtue unscathed. When they caught up with us a few blocks later, they wanted directions to "good Chinese food". That way, lads, be off with you, and beware the Princesses. Nobody, nobody escapes twice we murmured dramatically as we vanished into the night as silently as we had arrived.
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| Hello, Sir! Would you like to come in for Happy Hour? |
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