Tuesday July 29, 2008
China tries crack down on sex-in-saunas industry by requiring IDs
BEIJING (AP) - Clients who stay overnight in saunas and massage parlors in southern China can no longer do so anonymously, the China Daily newspaper said Tuesday.
Authorities in the city of Guangzhou are now requiring sauna clients to show their ID and register their personal information to try to limit China's booming sex trade, as well as prevent criminal suspects from hiding out, the paper said.
The change came into force Monday.
Many massage parlors and saunas in China are fronts for brothels.
The government has also cracked down on them in Beijing before the start of the Olympic Games next month.
"Some of these health centers have become dens of iniquity in past years owing to an absence of efficient supervision and management,'' He Jing, deputy director of the security bureau of Guangzhou, capital of booming Guangdong province, was quoted as saying.
The rule affects those going to massage parlors and saunas from 1 a.m. to 8 a.m., the paper said.
Investigators will be regularly dispatched to enforce the rule.
Penalties will range from warning to revocation of business licenses, the newspaper said.
"On average, 100 clients stay overnight at our sauna center every day throughout the year. During peak periods, such as the biannual trade fair, as many as 300 clients stay overnight,'' a sauna proprietor surnamed Dong, was quoted as saying.
A first name was not given.
"But last night when the regulation came into force, only 60 people stayed,'' he said.
For Another perspective from the China Daily, a partner of Asia News Network, click here
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