Beijing police make first raid on male escort nightclub

BEIJING - Beijing police have made their first ever raid on a male escort nightclub, the China Daily said on Wednesday, part of a crack down on 46 bars and other places suspected of various vices.

"Police officers found 98 male escorts and dozens of women customers when they raided the nightclub in April," the newspaper said in its online edition, quoting the Beijing Morning Post.

"To the astonishment of police officers, a man was performing a striptease on top of a table in front of some female audience." Most of the male escorts come from northeastern China and were in their early 20s, the newspaper said.

"Many of the female customers were off-duty escorts, some of the male escorts said. Businesswomen were also found mingling in the crowd, who, police believe, patronise the club quite frequently."

Prostitution was virtually wiped out in the years after the Communist Party swept into power in 1949, but along with pornography and other perceived western vices has staged a comeback in the wake of reforms over the last three decades.

- REUTERS