Most people grow up wanting to be the good guy in the films. The cops, not the robbers- the guy in the bowtie with the laser watch, not the one with the bald head stroking the cat.

Somewhere along the line though, the line between right and wrong becomes blurred; is lying OK if you’re doing it to prevent hurting someone’s feelings? Is it stealing if you don’t tell the waitress she’s given you too much change? Is it really an ‘unprovoked’ physical assault if you bash someone’s head in with a desktop printer because their ringtone is “The Shoop Shoop Song”?*

Similarly in the sometimes seedy nightlife of Shanghai there are many subtle shades of what the uneducated would call ‘prostitution’ . There are entertainers, Tiger girls, bar girls, ‘butterflies’, hostesses, ‘chickens’, and those girls on Tongren Lu who will literally jump into the taxi with you if you don’t shut the door quickly enough.

But if you yourself are starting to worry that you are a prostitute , help is at hand from the kindly bouncers at Zapatas- Shanghai’s premier place to hear the Grease mega-mix 6 times a week.

Zapatas know their prostitutes
Thanks to Peter for taking the photo, and (surprise, surprise) Wiggy for passing it along.

*Unfortunately the Wolverhampton Magistrates court ruled that, yes. Yes it was.

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