Hobbits?
Posted on 03/28/2013 6:40:50 PM PDT by Jyotishi
China’s budget hotels used to target small business travellers, but their clientele nowadays is a rather different one. Cheap hotel rooms have become the space where the Chinese can pursue sexual freedom. Sexologist Xiaoliang Zeng writes on budget hotels and sexual liberation in China.
The hotel I checked in to was recommended by a well-known travel website. But I regretted my choice as soon as I walked in.
It was by no means a cheap hotel. Yet my room was filled with the unpleasant odor of semen and disinfectant. The pinkish wall, dim light, and green carpet created a sexually suggestive ambiance. Why on earth would the website recommend such a hotel to me?
I picked up my phone and called my wife. All of a sudden, a loud moaning came through the wall. I hung up hurriedly, fearing she would hear this suspicious and embarrassing noise. I decided it would be wiser to check out. On the way to the front desk, I saw two half naked men with tattoos walking in with a sexy young woman.
Sex brings prosperity
The sexual revolution in China goes largely unnoticed and is rarely talked about, yet it’s in full swing. I walked out of the hotel, flabbergasted. Would budget hotels in China be so prosperous without the sexual revolution? Surely not.
A manager once told me that his hotels would be packed during the weekends. But, he added, not with business travelers, but with people who needed a place to spice up their sex life. Those who frequent budget hotels can be roughly divided into four categories, he told me.
Young unmarried couples unable to afford their own apartments, as housing prices have soared in the past few years. They live mostly in shared apartments or with their parents. High end hotels are too pricy, so they consummate their love in low-cost surroundings.
Budget hotels also accommodate extramarital affairs where meeting at home is not an option. Budget hotels don’t pry into the clients’ privacy and the anonymous setting may also offer an extra thrill and spice up the encounters.
One night stands often take place in budget hotels as well. People hook up on dating-sites for sex but are unwilling to bring strangers back home. There have been plenty of reports of online dating scammers, and ironically, budget hotels have become a safer place to date strangers.
The last category is sex workers for whom a budget hotel is a convenient place of business.
Condoms on tap
Despite the ongoing economic downturn, the budget hotel sector is booming. New hotels spring up like mushrooms. They give the Chinese space to express their sexual desires and budget hotels are working hard to cater to their needs. In addition to the usual facilities, they also offer condoms and sometimes lubricants. Offering condoms in hotel rooms used to be controversial – outraging conservatives who claimed this would promote prostitution, which remains illegal in China.
But condoms effectively curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, and the authorities seem to approved of this measure. HIV/AIDS prevention is a more pressing issue than the moral debate on prostitution.
Official tolerance
The Chinese sexual revolution cannot take place without the tolerance of the authorities, which are beginning to give more respect to basic human rights and individual privacy. When a couple checks in at a hotel, they are no longer required to give proof of their marriage as they once were. Nowadays, the regime is giving its people more space to express their sexual desires and acknowledges that sexual rights are a part of basic human rights.
CC
I doubt this is unique to China.
No tell motel.
Hobbits?
Well that’s how they got 1.3 billion of them. Go figure.
“The pinkish wall, dim light, and green carpet “
I don’t know but that sounds soooo hmmm what is that word? All I can say sounds like Elton John may be have been the decorator.
Reminds me of a story.
I was traveling with my wife and small kids and we were staying in a “rustic” B&B.
The walls were paper thin and the people (the only other people in the inn) in the next room to us were starting to have some fun.
Loud moaning could be easily heard. They must have heard us laughing. My kids asked what was the matter with the woman.
I said in a very load voice that the woman must have a very bad breathing problem.
It soon stopped shortly after that.
The next day at breakfast my kids went up to the woman and asked if she was OK.
I still laugh about that.
Thanks for a much needed belly laugh!
In Japan, you can rent a motel room by the hour.
Been there, done that.
That’s a funny story. Thanks for sharing.
It’s propaganda. The author was in a house of prostitution, if he didn’t make the whole thing up. Don’t make the mistake of getting fresh with a proper woman in China or very recently from China.
Each room was equipped with the cassette sized video tapes and his job was to make sure the equipment was in working order and the tapes were replaced so that each couple had a fresh tape to record their amorous encounter. Occasionally, he would pick up recorded video tape cassettes which hadn't been picked up.
The Japanese are a very visual people with how they prepare food; it must look as attractive as it tastes. I suppose the same rule applies to sexual intercouse.
I lived in Japan for more than 15 years. Their sexual appetites are, .... different.
It was a unique and unusual experience.
I’ll NEVER tell
LOL,
You have it right.
Every food vendor in town has a plastic menu in the doorway.
And Just Damn, doesn’t what you order look just like the plastic food in the window>
This is JAPAN, doncha know?
Having fun at their expense. Sorry, they owe me.
This business model has been around for a while.....
“and acknowledges that sexual rights are a part of basic human rights.”
In the context of the article, it would appear the author is trying to make the case the the “right” to randomly copulate with non-spousal partners is a basic human right.
What, sushi?
FWIW, I loved my years in Japan, including the quirks. I wish I had brought home some of that plastic food with me just for giggles.
Prior to China's economic liberalization, which started in 1979, all of China's hotels used to be government-owned and -run. The private sector owners of the new hotels that have sprung up since couldn't care less who books rooms at their hotels. If there have been any ID requirements, the odds are that hotel proprietors have bought off the officials responsible for making surprise inspections.
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