Two years later the girl, now 16, was among about 100 girls interviewed by Chief Inspector Chung Chi-ming, who has led police operations against "compensated dating" in the past 12 months.
Chung, of Kowloon West regional crime unit, said he felt very sorry to see young girls in Hong Kong engaging in enjo kosai - a practice originating in Japan where men give money and luxury gifts to young girls for their companionship and, often, sexual favours.
Satisfaction of materialistic desires was one of the major reasons girls participated in the de facto prostitution practice, he said.
Some girls also came from broken families.
Chung said one girl had run away from home because of family disharmony and was lured into prostitution by criminals who suggested to her that a group of girls should live together like a family.
Police raided two such syndicates last year and found 10 girls, of whom the youngest was only 14.
The girls had to follow the rules set by syndicates and could be beaten if they did not conform.
"The girl told us it was like living in a prison and she could not escape," Chung said.
Police had also found pimps operating individually on the internet to arrange clients for girls. One, they found, was an 18-year-old student about to enter university.
"He told us it was like doing business on eBay," Chung said. "It is really a pity to see a young man, who did not have any criminal record, go to jail for his lack of morality."
Police over the past year have arrested 22 people, including syndicate members and online pimps, in relation to compensated-dating offences, and at least 13 girls have been referred to the Social Welfare Department. But Chung said police were only dealing with the tip of the iceberg and the solution lay in education and prevention.
Chief Inspector Sandra Chiu Yui-luen of the Kowloon West crime prevention office said police would write to primary and secondary schools in the district, and conduct seminars for school principals to alert them to juvenile crime.
"The girls might earn money pretty easily for a brand-name handbag, but once they start, it is a road of no return, and they will soon find their losses are much greater than their gains," she said.
SCMP Sep 5, 2009
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10 comments:
In HK,"Compensated dating" is really a serious social problem.Police can't help it so much."The solution lay in education and prevention."I hope that the young girl can be start witch a clean slate and work hard to become pillars of the society in the future.
PS:My english is not really good.I used yahoo dictionary to help me.I really hope that I can improve my english in these two years.
I think that youngsters lured in to “compensated dating” is a foolish and nonsense behavior.
Just a sum of hundreds or thousands, by providing sexual services, they sell ones’ morality in order to acquire money and luxuries, satisfying their own materialistic desires.
They know that it is against the law and morality. They know that being a prostitute would have the possibility of suffering from disease, like AIDS. However, they still keep it as a practice. What they claim is because of family disharmony and because of the suggestion provided by syndicates, asking them to join the group, living with other girls and act like a family.
It is an incontrovertible fact that each school has stationed a social worker. Juvenile should look for the help of social workers when they meet family disharmony problem, but not hiding it.
Remember that there are readings in the Bible, saying that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, we should make good use of it and use it for God’s glory. Another reading is about that we should earn an honest living.
From the point of either the religious aspect or reality, the principle of the Bible is ever true. Thus, youngsters should make good use of their body and avoid immorality. They should know how to protect themselves and know how to refuse for what is wrong.
Is "start with a clean slate" ,
not "start witch a clean slate"
It is hard to know what the girls are thinking. Is that enjoying the luxury is more important than themselves?! I feel so sorry to their parents.
I got something funny to share=)
My friend was invited by a girl before and he was so scared. Firstly he son't know why the girl got his phone no. and secondly he is shocked by this call.Of course he rejected her.
Another story is that, one day I was having a gathering with my friends in Mong Kwok, and we were taking the sticky-photo at that time, and we saw a girl who is about 18-22, is taking the photo with a fat man who is about 3X year-old, and he is lack of hair.
All of us is wondering that if she is have a compensated dating? And that girl become our chatting topic of the whole week.. and now we still want to figure out the answer.
It is hard to know what the girls are thinking. Is that satisfying of materialistic desires is more important than themselves?! I feel so sorry for their parents.
I have got something funny to share=)
My friend was invited by a girl before and he was so scared. Firstly he didn't know why the girl got his phone no. and secondly he was shocked by this call.Of course he rejected her.
Another story is that, one day I was having a gathering with my friends in Mongkok, and we were taking the sticky-photo at that time, and we saw a girl who is about 18-22, was taking photos with a fat man who is about 3X year-old, and he is lack of hair.
All of us were wondering that if she was having a "compensated dating"? After that the girl became our chatting topic for the whole week.. and now we still want to figure out the answer.
P.S. I am sorry that I found some grammar mistake in the past comment, and this is the correct version.
It's a serious problem in our society.Nowadays,more and more teenage girls who provide sexual services.They love brand-names so that provise these services.
After reading this news,i feel very sad to these young girls,is that money and luxury gifts are important for them?I don't really understand!
They are only teenage,they need education,they are the pillars in the society in future.
I don't think prostitution is a business , even it can make money.
At least 13 girls have been referred to the Social Welfare Department ,so i sincerely hope that they will self-questioning about what have done.
James, Bryan, Anthea and Davis,
Thanks a lot for coming to my website and I do hope you can make good use of it from now on. James, I think your English is not bad. Every person makes mistakes. The only important thing is for you to be exposed to the use of the language. Bryan, I agree with you totally that young people should fully realise the consequences of their behaviours. Anthea, I wasn't there to witness that with you, but my feeling is that people in their 30s are not really keen on taking those sticker photos. Anyway, thanks for all your comments.
Mr. Fu
I do think some girls would like to join the compensated dating because they are materialist, they think wearing the brand-named products can enhance their self-esteem.Besides,lack of moral education is also the main factor for them to join the compensated dating.Parents are ashamed of telling something about sexual intercourse,therefore the youngsters will think that it is really interesting and they can earn money easily.
I think she will find that she is wrong if she knows the consequences of thos kind of things.
I am sorry that I have a lot of grammatical mistakes,but thanks for sharing.
Elaine Wang (6AB1)
Hello Mr. Fu,
It is sad to hear many young girls has compensated dating. I hope that more young girls will know the disadvantages of compensated dating. They will have more loss than they gain. In conclusion,they will regret forever after they have compensated dating.
Fong Ho Ying (15)
Form 6 AB(1)
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