Prostitution in Singapore is legal, but various prostitution-related activities are not. This includes public solicitation, living on the earnings of a prostitute and maintaining a brothel. In practice, police unofficially tolerate and monitor a limited number of brothels. Prostitutes in such establishments are required to undergo periodic health checks and must carry a health card. Apart from these regulated brothels, commercial sex workers can be found in many "massage" or "spa" establishments.
Some massage parlours, including Tui na outlets, employ scantily clad women from mainland China and offer massages as a pretext for sexual services. These activities are illegal, and the operators of such massage establishments risk jail if exposed by anti-vice police raids.
The main red-light district in Singapore used to be in Geylang, Orchard Towers, nicknamed the "Four Floors Of Whores", is a shopping centre frequented by prostitutes. Some bars in Duxton Hill also offer sexual services. It is estimated that there are 20 million sex workers in China.
Two anti vice campaigns conducted in Beijing suggested that Beijing alone has between , and , sex workers. Earnings from providing sexual services are considerable.
Where the state does gain is through personal consumption. Prostitutes need to buy quite a lot of equipment. Condoms and other sexual aids. But also more expensive items like cell phones, apartments, rooms, nice clothes, cosmetics, cars and even bodyguards.
