The nation’s last legal brothel has closed after its owner, a woman surnamed Chang Liu (張柳), passed away.
The brothel in Kangle Alley in Yilan County’s Luodong Township (羅東) had operated legally under a county bylaw.
After Chang Liu’s passing, police immediately filed for the cancelation of the brothel’s permit and requested that the county government revoke the bylaw.
Photo: Chang Yi-chen, Taipei Times
The permit was canceled on Jan. 1, but the bylaw remained in effect pending a county councilors’ meeting, which was held on Wednesday, Yilan County Police Commissioner Hsieh Chin-hsien (謝進賢) said.
After the meeting, councilors in a statement said that the rule has been abolished in accordance with Article 23 of the bylaw, which stipulates that it should be revoked once the last remaining brothel closes.
Kangle Alley was historically viewed as a “men’s paradise,” a resident said, adding that the 1970s were the golden age for the local sex industry, with brothels opening at 6am and by evening welcoming an endless stream of clients.
As brothels cannot be sold or relocated, permits were canceled after owners passed away, they said.
After the government stopped issuing permits, the number of brothels declined until only four remained in 2010, each employing four or five sex workers with an average age of about 50, the resident said.
“A brothel would need to serve at least 10 clients per day just to pay the bills,” they added.
Brothels in the alley would charge a set rate of NT$600 per transaction, but clients would sometimes haggle the price down to NT$500 and the brothels would be pressed to comply, they said.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
RSS