Tourists of the Night.(prostitutes from China in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

Not all the mainlanders pouring into Hong Kong these days come for the tram ride up to Victoria Peak. Among the 1,500 Chinese allowed in per day are growing numbers of prostitutes. Crime syndicates have taken to recruiting young women across the border and slipping them into tour groups. Once inside Hong Kong, they usually work for three weeks--until their visas expire--earning thousands of dollars for the gangsters. Then many of them are turned in: the population of the Tai Lam Centre for Women has swelled from 1,458 in October 2000 to 2,245 this September, a 54 percent increase, almost all of them mainland prostitutes.

The vast numbers of new streetwalkers are beginning to transform the sex industry in Hong Kong. A typical police surveillance video shows crowds of scantily clad mainlanders, led by local pimps, almost bumping into each other as they cruise alleyways in the working-class West Kowloon district where most of them work (a growing number also cater to the five-star hotels along the harbor). The typical charge for services has plummeted from about $65 on average to $35, making the trade seem more accessible to locals. The Chinese-language media are filled with titillating stories of teenage boys visiting brothels as an after-school activity.

The influx is leading some to question the wisdom of relaxing entry procedures for Chinese tourists. Hong Kong police can hardly cope. On a recent raid of ...