When I first met V in the Temple house estate, she just turned sixteen. V was from a Southwestern city in China. Her parents were divorced and she lived with her mother. V's mother worked in a bathhouse, and 300 RMB ($40) a month was the only income they had. V met her boyfriend Little Wu in a roller-skating park, who talked V into running away from home with him. V was a high school junior at...
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When I first met V in the Temple house estate, she just turned sixteen. V was from a Southwestern city in China. Her parents were divorced and she lived with her mother. V's mother worked in a bathhouse, and 300 RMB ($40) a month was the only income they had. V met her boyfriend Little Wu in a roller-skating park, who talked V into running away from home with him. V was a high school junior at the time, while Little Wu was 28 years old, unemployed and imprisoned twice already. Upon arriving in K city, Little Wu forced V into prostitution in order to support him and three of his other townsmen.

V's story is unique but also commonplace. Today in China, prostitution has become a serious yet unspeakable social
problem. No one knows the exact total number of prostitutes, because there is no social census for these illegal workers, but experts estimate it is between 1 to 10 million.

Because prostitution is illegal in China, prostitutes have virtually no legal protection. The popular derogative name for them in Chinese is chicken, and a more literal name is miss. They are often victims of harassment, robbery, blackmail, sexual and physical abuse and murder. Yet most of them do not report these crimes due to the fear of legal actions against them.

I took photos,interviewed, and followed up with dozens of these young women for seven years. V was one of them
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