S1E1 - China's Heaven & Hell: Working as a pimp - Part 1

Send us a text

What happens when your father suggests you take a job as an "Assistant General Manager" at a friend's Chinese KTV nightclub? My journey through Shenzhen's vibrant nightlife industry during China's economic boom reveals a world few outsiders ever glimpse.

During the early 2000s—what I consider China's golden age of economic expansion—I balanced respectable daytime work at an investment bank with evenings spent managing hostesses in a marble-floored, fountain-adorned entertainment palace. This wasn't the stereotypical "pimp" role portrayed in movies; there were no drugs, kidnapping, or violence. Instead, I witnessed an elaborately structured society with its own rigid hierarchy, unwritten rules, and surprising humanity.

From the "young masters" (rural young men working as waiters) to the "princesses" (women who served but didn't socialize) to the powerful "mama-sons" (middle-aged women who kept everything running smoothly), each person occupied a specific position in this parallel economy. The establishment operated with remarkable efficiency—25-35% cuts on alcohol sales, calculated tip distribution, and presidential suites that could host 80 people. Beyond the business mechanics, I observed how people created niches for themselves, like the "hideous" princess whose personality earned her higher tips than her prettier counterparts.

This untold chapter of my life reflects broader truths about China's rapid transformation during that era—a society in flux where money promised to change everything, cities rose from nothing, and ambitious youth flocked to urban centers seeking fortune. Follow my stories for more insights into this fascinating period and the hidden systems that powered China's nighttime economy.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I've been thinking for a long time how I should
introduce my first impressionsof China to leave something
memorable.
I didn't want it to be cliche.
I also didn't want to do somesort of a travel vlog.
So, after careful consideration, I decided to share a unique
profession that I had after Idecided to live in China for

(00:24):
good and I lived in China Iwould say at to live in China
for good, and I lived in China,I would say, at the golden age
of economic expansion.
It was vibrant, it was dynamic,cities were being built from
the ground up and you saw masscapital injection and mass
migration of the youth from therural areas, suburbs, into the

(00:48):
cities.
There was a common drive thateverybody shared the hunger for
money to change their lives.
That really attracted me tostay there in the first place.
I'll share my experiencesworking at corporate jobs, doing
business, living there ingeneral.
But we're going to hold off onthat a little bit because the
profession that I did was notonly unique, it had a dark side

(01:10):
to it, it was behind the scenesand it wasn't in the norm.
It's from personal experienceand obviously it's not written
in my resume, it's notdocumented anywhere and you'll
probably never hear this fromanyone else.

(01:34):
A lot of the details my familydoesn't even know and, truth be
told, it's not something to beproud of, and those that have
came before me or worked as mycolleagues formerly, or anybody
who's been in this line of work,regardless if you are a manager
, down to the hostess no onewould ever admit it, nor would

(01:56):
anyone want to share this ortalk about it.
It's not something you wouldshare at a family dinner either,
and it is seen as a rathershameful act in traditional
Chinese society.
So before we start, don'timagine this the wrong way.
I didn't work as a pimp in theway everybody would imagine.

(02:17):
It wasn't the stuff you see inmovies.
We didn't kidnap anybody, wedidn't drug anybody, we didn't
beat anybody.
I didn't work on the streetseither, for one money was enough
to entice them.
You didn't need to get physicalor use drugs and it was also in
a very professional setting.
I wore a suit to work every day.
I did it full time, but I alsohad a day job.

(02:42):
I worked at an investment bankand I helped them do R&D on IT.
It wasn't a difficult job,since I had some experience here
already and I got my degree init.
Unfortunately, work didn't gosmoothly my first year there,
mainly because the languagebarrier for one, and also I had

(03:03):
difficulty understanding thatside of the culture.
I had been in China before, butonly traveling with my parents,
and I've never been in thatkind of setting where it was
cutthroat and you had to learnyour way to navigate your way
around in order to survive.
And everything that we're goingto talk about next.

(03:26):
Several episodes happened inShenzhen, china.
Now it's known for its IT.
It's an IT hub of China, but itwasn't like this in the 80s,
throughout the 90s and even theearly 2000s, and instead it was
an international hub forvisitors.
It borders Hong Kong veryconvenient, and it's part of the

(03:46):
Guangdong province, and soShenzhen in general.
At the time when I was there inearly 2000s, it was a small,
compact city.
It had some dirty beaches, butgreat food and everything was
accessible, walking distance,sometimes even work.
It was cheap, it was convenientand doing this job wasn't my

(04:12):
decision.
I didn't just wake up one daylike shit, I'm going to go pimp
some hoes.
No, it was actually my fatherwho suggested it.
The culprit right, and myfather's a little crazy.
He thinks in a differentdimension sometimes, and so at
the time I was young, 22, 23,and he suggested that I work at

(04:35):
a KTV nightclub that his friendinvested in.
To do what?
On my name card it saidassistant general manager, but
my job description was that of apimp.
And in case you don't understandwhat a Chinese KTV nightclub is
like, let me explain.
In slang.

