There was fantastic nightlife every night in West Quarry. It was so bustling that in 1928, Tai Ping Theatre had to stage over-night shows of Cantonese Operas to meet the strong demand. The most expensive ticket was for the “Imperial Concubine’s Bed” which cost 12 dollars, and each bed had four seats. The cheapest ordinary plank seat cost only 20 cents. The average monthly salary of the public was only about 10 to 20 dollars at the time. You know, the people who most often booked the beds were not the young masters, but the prostitutes who wanted to “charm actors”! Many West Quarry girls captured the love of young men who wanted to charm girls, and thus made a fortune by selling their bodies. But the prostitutes usually fell for the actors, and were totally willing to spend a fortune on booking a box every evening at the theatre to support their idols. This gave rise to a funny phenomenon: boys charm girls, and girls charm actors. The girls earned quick money from West Quarry, and then spent their hard earned money on charming actors in the same place. Some star actors even viewed the number of beds they could “carry” (i.e. the number of prostitutes who booked a box to support them) as an indication of their own values.

Just imagine - in those old days, over 1000 people gathered at Tai Ping Theatre to watch the late-night Chinese operas every night, and the girls spent money like soil to cheer the star actors. The scene was so spectacular that it was comparable to the shows featuring popular singers at Hong Kong Coliseum today!