Both my husband and I were completely unprepared for the level of prostitution in Shanghai around Peoples Square and Nanjing Road East. We had read about Shanghai, looked on tripadvisor etc. and there was very little about it besides men alone might be approached. Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw.
It wasn't just direct approaches from pimps/prostitutes but also the sight of seeing sex tourism operating. My husband was asked for sex constantly and this began as early as 6 p.m. (admittedly this mostly happened when I wasn't with him - but not every single guy is going to be happy being approached for sex when he's wandering about looking for a place to eat dinner). Frankly (and living in a city myself and being aware of what goes on in parts of cities) I might have expected this kind of acvtivity from 11 p.m. onwards not from 6 p.m. The 'approaches' also ranged from lacklustre calling out to direct hassling and being followed to being physically grabbed by a pimp. The physical nature of some of the approaches was threatening and disturbing. My husband is only 28 and we have travelled a lot but we have never encountered this before unless we (1) knew we were entering a red light district e.g. Amsterdam or (2) wandered around central areas late at night - after midnight e.g. New York. We have never expereinced being physically grabbed before either. We appreciate that Peoples Square and environs are central and there are malls, transport hubs, restaurants etc. there but we will never go back as the sex scene is far too blatant and aggressive. We moved on to a hotel in the French Concession and my husband was not hassled for sex again and we had a far more pleasant time. Of course, I am sure there is prostitution in the French Concession as well but it was more discrete and less 'in your face'. Possibly the worst sights though were seeing the 60+ year old Western men with much much younger non-Western women (very clearly not wives or daughters) entering our first hotel prior to our move to the French Concession. One guy with his 2 girls in the lift really made me feel ill. This was a 5 star luxury hotel in the centre of town - not some seedy flea pit of motel in the red light district of Amsterdam. With Shanghai I think the whole of the area around Peoples Square/Nanjing Road East is a red light district and I would exercise extreme caution over where you stay and what you do in Shanghai if you want to avoid being approached or witness sex tourism operating. Consider other central areas e.g. French Concession for a trip with less sex for sale.
