Women at Work: Chinese Brothel Keepers in Nineteenth-Century Hong Kong

Using government records and women's testimonies archived in private institutions, this article studies brothel keeping as business and brothel keepers as business owners and managers. In nineteenth-century Hong Kong, a military outpost of the British Empire, a commercial center attracting men of all classes and all nationalities, and yet, a stronghold of Chinese patriarchal practices, prostitution and brothel keeping flourished. The brothel keeper, always a woman, was offered an unprecedented opportunity to develop personal and entrepreneurial skills. In the process she expanded her life aspirations and played new roles in society and at home.