Regulating Prostitution in China: Gender and Local Statebuilding, 1900–1937 by Elizabeth J. Remick (review)

Elizabeth Remick is a political scientist who has been working on the topic of prostitution and local statebuilding in China for over ten years. Her previous articles on the topic have provided useful insights on taxation and prostitution in Republican China. In this marvelous book, Remick digs deeper into the questions of how women’s bodies were being policed and scrutinized and takes a step further in bringing forth three models of regulation in three cities, showing the features and implications of each model on the local statebuilding agenda. Through this study, Remick also explains that gender mattered a great deal to local governments in China during the first few decades of the twentieth century.

Chapter 1 examines the origins of the regulatory model that had been very popular in nineteenth-century Europe. Remick argues that it became a standard practice only in Republican China and not earlier because the state was not interested in regulating prostitution until then. The statebuilders adopted this approach, despite the fact that it had grown out of fashion in Europe, because they believed it was a modern and thus desirable way to deal with the issue. I was especially intrigued by the argument that the methods of regulation came in through Japan via the spread of Japanese-inspired police models. Even so, the regulatory model developed new meanings, implications, and consequences in Chinese cities. Even though historians have paid much attention to the meanings of semi-colonialism, not many have analyzed the cultural influence of Japan during the early twentieth century. Remick’s interpretation could potentially spark new interest in colonial modernity, especially the influence of Japan on Chinese modernization projects before its full-fledged occupation in Manchuria.

In the next three chapters, Remick compares the three models and shows systematically how local statebuilding varied across the nation. She avoids the most-studied location of Shanghai, and instead chooses to focus on three other cities, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, and Kunming, to illustrate the meanings and methods of each model. Throughout the chapters, Remick demonstrates that prostitution often was not so much a moral or health issue to the statebuilders; rather, it was more often treated as a practical matter. She shows how prostitution was regulated through a variety of tactics, including taxation, licensing, zoning, medical examinations, and policing. Since there is a dearth of scholarship on these locations, her selection of these cities greatly contributes to the literature on urban China in the early twentieth century. She also describes in detail the specificities of each city’s geography, history, and status in Republican China.

Chapter 2 uses Hangzhou to illustrate the light-regulatory approach. Hangzhou was overshadowed by Shanghai in commerce and business at the turn of the twentieth century. Despite the Guomindang’s plans to modernize the city, the city had many fiscal problems that made these attempts fall short. In terms of prostitution, the light-regulatory approach is characterized by “weakly enforced regulations, spotty health inspections, and very small tax revenues” (95). Overall, the Hangzhou municipal government was not able to use prostitution to produce enough income for any grand projects, nor was it successful in containing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. This light-regulatory model as represented by Hangzhou seems to be the least effective in keeping prostitution under control and providing funding for the local state.

In contrast, Guangzhou’s revenue-intensive approach was much more successful in generating revenue for the local state. The tax system in Guangzhou was elaborate, consisting of enormous tax collection structures and many bureaucrats. In addition to the regular tax on brothels and registered prostitutes, Guangzhou also levied a per-trick transaction tax. The various taxes collected from prostitution were used to build new schools and roads, as well as fund militias. Remick argues that in Guangzhou, since everything was taxed, prostitution became just like any other business. The Guangzhou example leads one to consider the implications...