Little Dragon Girls

Little dragon girls



I'm always amazed. And often, empathetic. Amazed with the fearlessness, the Mammoth courage, determinations, stoic standing and diligence of the Chinese women from Mainland China who work illegally in various countries they thought they could ‘find gold’. They have been to Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Macau (as I was informed) in nightclubs, massage parlors, karaoke lounges, etc. Their hardships and difficulties to earn money in a foreign land, only to improve their families’ financial situations back in their motherland China, never once leaves me without feeling disturbed. They encounter many folds of difficulties, compare to us, the local girls who live easier being local earthworms.

Most of them come to Malaysia via student visas. Using these visas (a violation), they work illegally in the nightclubs and other places where they could sell themselves. The valid period of their visas isn't long, usually 3 months, as most only applied to study the English language here, and not for Degrees or Masters. The locals call them ‘xiao lung nu’ or ‘little dragon girls’.

Some were willing to share with me their enormous difficulties, here and back in their homeland. They didn’t have ample time, but urgently needed to earn as much as possible before their visas expired. First of all, they had to earn enough money to pay off the amount they owe to their agents and the flight tickets, within the valid period of their visas. These girls could only pocket the money they earned AFTER earning enough to pay off their debts to their agents and the flight tickets. Those amounts were not small.

In certain nightclubs or massage parlors, prices for these Chinese girls were lower than ours, the local girls’. There were reasons for that. The Chinese girls AGREED to receive the lower pays. It also meant they were willing to work HARDER, for LESS money. Sometimes the pays were so small, to the point of exploitation, but they STILL allowed themselves to be exploited, so that they’d earned something, rather than nothing. Choosing exploitation over poverty is a real poignant decision.

And the condom issue. We local girls never asked, the Chinese girls never told. We only heard the revelations from the clients. They told us the Chinese girls would agree to offer s*x services with OR without using condoms. Not one, not two clients told us that, but many more. Now, choosing the risk of AIDS over poverty is an even more terrifying, scary decision!

To them, taking such deals was akin to gamble with card games. (To us, it’s a Russian roulette, a bet of life or death). If they win, they’d collect their pays with clean bills of health. If not, then it would be an unimaginable horrifying tragic. And to keep on living and working within the short period of time, they’d occupy their heads with the rewards or their earnings of the day. AIDS or Herpes, should never occur in their minds, AND should be overlooked entirely. Or anything negative like that would affect their thoughts, and consequently turned down the chances to earn more, which were already difficult to get by.

To them, both easy and Herculean jobs seemed to be Mission Possible. They’d attempt the grim, difficult, painful, and even dangerous tasks, only to earn the rewards, considerable or less. Once, I witnessed a Chinese girl who willing to gulp down the entire remainder, almost ¾ of the bottle of Hennessy VSOP, neat, in front of the clients and us, the rest of the hostesses, for only RM300 (U$ 78.94). After finish gulping all down, the hapless girl collapsed and had to be carried out of the karaoke room.

Their great agony of destitution back home, which lead them to brave themselves to go through the risky and life-threatening paths, is unknown to most Malaysians of all societal classes. And the worst, most arrogant and least considerate among all are the trendy YUPPIES, who are very quick to condemn, criticize, hurling offensive name-callings and despise these Chinese girls to no end. (They were born with silver spoon in their mouth, of which they did nothing to earn).

These girls’ situations of deficiency and deprivation of even basic necessities back home never spring to mind, and enjoying life is only these Yuppies’ concerns. Hedonistic as it sounds, these privileged people would never learn. They watch TV with great interests whenever there are news with scenes of scantily clad foreign girls being hauled into the police trucks. Later, a ‘serve them right’

Well, one’s wealth level, like the rising of a Hollywood starlet, would soar, but later might fall into the lowest pit, like the unexpected declining of fame of the starlet. Now, ‘serves them right’, if that happens to the Yuppies. With popcorns and Coke, I’ll watch these fallen kiasus, who once enjoyed each moment of showing off their Jimmy Choos, Christian Diors, Pradas and Jaguars, now must struggle to adapt to their newly unfamiliar, bitter and agonizing, miserable austere lives.

The privileged ones. The well-educated ones. The rich. The arrogant ones. The discriminating ones. The biased. The Holier-than-thous. The ones born with silver spoon in their mouths. You should know what’s tailor-made for you.


Picture: Sichuan girls in Jim Dong, Hong Kong, trying to get the possible clients.

GRACE CHAN