It's a girl's world at the betel nut stand

Around 9am, Wu Sheng-kuang (吳聲廣) begins another day at his betel nut stand on Kuanfu Road, Hsinchu City. Upstairs in a "cage" less than 5m square, two young men prepare the betel nuts. Wu brings the nuts, packed in small plastic bags, downstairs and puts them in a large fridge. Two girls arrive at about this time, changing quickly from jeans and T-shirts into their working costumes: tank tops, hot pants and 15cm-high platform shoes.

On the wall is a card with employee regulations: makeup must be worn at all times when working; employees should clock in only after changing and putting on makeup. After the girls arrive, Wu rolls up the iron doors and switches on the neon lights of his glass booth. His shop, Hot China Girls (中國辣妹), is open for business.

The shop is right next to the highway entrance going from Hsinchu to Taipei, a perfect location for the glass showcases from which the betel nut beauties peddle their wares. Along a 100m stretch of road there are seven betel nut stands, each decorated with colorful neon. In between there are stalls selling Hsinchu specialties such as rice noodles and meatballs. Wu owns two of these stalls and another betel nut stall called Miss China (中國小姐), only a few meters away from Hot China Girls.

Wu has been running betel nut stands for more than 10 years, and says he was one of the first to set up at this location. From the start, he decided that girls were to be a major part of the operation. "I knew that the girls would be the key to my business, so I treat them very well," he said.

Wu said he pays the girls NT$40,000 a month. He also buys them sexy costumes and platform shoes. "If the girls wear clothes they don't like, they feel unhappy and are less motivated. This is bad for business," Wu said.

It is a woman's world inside the glass betel nut stand. The small counter is covered with cosmetics: Japanese eye-shadow cases, shiny colored lipsticks and mascara. On the side in the small cabinet, there are piles of sexy costumes. They are all very skimpy so they don't take up much space.

Wu does not show up at the betel nut stand very often, spending most of his time upstairs preparing the betel nuts, but keeping an eye on the girls and business generally through surveillance cameras. "If there is a man inside the stall, customers will not usually approach the stall," he said.

When reporting this story, Wu asked our male photographer not to stand inside the stall for too long. He said to me: "You're a girl. It's OK for you to stay here." This was simply for the good of his business.

Ting-ting (婷婷), 17, who is helping out at Hot China Girls arrives in the afternoon. She grabs a bright purple colored tank top and goes to the dressing room. She chooses a pair of 18cm high heels with thin ankle straps. "I'm not tall, so I need the extra height," she said.

Like her work mates Hsiao-yeh (小葉) and Hsiao-min (小敏), Ting-ting said she found this job from newspapers. "The boss doesn't demand a lot. He just wants us to be responsive and quick whenever a customer approaches," she said.

According to Wu, the girls at his stand can enjoy the most luxurious treatment. They don't need to prepare the betel nuts themselves, as all the nuts are prepared and packed before hand. All they need to do is welcome customers who pull up by the stall. They are basically sales girls. "If you sell more than NT$10,000 a day, you get a bonus of NT$300," Wu said.