S1E2 - China's Heaven & Hell: Working as a pimp - Part 2

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Step behind the velvet curtain of China's high-end nightlife as a former KTV assistant manager reveals the raw, unfiltered reality of managing an elite entertainment establishment. From the hidden door concealing hundreds of hostesses to the intricate social hierarchies that determine every interaction, this candid account offers rare insight into a world where business deals happen over karaoke, alcohol, and female companionship.

Working under a manager described as "the OG of pimps" – suave, ex-military, and bipolar in his approach – our narrator learned to navigate this complex ecosystem as the self-described "head manager's bitch." His responsibilities included the delicate task of selecting appropriate hostesses for clients based on their status and preferences, often receiving uncomfortably specific requests for "innocent looking young" women or those with "nice skin, preferably from the north."

The hostess selection process itself resembles a meat market – women lined up for inspection, categorized by price tier ($40 for "regulars" versus $70 for the "prettier ones"), and presented to clients for approval. Meanwhile, the narrator developed an uncanny ability to "sniff out" social status, learning to distinguish between the working-class "dà gōng zài" with their cheap suits and rowdy behavior and the true power players who commanded respect and premium service.

What makes this story truly fascinating isn't just the glimpse into a shadowy industry, but the narrator's personal transformation. As his father advised, success in China required learning "how to build relations with strangers, and learn it fast." Through this unlikely education, he encountered "the bad, ugly and greedy" – the very people he would later deal with in his own business ventures. It wasn't a conventionally positive experience, but as he reflects, "I couldn't say it was a good experience, but it was a worthwhile one."

Curious about what really happens after hours in China's business world? This raw, honest account pulls no punches in revealing how relationships are built and deals are made in the private rooms of a high-end KTV club. Subscribe now to hear more untold stories from Uncle Wang's adventures navigating Chinese business culture.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I was the assistant manager of the floor.
So, like I said before, I wasthe head manager's bitch.
I did whatever was needed andwhatever hole was missing I
filled.
My manager was very experienced.
He worked 20 years in theindustry.

(00:21):
When I met him it was probablyaround his 10th year, middle of
it.
He was suave, laid back,ex-military and knew the
business so well.
And he was chill, he wasn'tshady, he wasn't cheap and he

(00:42):
treated everybody fairly.
And I don't know if you guysknow Iceberg Slim.
He was this pimp in the 1950s.
He published a book called Pimp, the Story of my Life in 1967.
If you get a chance to read it,do it.
It's a great book, especiallythe glossary.
Anyways, my manager was exactlylike him.
I didn't know at the time, butwhen I read the book I was like

(01:05):
man, this is the OG of pimps.
He could become bipolar,meaning he acted one way, but
when it was time for work he wasa complete different person.
He started drinking like awhale singing, but deep down his
personality is very shy.

(01:28):
So, yes, chinese people lovesinging, as do most parts of
Asia, and that's normally themain event after dinner Singing,
women, alcohol.
It's also where a lot of thebusiness gets done.
It's also where a lot of thebusiness gets done.
We open at 7.30, but normallypeople would start shuffling in

(01:55):
around 8 to 9.
So once we took them in, theysat down and felt comfortable as
they ordered their alcohol.
It became the mama son's jobnext to arrange the ladies, and
so this part is prettyinteresting.
There wasn't a specific term weused for the ladies or

(02:15):
hostesses.
We just call them Xiao Jie orladies for short.
In the US we call them PRs, soI'll call them PRs or ladies and
you'll know what it means.
And their job was to keep youcompany at the club while you
sang maybe let you grow up a bitdrink with you for tip.
But before they came in,somebody had to go and pick them
out and grab them.

(02:35):
That would typically be themama-son's job, but because I
was in training, my manager sentme most of the time, not saying
he didn't have capable mamasons, but he kind of just wanted
to pick on me, and every timehe did that I would see mama
sons giggle in the back becausethey knew I had no idea what the

(02:56):
fuck I was doing.
Next came the instructions,which was always very
complicated.
The mind.
You haven't gotten used to theculture yet or the language, but
I needed to know what to get.
If the customer has wantedsomething special, for instance,
I would hear borderline creepyshit.

(03:19):
Like you know, mr Lee likessome innocent looking young,
your Mr Wu likes some tall, niceskin, preferably from the north
, and I will have to rememberthis.
I couldn't jot it down.
Once it was done, I start makingmy way to the back stairs, down

(03:41):
the staff elevator to the firstfloor.
Not everybody, not everyone,required a specific type right.
Some of them were there forbusiness or their guests.
So it was up to me to count howmany I was going to bring up
and what type of girls I wouldbe bringing up.
So once I made my way down tothe first floor, there would be

(04:03):
a door hidden in some decoration.
It was a very common door, justone way door, just enough to
fit one or two people through.
But behind there it was a keycard and behind there was
humongous, probably like Twicethe size of the presidential

(04:25):
suite.
There were Hundreds of women inthere at almost a begin time.
There were changing rooms,showers and lockers for them.
There were condoms, beverages,even Chinese herbal drunk
medicine to keep you fromgetting shit-faced.
That started at 8.

(04:46):
They start shuffling in at 7.30.
Most of them already had makeupon, dressed up, and they would
start going on the next phaseOnce they're ready.
They sat in a lounge.
Next to their dressing areathere were round sofas and there
was a TV in the middle.
They get comfortable to kind ofsit there for the entire night

(05:08):
if they had to.
What were they doing there?
They were waiting to be calledby people like me.
Normally, only the mama sonswould go inside, but I was the
exception.
Of course, the manager could goinside too, but he rarely does,
and when I made it inside Ifelt really embarrassed.

(05:30):
I kind of felt degraded and shy, of course, but everybody else
seemed to be okay with it.
So I would work my way to thelounge area and start making my
first round picks, making myfirst round picks, and while I'm

(05:52):
doing that, I would think abouta lot about what my dad said
regarding why I'm doing this.
He said if I wanted to makemoney in China, I would need to
learn how to build relationswith strangers, and learn it
fast.
That's one of the few goodadvices that he did give me and
learn it fast.
That's one of the few goodadvices that he did give me, and
working there did show a lot ofdark side to humanity that I

(06:15):
wasn't accustomed to.
I grew up in America, went toschool, went to work, lived like
a typical American and beingthere I saw no good.
I saw the bad, ugly and greedy,and these would be the exact

(06:37):
type of people I would deal within the future when I start my
own business.
So I couldn't say it was a goodexperience, but it was a
worthwhile one.
It got a little hard on my body, especially because I had a day
job too.
So I get home after work around4.35, make it back to my small
apartment, order some takeout,maybe get a shut eye and start
getting ready for work.

(06:58):
I lived in a high rise, fiveminutes walking distance from
the KTV.
Very convenient.
There were stores, supermarketsand restaurants all over the
place.
What's interesting?
What's interesting is duringthe day I would not see many
people, but at night, especiallythe time I went to work, as

(07:19):
soon as I got in the elevatorwhen it opened, normally it
would be packed with girls andat first I didn't know what they
were doing before I workedthere and I was like wow, a lot
of single girls here going outto party I must live in like a
woman dorm or something.
But little did I know that theywere actually going to work.

(07:40):
I knew where they were goingbut didn't know where I was
going.
So, anyways, after that walk towork and start the night, on any
regular night our team wouldhave five to eight rooms to take
care of.
I would say it would get busyon weekends with 10 plus rooms
Very common.
We have my head manager, myselfand five mama sons on the team.

(08:05):
Like I said before the firsthour of opening typically eight
to nine.
We situate them in the room andthat's where I end up In the
ladies room, running franticallyback and forth picking out
girls.
I didn't have much time to actand it wasn't easy.
Not only did I have to rememberthe creepy instructions I would

(08:28):
get also because the girls weresplit into two categories the
prettier ones, the taller ones,nicer skin, etc.
Would be 500 RMB at the time,so roughly 70 bucks.
They chilled you for the night.
For the night, the regularswere 300 RMB, 40 bucks roughly.

(08:53):
It was up to me to judge whatthe client preferred and what he
could afford.
So the girls typically had toimpress me first, otherwise I
wouldn't bring them up.
They're not allowed out thatroom unless they were with a
assistant manager or mama's sonor head manager.
That was the rule.
At first I was scrambling.
I didn't know who to pick outand they would get returned a

(09:16):
lot.
But as time went on I slowlylearned the ropes.
So the trick is you have topre-plan before you even enter
that room, meaning you had tolearn to sniff out who would be
paying the bill, what they couldafford and also remember
quickly what they like.
It wasn't that hard once yougot the hang of it and Chinese

(09:38):
people don't split the bill.
They have certain criteria.
Like the person paying the billor the head guest would sit in
the middle, so you would knowwho to host.
Like the person paying the billor the head guest would sit in
the middle, so you would knowwho to host.
It got easier as time went on.
It also wasn't a place to becheap.
So everybody, regardless ifyou're poor or if you had money,
they all acted the same to makeconnections and to impress.

