The primary source tells me a lot about prostitutes in China.  Shenzhen was one of the original “special economic zones” in China.  It recounts a women who uses the movie theatre as her avenue to get men for business.  She is from the countryside therefore not worth as much as the women from Shanghai.  The women from Shanghai get better business because they can speak different languages, therefore, be able to work with a wider clientele. 

She discusses the different prices that she charges for different sexual activities.  Working as a prostitute is not her main job, she works in a factory as well, but does not get enough money working there to save anything.  When she first arrived she learned early about what to do and how to do it.  She discusses her worries about returning to the Hengyang countryside because no one will want her as a wife.  The longer she is a prostitute the less amount of money she will make because people will not believe that she does not have an STD.  In addition, prostitution is the type of job where you need your body to be young to make good money.  She describes it as “If your selling ginger, the older the better; if your trading *******, sell it young.  However, she does not want to stay in Shenzhen forever, she does eventually want to go home and settle down and get married.  According to her, she can become a virgin again for 500 yuan. 

 This narrative is not for the faint of heart.  It goes into graphic detail of the life of a hooker.  She, however, discusses the dangers in being a prostitute.  You can’t trust anyone, even your female friends because you can always be turned into the cops.  The woman knows that a hotel is a dangerous place to go, which is why she stays at the cinema in the booths.  If men decide they want to pay her for sex, then there are places they can go.  However, it is important for her to maintain her body image because it is her capital.  Her using the term capital to describe her body shows the changing economic system in China.  The idea of capital is related to capitalism, which during the Cultural Revolution was the enemy of Communism.

Barme, Gereme, “Time as Money: A Shenzhen Hooker” in China Candid: The People on the People’s Republic of China (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 2006).