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“Blatant sex capital of Asia, where vice is legal and the price is right,” was how one book described Taipei in 1969. Listen as Taipei-based journalist David Frazier takes us through the history of Taipei’s first foreign-oriented red light district, an area of girlie bars and nightclubs that was, and still is, known as the “Combat Zone.” Frazier explains how this infamous entertainment zone formed around nearby US military bases, the history of prostitution in modern Taiwan, and how a bar zone became a conduit for Western culture.
Cover images via Taipei Nightlife Part II -- this website is a MUST-SEE for those interested in the "Combat Zone." There are pics, maps, stories, and more -- make sure to check it out.
David Frasier: Reprint of sleazy 1960s travel guide to ‘blatant sex capital’ Taipei paints a very different picture to today’s city.
Vice Magazine: "State-Sponsored Prostitution for Soldiers Was Once Routine on the Island of Kinmen"
David Frazier's article for the Taipei Times is also a MUST-READ.
Below: "Qin Paradise," one of the last legal brothels in Taiwan. Via Wikimedia Commons/舟集 Toadboat
The current rules in Taiwan: Eryk Michael Smith's edit of Wikipedia article:
Sex work became illegal in Taiwan under Article 80 of the Social Order and Maintenance Act 1991, which replaced the Police Offence Law of the 1950s and criminalized the mainly female population of sex workers. Sex workers could be detained for a maximum of three days, fined up to NT$30,000 or sent to a correctional institution for a period of between 6 and 12 months.
Then-Taipei mayor Chen Shui-bian, who outlawed sex work in Taipei in 1997, was President from 2000 to 2008. During this time, sex workers were prosecuted and advocates faced discrimination from conservative groups.
After a long public debate, in June 2009, citing a commitment to international agreements, the administration of then-president Ma Ying-jeou announced that prostitution was to be decriminalized. While Taiwan's Legislative Yuan determined how the new laws would work, jail terms were to be replaced by fines, and police officers would no longer be credited for the arrest of sex workers.
Soon after, the Constitutional Court declared the existing legislation unconstitutional, and ordered that it cease to be in effect within 2 years. In October 2010, the government said small brothels would soon be allowed to operate, and in May 2011, the authorities said a draft bill was imminent.
SO, WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? Well, prostitution in Taiwan is still illegal except in special zones, but as of 2023, no "special zones" have been opened. Of course, the sex trade continues, underground.
Below: A scene from the award-winning Taiwanese movie "Monga."
More from the Taipei Times.
1. Sex workers strut their stuff in street parade (2004)
2. FEATURE: Effectiveness of legal sex industry zones debated (2011)
3. Aggressive sex workers ruining Wanhua, locals say (2013)
Check our very first episode, the story of a very white man who showed up in London in 1703... and claimed to be from Formosa. Or try a foodie episode from Season 3. Or, for those who want some harder-core history, hear the tale of the Lockheed U-2 pilot Wang Hsi-chueh 王錫爵, who became was famous for defecting to the PRC by hijacking China Airlines Flight 334 on May 3, 1986.
