After CCTV’s recent exposé on prostitution in Dongguan, a city long notorious for its thriving sex trade, 67 (of the city’s estimated 300,000) prostitutes were arrested, and 12 entertainment venues shut down. Just as many netizen’s saw their weibo criticism of CCTV and whoremongering officials disappear from Sina Weibo in the aftermath of the crackdown, a post from @阅读报 lamenting the lost desire to visit China’s “Sin City” was likewise censored, as was a parable posted by @司令本:
@阅读报: [A Few Dissatisfactions with the Dongguan Anti-Prostitution Campaign] 1. Local leaders are dissatisfied, as you’ve made them lose face; 2. The government is dissatisfied, as you’ve diluted their tax base; 3. The police are dissatisfied, as you’ve lessened their protection fees; 4. Prostitutes are dissatisfied, as you’ve taken their income; 5. Johns are dissatisfied, they now have no place to enjoy themselves; 6. The locals are dissatisfied, as you’ve stifled their development; 7. I’m dissatisfied, as you’ve taken away my desire to visit Dongguan.
【东莞扫黄几个不满意】一是当地领导不满，你让人家丢了面子；二是政府不满，你让人家减少了税收；三是警察不满，你让人家减少了保护费；四是小姐不满，你让人家没有了收入；五是嫖客不满，你让人家没地方休闲；六是当地群众不满，你影响了人家的发展；七是我也不满，你让我打消了去东莞的念头． [哼]
@司令本：CCTV interviewed an off-duty migrant worker on his thoughts about the station’s anti-prostitution campaign in Dongguan. The migrant took a drag off his cigarette and tearfully replied: “I’ve never been to the Three Gorges and they’re already flooded, all my life I’ll regret it! I’ve never been to Shangri-la, and now the place has burned down, it’s too late for regrets! And, just as I was preparing to go to Dongguan, who knew? The moral is, there are times in life when speaking of a journey just isn’t enough.”
央视采访一下岗农民工，问你对这次央视扫黄东莞怎么看，农民工吸了一口烟，含泪答道：“俺还没去过三峡，三峡就给淹了，终身遗憾啊！俺还没去过香格里拉，香格里拉就给烧了，后悔莫及啊！俺正准备去东莞，谁知? 唉！……所以，人生必须有几次说走就走的旅行。”
Following is more netizen commentary on the Dongguan investigation and subsequent crackdown, collected by CDT Chinese editors:
@avb001: As Dongguan police launched their assault on the johns yesterday, one man suddenly roared, Ma Jingtao-style, into the lens of the CCTV camera, “Fuck! At the World Cup, it was all you! At the Summer and Winter Olympics, you! The undercover Dongguan investigation, you again! I’m ____ journalist here to investigate! Won’t you just let local TV have enough to survive?!” “Yeah, we’re not finished with you yet!” a group of johns stood up and said, “we’re all here from the local TV station.”
昨晚东莞警方突击行动抓获嫖客中，一位突然对CCTV镜头马景涛式咆哮：“妈的，世界杯你们独家！奥运会独家！冬奥会独家！这尼玛东莞暗访你们也要独家！我是xxxx记者来暗访的！你们还让不让地方电视台活命啊？！”＂是呀，没完了你们！＂一群嫖客站起来说，＂我们都是地方台暗访的。（转）
@tatamama: You can’t move a tiger, and you can’t catch a fly. Finally though, it looks like you can stir up a henhouse.
老虎打不动，苍蝇抓不完，最后想想还是抄鸡窝吧。
Henhouse is a play on the use of the word “chicken” (鸡) as slang for “prostitute” in Chinese.
@赵晓: Virtue lies not only below the belt, but also above; not simply in the ethics of the individual, but more so in those of the public; not only in tangible behavior, but also in the formless spirit. China’s most immoral aren’t the prostitutes, but rather the officials; it’s not the personal ethics that are foul, but the public ethics; the problem isn’t that bath houses are everywhere, but that righteousness is nowhere; it’s not that there are too many prostitutes, but that there is no rule of law; it’s not that behavior is repulsive, but that spirit is lost. Only when we rescue and redeem our spirit and establish a firm rule of law will we have great virtue!
道德不仅在于裤腰带以下，也在裤腰带以上；不仅在于私德，更在于公德；不仅在于有形的行为，更在于无形的灵魂。中国最不道德的，不是小姐，而是官员；不是私德，而是公德；不是澡堂遍地，而是公义难寻；不是嫖客多，而是法治无；不是行为丑恶，而是灵魂失丧。让灵魂得救赎、让法治得确立才是最大道德！
@Vihike：【新技能get√】Famous friend of women @陆琪 [Lu Qi] says that only those who haven’t been to Dongguan are good men. But @流行东莞 [Popular Dongguan] says the best way to check a woman’s IQ is is to see if she’s following Lu Qi.
【新技能get√】著名的妇女之友@陆琪说没有去过东莞的，才是好男人。而@流行东莞说，检验一个女人智商的最佳办法，就是看他有没有关注陆琪。
Lu Qi is the author of 婚姻是女人一辈子的事 (“The Life of Women is All About Marriage”) [zh], a self-help book on marriage aimed at China’s female population.
