CHINA: Sixth Column

There was no mistaking the splashy flowered dresses, the flashy painted faces of the “first class” girls from Peiping’s red light district. More than 300 of them (“tripping daintily by like so many pretty birds ” one newspaper reported) flocked into the Great Continent Theater. Why this concentration of purchasable beauty, onlookers asked each other, and so early in the morning, too?

“Stand by Your Posts.” One enterprising reporter discovered why. In a grim moment of Chinese history, Peiping’s staid Municipal Council had had a grimly amusing idea: a whole battalion of potential

Mata Haris was available to fight the Communists. Through a crack in the rear window shutter (the press was barred from the theater), the reporter watched the girls, “sitting erect and in good order,” being addressed by a police official. “During this time of our Government’s general mobilization,” the official said, “you should stand by your posts and remember your duty to your country. [Your part] is as important as city walls and regular garrison troops.” They should find out, he added, “what lies within the hearts of your guests and influence them toward .correct thinking.” If they discovered a Communist they should “delay his departure until the police are summoned.”

To help Peiping’s 1,700 registered prostitutes execute their new duties, the police planned a month-long lecture course. Some of the girls railed at the hour set for the lectures. Said Red Pearl, of the Bright Star house, “Nine o’clock is very inconvenient. Our overnight guests are never gone that early in the morning.”

Non-Political Matters. Everything went smoothly until one morning last week, when the lecturer injected some personal hygiene instruction into the program. Painted faces grew redder as he discussed physiological details, with blackboard drawings. Autumn Fragrance and Jade Object nervously lighted cigarettes, violating the ban on smoking in class. When a policeman reprimanded them, they angrily retorted that they Would not listen to such “obscene speech.” The policeman drew a pistol, but a moment later retreated before the screaming and clawing girls.

Police reinforcements suppressed the revolt, but the girls won their point. Indoctrination continued without further hygienic advice. Whether the training program would bag any Communists was still uncertain. One trainee explained: “Men who visit me never appear to have political matters on their minds.”