(04:59):
We call them PR joints here inAmerica, and PR stands for
public relations.
Joint is exactly what it means.
It's normally a hole in thewall somewhere hidden amidst the
surroundings of Chinatown.
It wasn't like that in themainland.
The PR joints there were a lotbigger.

(05:21):
They weren't hidden and we callthem KTVs or nightclubs.
Some were decoratedextravagantly.
For instance, the one that Iworked at had marble or glass
everywhere, and there's a grandpiano in the middle, roman

(05:41):
columns and statues all along,even a fountain, a huge fountain
in the middle, roman columnsand statues all along, even a
fountain, a huge fountain in themiddle spearing water.
It was a little bit too much,especially that fountain,
because not only do people throwcoins in there, fuckers puke in
there too.
So it was disgusting.
I could clearly recollect thescent as you walked in towards

(06:07):
the elevator of practically anyclub.
It had a perfume smell to it,slightly different from club to
club, but one thing that'ssimilar is there will be sex in
the air, and so once youapproach the elevator, the door
opens and there's a hostessinside, dressed in a gown, ready

(06:28):
to push your button.
Not that button, but theelevator button, depending on
which floor you want to go to.
It was a little bit unnecessary, but it showed class.
It showed that it was high end.
You went up to whatever flooryou booked, and when the door
opens, that is when the partyand the show starts.

(06:50):
You wouldn't be dazzled by thedecorations at first.
You would be shocked by thelines of women and men standing
on each side.
So typically, the women standon the left side in height order
, and the men stood on the right.
They all had to wear specificuniform.
The woman changes their uniform, I would say quarterly, from

(07:14):
stewardess to nurse, to waitress, and even wearing nightgowns,
and the men, of course, wouldjust be suits and tux.
So they would stand on eachside and then they would bow and
scream out 欢迎光临, which iswelcome in Chinese, to whatever
palace name it is, and a littlebit about the job function of

(07:38):
the men on the right.
They weren't just there to bow,they were called 少爷 in Chinese,
which means young master.
It's a polite term we callwaiters.
And that's exactly what theydid.
They were your busboy for thenight.
They went to the bar to getyour alcohol.
They grabbed your fruit platefrom the cutter, they grabbed

(08:01):
your food from the chef and manytimes they would carry your
drunk ass to the bathroom oreven help you drive your car
back home in case you couldn'tdo it yourself.
And these Sauliers waiters wouldbe kids at 18, 20 and they're

(08:23):
the bottom of the hierarchy.
And they're the bottom of thehierarchy.
They're normally not educatedand from very rural areas like
villages.
So we had a nickname for themtoo amongst ourselves.
We didn't say it directly tothem, but we call them peasants
because a lot of them did comefrom farms.

(08:43):
They worked for the company,but they had to listen to us,
the managers no-transcript.
They spoke in a lot ofdifferent accents.
So Chinese people do havedifferent accents depending on

(09:03):
where you're from.
If you're from a rural place,it's pretty obvious, because
when you spoke Mandarin, or whenyou tried to, we couldn't
understand you.
It was very distinctive at thattime.
Everybody speaks it really wellnow, but back then we still had
a strong dialect tone.
But back then we still had astrong dialect tone.

(09:27):
So in front of them, on theother line, would be the ladies.
They were called gongzu orprincesses.
This term is only used at thektvs, don't use it anywhere else
.
It's very distinctive, okay,and they're a little bit
different from the hostesses.
Even though they might wearsexy outfits, they're not the
ones that chill with you, drinkwith you, sing with you and let

(09:48):
you grope them.
They're the ones that actuallyserve you inside the room.
So the少爷 stands normallyoutside and watches the door.
The princess kneels in front ofthe table wherever you're at,
next to the TV.
She pours your alcohol, ordersyour song, grabs your drinks and

(10:11):
cleans up after your ass.
Both of these played supportroles.
They survived off tip.
They don't get tipped as muchas they don't get tipped as much
as the girls, the hostesses,and it's a hierarchy down each
one.
For instance, the princesswould get paid typically half or
60 percent of what the hostessmade in tip, and then the sawyer

(10:35):
would get around 30 percent ofwhat the hostess would make
pretty much the math.
The good thing, however, aboutthe support role is that?
One they didn't have to drinkas much.
Two they didn't have to begroped by old men, and that was

(10:55):
something that separated theclasses.
The princesses are normallyyoung girls.
A lot of them chose to beprincesses for several reasons.
The top reason, I would say, isbecause they're alcohol
intolerant, either with allergyor they can't drink.

