The world's oldest profession will be outlawed throughout all of Taipei City in late March after 40 years of licensed prostitution comes to an end.
The city government plans to stand by its 1997 decision to end legal prostitution in Taipei.
In addition, the city's NT$7,750 monthly allowance paid to licensed prostitutes who are trying to change careers will also end in March.
According to a recent survey, 128 women are registered as prostitutes, but only about 50 have remained in the profession.
Most of the sex workers are middle-aged and do not have any professional skills necessary to change careers, according to local media.
They have also seen their business dwindle in recent years due to competition from younger, illegal prostitutes. Also, an increasing number of men are turning to Internet chatrooms to find one-night stands.
The KMT government legalized prostitution in 1959 with the enactment of the "Taiwan Provincial Prostitution Management Measures" (
The measures stipulated that proprietors and sex workers at legal brothels were entitled to 30 percent and 70 percent, respectively, of client fees. In addition, sex workers were required to have a physical check-up every two weeks.
In 1995, then-Taipei mayor Chen Shui-bian (
The city announced and carried out a ban on prostitution in September 1997, prompting 128 licensed sex workers to take to the streets in protest.
The 17-month battle came to an end in January 1999, when the city council bowed to pressure and granted a two-year grace period before implementing the ban.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique