Hong Kong Snapshot (80) Woosung Street, street of prostitution from history to now 香港隨拍 (80) 吳松街，當年的「麻埭花國」，到今天的足浴店之街

In the last few days I have talked about the history of prostitution in Hong Kong, such as the “Big Number” in Wan Chai, the western brothels in Lyndhurst Terrace, and the Erotic Romance of Shek Tong Tsui. All these places were located in HK Island. And how about the Kowloon side? Of course there were similar places in Kowloon. It’s the “Ma Tei Flower Kingdom”.

跟大家一連幾天說了香港的風月史，有香港島灣仔的大Number，擺花街的西洋妓院，還有塘西風月，全都是在香港島區。那九龍呢？九龍當然也有風月區啦，這風月區就是「麻埭花國」！

In the 19th century, most rich people lived in HK Island and so most brothels were at the HK Island. But the people in Kowloon also had their need. So since 1880, brothels developed in Kowloon at Temple Street and Woosung Street, who were located in Yau Ma Tei. They called the prostitution area as “Ma Tei Flower Kingdom” (Chinese like to describe beautiful girls as flower”. The number of prostitutes in the Kingdom was around 20,000, which is same as Shek Tong Tsui.

十九世紀的香港由於華洋富人都住在香港島，妓院們自然集中在香港島，不過九龍的人們也有他們的需要，故自1880年開始，九龍的油麻地廟街、吳松街一帶漸漸發展成風月區，他們取油麻地的雅稱，稱其為「麻埭花國」，高峯期油麻地的妓女人數更比得上塘西風月，實為奇景。

Temple Street in the 1930s 廟街

People in Yau Ma Tei were not as wealthy as HK Island and so the brothels were low-quality. Some prostitutes might start their business at Yau Ma Tei and wished one day they may entered the brothels of Shek Tong Tsui. 1932, the HK Government banned prostitution, all brothels were closed and the prostitutes at Yau Ma Tei became private prostitutes. Today, we can still see the influence left.

當然，油麻地的妓院沒有塘西的那麼高雅，大多都是進房完事就算了，所以當年的油麻地可說是妓女們的起步點，待有點成績再找機會進入塘西。1932年香港禁娼，香港島的妓院全部結業，而油麻地的妓女們多轉做私娼，仍集中在廟街、吳松街一帶，直到今日，我們仍然見到當年的一點點影子。

Woosung Street 吳松街, 1960 (photo from appledaily)

A sought-after prostitute of Yau Ma Tei
油麻地的一位紅牌阿妓

Today, Woosung Street is an old street. But in the street of only hundreds of meters, we can find over 20 small massage shops! You think HK people are really so tired? Of course not! These shops are another kind of prostitution services. Today in HK, there are still some kinds of prostitution services that the public can’t see. Massage shops are one of them.

今天的吳松街是一條古舊的街道，但短短數百米的一條街，你會見到超過二十間足浴店。你猜香港人真的腿那麼累？當然不是，這些只是色情場所的變異，今時今日的香港仍然有很多暗裡的色情場所存在，足浴店就是其中之一，提供全身按摩，全身的定義就你來猜吧。

There should be a few hundred massage shops in HK but we hardly can see such a large number of massage shops at one street. So how to know if it provides prostitution service or not? Yes, we may in the past. If you can see a “smile emoji” on the sign of the shop, you may know it provides prostitution service. But few years after, many normal massage shops do not know the hidden rule and add smile emoji on the sign. So now it cannot be applied anymore but as a normal person, I believe you may know it just by the sign.

現在全香港的色情足浴店相信有數百間，但在吳松街這裡一條街超過二十家也是比較誇張。你或會問那香港有沒有正當足浴店？有的，在以前，我們可以靠著足浴店的招牌辨別它是否正當，如果招牌有哈哈笑圖案的，就是有其他的服務，不過後來有一些正當足浴店不明就裡，也加上了哈哈笑圖案，現在已沒有這個區分了。不過一個正常人，單憑那個招牌，應該都猜得到這足浴店是否正當。

The smile sign 笑哈哈就是這樣

Selling massage service 在推銷按摩服務 (photo from apple daily)

There are also other kind of prostitution shop apart from massage shops. I may talk about it when I have time. (Don’t ask me why I know. As a man, we must heard something about it from male friends!)

除了足浴店，香港還有其他種類的色情場所，有空再為大家介紹。(不要問我為何知道，作為男性，沒有去過都聽身邊朋友說過吧！)

!steemitworldmap 22.305975 lat 114.168151 long d3scr

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Thanks for spending your time to read my articles. I like to share stories of Hong Kong. I wish you may support me and I will keep going!
謝謝你能抽空閱讀這篇文章，我平日喜歡分享香港的故事，希望大家多多支持，我會繼續努力！