For a 24-year-old Chinese woman surnamed Liu, it was the opportunity to earn money that brought her to this side of the Taiwan Strait.
The graduate of Normal University in Sichuan Province made just 1,000 yuan (NT$4,200) a month teaching elementary school -- a job many in China consider to be well-paid.
But as a prostitute in Taiwan, she earns considerably more in just a single session with a client.
PHOTO: LIAO RAY-SHANG, TAIPEI TIMES
On most nights, Liu sees five to six men -- earning between NT$6,000 and NT$8,000 per session.
"Most of these Chinese girls will return to China after they think they've earned enough money," said a Taipei police officer, who asked not to be identified. "Very few of them will quit prostitution and stay in Taiwan afterwards."
According to police sources, more and more women are coming from China to work as prostitutes. While there are no hard numbers, one city councilor estimates that at least 500 prostitutes from China are working in Taipei today.
A shared culture and language makes China an ideal source for brothel owners to find prostitutes to work in Taiwan, police say.
But while the world's oldest profession is nothing new in Taiwan -- barber shops that have never cut a lock of hair flourish around the country -- what is new is a growing intolerance toward the sex industry.
Embarrassed by allegations of police officers colluding with the sex industry, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) -- like his predecessor, Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) -- has vowed to do something.
Earlier this month, Ma promised to rid Taipei of the sex industry within three months.
On Oct. 20, roughly 200 illegal Chinese immigrants were deported from Matsu. Of those, about 50 were prostitutes.
Still, many doubt Ma will be successful in his efforts to drive out the sex industry.
And women's groups such as the Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters say legislation should be introduced to legalize prostitution. They say crackdowns will do little but push the sex industry further underground, nor will it solve the problem of police corruption.
Fake marriages
According to police statistics, many Chinese prostitutes come to Taiwan through fake marriages or human smugglers.
Liu, who arrived in September, told police after her arrest that her "husband" paid NT$250,000 to a human trafficker for her to be brought to Taiwan.
After arriving, she started to work for her "husband" in order to pay back her fees.
"I need more money," Liu said. "My fake husband said that I have to pay him back so I can keep my own money instead of working for him."
Police say that many brothels use contract taxi drivers, who double as bodyguards, to deliver women to hotels or any location chosen by the customer.
Sometimes, a prostitute marries a driver to receive legal status in Taiwan. But in most cases a Chinese prostitute never meets her legal husband during her stay in Taiwan.
According to the Taipei police officer, marriage to a Taiwan national isn't enough to keep a Chinese prostitute from being deported.
"If a Chinese prostitute enters Taiwan via marriage, no matter whether the relationship is genuine or not, the police will submit the case to the Bureau of Immigration under the Ministry of the Interior," the officer said.
"When the paperwork is done, the case will be sent back to the police again for further investigation," he said. "Then the Chinese prostitute will be deported. The entire process will take approximately five days if the paperwork travels fast."
NT$4.5 Billion a year
According to estimates by New Party City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新), there are roughly 500 Chinese prostitutes working in Taipei.
The group is estimated to earn NT$12.5 million in profits for the sex industry daily, with each woman seeing about five clients a day at NT$5,000 per session. That works out to about NT$4.5 billion per year.
Most Chinese prostitutes after their arrest are sent to a detention center in Hsinchu, which is officially the nation's only illegal-immigrant detention center for women. There are two other centers for men.
But in recent weeks, due to Ma's crackdown, the Hsinchu center has been packed, and some detainees have been sent to the nation's other two detention centers in Ilan and Matsu.
Before a woman is deported, prosecutors investigate whether she was involved in any other crime.
In the meantime, detainees must wait for the Chinese Red Cross Society to schedule ships between Matsu and Xiamen or Kinmen and Xiamen.
On average, Chinese immigrants are held for roughly four months before being sent home.
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