(11:16):
Two believe it or not, a lot ofthem have boyfriends at home or
working other jobs and theydidn't want or felt comfortable.
Stooping to the next level.
The rest were either new anddidn't feel comfortable yet, or

(11:39):
they were just straight up uglyyet, or they were just straight
up ugly.
No guy wants to go there.
Throw money at an ugly toad,just sorry, it is what it is.
But they did find their niche.
For instance, I remember thispudgy little princess that I

(11:59):
worked with.
She was there for the entiretime I was there.
She was fucking hideous.
Not you want to punch in theface, hideous, but definitely
you wouldn't want to sleep withher, even if you're drunk.
Sometimes the manager had toremind this bitch to shave her
pits, but her personality madeup for all her faults.

(12:21):
On the outside.
She was ready to get to work.
She was a crowd pleaser.
She can sing, dance and geteverybody high, get everybody
drinking and spend money.
She was that type of person soshe would actually get tipped
more than the other princesses.
Just because she knew what shehad to do, she found her little

(12:43):
niche.
Anyway, after they bow, you gocheck in.
There will be somebody at thedoor.
There'll be a stand or a desk.
You tell them who booked theroom and they will lead you
inside.
Normally we wouldn't allowwalk-ins, but if we did, there'd
be a couple of things.

(13:03):
One, nobody would take care ofyou because we didn't book it,
so we don't get a cut.
Or two, you're going to getripped off Because we didn't get
the cut.
We're going to make more moneyoff of you in tip or in other
services.
There was an occasion a coupleof white dudes strolled in and
we ripped them the fuck off.
It is what it is.

(13:24):
You're in a new country, youstrolled in, you don't know
anybody.
That's how the system worked.
So once confirmed the room thatyou book, depending on how many
people you want to fit, theywill lead you in.
Normal VIP rooms could fit maybe8 to 20 people and have two
waiters and two waitresses.
We had presidential suites.

(13:46):
They were humongous.
I don't even remember how manysquare foot or square meters it
is, but I knew it can fit up toat least 80 people and if you
had less than 10 inside, forinstance, there'd be echoes.
It was located on the balcony ontop of the third floor and not
many people booked it.

(14:06):
It was pretty expensive forthat time and once the customers
situate themselves inside, theperson who booked you the room,
the manager, the assistantmanager or the mama son would
take charge from there, andtheir job is very critical.
They're going to be there totake care of you the entire
night and also to make sure youspend a lot of money, because

(14:28):
the team takes a 25 to 35% cutoff your alcohol bill.
And, of course, every room hada minimum.
The bigger it is, the higherthe minimum.
Obviously, I was the assistantmanager assigned to a head
manager working on the secondfloor of a three-story KTV and

(14:51):
every floor there should be oneto three teams like us and
around 20 VIP rooms per floorwith a presidential suite.
All the way on top There'd be abasement where you parked
there's valet and from there youtake an elevator straight to
the first, second or third floor, the manager would typically be

(15:12):
in charge of a section of thefloor or the entire floor, and
the assistant managers would betheir bitches.
The mama-sons, on the other hand, are the backbones of the
entire operation, and thisderogatory term of mama-son is
actually not Chinese, it'sJapanese.
We don't call the mama-sonswhere I worked or anywhere else

(15:39):
Typically, we call them mommy.
That's it, mommy for short.
They typically be middle-agedwomen, supposedly, but it's not
always the case.
I would say that they wereyoung enough to still keep up
and party, but too old to nothave been heartbroken.

(16:02):
You get me Like late 20s, early30s, and let me tell you, guys,
these women were amazing.
They knew men better than theyknew themselves.
They can read people and, mostimportantly, they kept all the
girls in check.
If there ever was a problemwith any girls showing attitude,

(16:24):
getting kicked out, they wouldtake over.
They're kind of like sergeantson the battlefield, and we had a
term for that in Chinese too.
We call them lao you tiao orold fried dough, meaning they're
hard to chew and probably beenthrough too much grease.

(16:46):
I was very close to several ofthem and they all had some sob
stories behind them and most of,if not all worked from the
bottom up.
They're either princesses,hostesses and themselves, all
the way up the bottom up.
They're either princesses,hostesses themselves, all the

(17:06):
way up to Mama Sun, where thereare a community enough clients
to book their rooms and they nolonger had to share a cut with
the people on top of them.
And they rarely like to sharetheir personal stories unless
you knew them.
I'll probably share a couple oftheir stories without
mentioning names, but unlessthey're shitfaced you wouldn't

(17:27):
hear much.
But then you can see, you cansense that it was a long
learning curve.
Thank you for tuning in andplease follow for updates.
Uncle Wong, wishing you all thebest.