These included the abuse of power by policemen, the corruption of officials, the forcing of girls into prostitution and so on.  Until the 1870s, the Hong Kong Government was determined to rectify the social problems brought about by the sex industry through enacting laws to ban prostitution, forbid the kidnapping of girls and prohibit anyone from forcing girls into prostitution. And in 1878, Po Leung Kuk was also established as a place for saving and sheltering women who had escaped from the pit of prostitution. But not long afterwards, the society swung back to support “the legalization of prostitution” again. The Government once again permitted the legal operation of brothels, and as a result, the development of the erotic industry became all the more vigorous than before!

In my generation, many girls were forced into prostitution. Some, because of poverty, were sold to the brothels at a young age to be trained to become child prostitutes. These were the “Flower of Wine Pig” (also called “Little Pipa”). Some were “Free Girls”, who were deflowered and then expelled from the family. Some were concubines and maids who had fallen from grace or were kicked out of the family. Some were nuns who had broken their vows of chastity and turned to prostitution. As the prostitutes were often laden with a story of grieve and sorrow, they were like me, Fleur, would only be known by their first names, and would never mention their family names. If the client persistently asked for the family name, we would say it was “Heaven”.