(10:06):
First thing I had to learn wasto sniff out the working class,
or the worker bees.
We call them dà gōng zài inChinese, and that's what it
translates into.
For these type of people, Iwould bring the 300s or the
typically the uglier ones thatare not welcomed in the more
expensive rooms, and for thebosses or the ones that had more

(10:27):
money, I'd bring them the 500s,and sometimes it would be even
some specials like 700, 800.
And these would be models orsome eighth string actress of
some sort.
We had those very common too.
So a trick of how to tell ifthey were poor I don't wanna say

(10:49):
it, but that's how it was is,besides ordering cheaper alcohol
, right, they would always comein with this smelly suit like
they just got off work.
It'd be cheap, you can see.
Their shoes, their belt weresome shit you would buy on the
streets, and they would alwayscarry like a cheap briefcase

(11:10):
that would stick under theirarmpit or carry in their hand.
Most of all, they were therowdiest people when they were
drunk, we hated them, the girlshated them and the managers did
too.
They're on the bottom of thewhite-collared food chain.
So many times they would takeit out on servers, waiters,

(11:31):
waitresses, even the managers,because they were probably
looked down upon at their jobs,so they needed to come here to
rebalance their ego.
I don't know.
They would get drunk and oftenbrag about how great they are,
and when the bill came he wouldpay for the beers.

(11:52):
So very stereotypical andnobody liked them.
But we had to serve thembecause every night the room was
full.
Some weeknights were very slow,so some girls would get pissed
off at me because they came in,got all dressed up, sat in the
lounge for an hour and didn'teven have the chance to try out.

(12:12):
And so what is trying out?
Chinese is called or, and therewere literally hundreds of them
at any given time.
But some rooms were small, somerooms were bigger.
You could probably fit around10 to 20 per room, and by fit I
would mean I would bring them upand they would line up in front

(12:35):
of the TV, in front of wherethe customer was sitting, one by
one, file it one row or two,and they would start by saying
welcome, like how you met at thedoor, and they would start
saying where in China they'refrom Hubei, sichuan, chengdu,

(12:57):
harbin, it didn't matter andthey went one by one, by one,
and then typically it would justbe a push and shove game.
After that the boss the personwho's paying or the person who's
trying to make the connectionasked the guest to go first.
After several shoves, the dudepicks one out and then they all
start taking their picks.
But not everybody would likethat group and most of the time

(13:21):
it would not satisfy justbringing one group of girls.
So during that hour I wouldjust be running back and forth,
taking this group and going backdown.
But making it back down withthe same group took too much
time.
So what I did was, let's say, Ihad five rooms and I would make
a line and I would take thatgroup into the first room the
people who were drinking moreexpensive shit and I would make

(13:41):
my way down to the last roomwith the same group of girls I
had and if there were leftoversI would go back downstairs.
I had to take them backdownstairs and pick another
group and run that entiresession all over again.
It was kind of like selling meatright, you had the meat shuffle
in and a lot of these customersask creepy questions besides

(14:04):
where you're from.
Nobody asked age.
Not stupid enough, becausenobody would tell you.
They would ask for horoscopesigns.
They would ask questions likecan you sing, dance, play the
piano, shit like that On theback of my head.
I'm just like bro, it's $40fucking dollars.
Relax, man.

(14:24):
It was hard to juggle whenbusiness was slow because we had
too many girls and it was toobusy.
We didn't get to go home untilsometimes the early morning
hours.
But one thing there was alwaysa supply of was women.
There were just so many, alldifferent types, from everywhere

(14:45):
in China.
It just felt like heaven to asingle 22, 23 year old me.
So finally, everybody settled,all the girls are arranged and,
last but not least, I would godownstairs to check who's left
and we would take care of someof them and tell them to stay a

(15:05):
little extra because there wouldbe swaps.
There would be some girl inthere that would piss off the
customer within an hour and takea swap for free, and once they
did, we would take care of theones that are still left in the
room, typically the uglier ones.
All that's done.
The next part of the ritual iswe would all meet in a room and

(15:28):
discuss the plan of the night,and it would normally be an
empty room where we would allmeet in a room and discuss the
plan of the night, and it wouldnormally be an empty room where
we would all light up acigarette.
The head manager would preachwho's in this room, who's in
that room, who's in charge ofthis?
That all this shit.
It'd be very hectic because thenext part of the night would be
the most tiring.

(15:48):
It's called the patrols, or, inChinese direct translation, xun
luo xun fang, and that's whenwe just took turns touring
around the rooms, playing games,drinking, singing and pretend
we're having fun with theseclients.
Thank you for tuning in andplease follow for updates.
Uncle Wang, wishing you all thebest.