Asian Uncle
Welcome to Asian Uncle, the unfiltered dive into Asia - from the back-alley brothels to the shadowy underworld gang, from hardcore military life to the spiritual mystique of Tibet. This isn't your grandma's history lesson on sanitized travel guide. Asian Uncle pulls back the curtain on the continent's most controversial, misunderstood and surreal corners.
Each episode, we explore the raw, untold stories - whether it's the truth behind Thailand's nightlife, untold life of pimping in China or Yakuza's business empire. Come with me on my journey that explored the hidden and dark world of Asia that you never learned about in school.
Asian Uncle
S1E3 - China's Heaven & Hell: Working as a pimp - Part 3
The shadowy economics of high-end Chinese nightclubs comes into sharp focus through this unflinching firsthand account. Taking us behind the velvet curtains of KTV establishments in early 2000s China, our host reveals the carefully orchestrated hierarchy that kept these businesses profitable and protected.
We journey through the nightly routines of an assistant manager, from prioritizing rooms based on liquor expenditure to the clever tricks staff employed to avoid intoxication while maintaining appearances. The podcast exposes how 25% alcohol cuts, strategic room assignments, and relationships with security personnel (who handled police connections) created a complex web of financial incentives for everyone involved.
The most revealing segments explore the after-hours economy that emerged once the drinking concluded. With unflinching honesty, our host details the negotiation process for "taking girls out" - explaining how willing participants could earn $200-300 per night while reluctant ones faced increasing pressure from management. Through terms like "steel asses" (late-staying, non-spending customers) and detailed descriptions of psychological manipulation tactics, we witness how economic pressures shaped behavior throughout the ecosystem.
What makes this episode particularly valuable is its lack of sensationalism despite the provocative subject matter. The host simply presents the reality as it existed: a business model built on maximizing profit margins through alcohol sales and additional services, with unwritten rules governing every interaction. Whether you're interested in shadow economies, cultural insights, or understanding power dynamics in unregulated industries, this episode offers rare insights into a world few outsiders ever truly comprehend.
Ready to explore more hidden aspects of Asian culture and business practices? Subscribe now and join our growing community of listeners seeking unfiltered perspectives on topics rarely discussed in mainstream media.
Yo, what's up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Asian Uncle. Let's start where we left off last time. The general rule is that we would start from the rooms that ordered the most expensive liquor, obviously, and make sure we took care of them more, spent more sober hours there. The cheap ones that ordered beer, we'd make a stop, maybe, chug a little bit and then leave and, mind you again, we took 25% of the cut. So obviously we'd rather chug whiskey and Remy more than beer, and that would not be our only way to make money.
Speaker 1:Some mommies took cuts off tip. Some girls were not that good looking or subpar, but they would give the mama-san part of their tip, the mommy part of their tip, to be able to try out. So it was a dark side to it too, and some clients even liked the mommy and tipped her more than they would tip the girls, and so the mommy would kind of hustle them at times. They would arrange some of their trips, they could send girls. If they were traveling, let's say on a business trip, she would be able to arrange girls to fly in and she would also be able to help you gamble. And they would set up during, like World Cup or during soccer games. That's what the Chinese people love gambling World Cup or during soccer games, that's what the Chinese people love gambling. So there are hustles of all types.
Speaker 1:And, last but not least, there was also the security guards, and they were in charge of not only the security but they were also in charge of making the connections with the cops, and these would be the people that are normally triad or mafia related, and we subleased that protection to them. So they're in charge of making sure people don't fuck around at our facility and also making sure the cops don't raid our shit. So there was a mutual understanding and we paid them pretty well, I would say, as a result. They're also in charge of bringing in some drugs too, if the customer wanted. But at that time, to be honest, drugs were not a big thing in China, yet it was very illegal, meaning if you got caught dealing you would probably serve a death sentence. So because of that, because of the capital punishment, a lot of people just preferred alcohol instead. So it was rare instances that maybe some young kids wanted to come and do some molly. We had maybe one or two of them even do ketamine, but from my recollection that was about it, probably not even 1% of the clients that I came across.
Speaker 1:And it's funny to mention too, especially when you went to the pool room, right, the beer chuggers, the girls. They were never happy, from tryout all the way to when they sat down. You can see them rolling their eyes like fuck, beer is just filling, you can't drink a lot, and they never tip extra. So the girls hated it and so did we. During these patrols, we roll up to the room, we cheer everyone, one by one. If the situation was accounted for right, if they were talking about business, we wouldn't interrupt. Then we find somebody who's bored typically the boss or the person next to him and start playing drinking games. I knew all sorts of weird games, from dice, from you know. Just, I can't even explain with cards, with even fucking pencils. I knew it all, and we were taught that by the head manager and all the other mama sons, because they knew it all too, and for you not to know, it didn't like it. So besides cursing, that was probably the first thing I learned when we did these patrols. The or the young masters, the waiters and the princesses would know to take care of us. So we had a trick. They bring us some tea in a tea glass that was not transparent. Obviously there would be tea inside, but only maybe a quarter full. We would drink and then spit the alcohol back into the tea so we wouldn't get drunk as quick. And of course that did not work with beer. Another reason why we hated going to those rooms and we saved those for last. That was how we cheated.
Speaker 1:Weekdays often end early, maybe around 1 or 2 am. People will start making their ways either back home or for late night snack. Weekends would be shaky. Some would be all-nighters 4 or 5 in the morning, we never know because we couldn't leave until all our rooms have left. We all fucking hated the people who didn't leave, rich or not. We called them steel asses, tiepi, gu, because they would sit and not get up. They would just talk about themselves or sing and not order any alcohol later into the night. If they were ordering alcohol we would understand, but they just keep talking. Wouldn't shut the fuck up.
Speaker 1:The girls hated them too, obviously because they don't get tipped for overtime. So if you were there from eight o'clock till five in the morning, they just sat with your ass for nine hours and still get tipped 70 bucks. They would get pissed because if you left, for instance, instance, at 11, they might have the chance to. We call it Fentype, meaning they would flip to another room and make double the tip in one night. But there are other ways to make extra money for girls, obviously, and we'll get into that.
Speaker 1:By the end of the night everyone's drunk and ready to leave. That's when they get the check and the pimping actually starts from there. So before the check actually comes, they would signal to their mommy or to me that they're ready to pay. Obviously we knew what they wanted next. Sometimes they would pat the sofa next to them, signaling for us to sit down. They would whisper in my ear hey bro, how much for her tonight. So they wanted to bring the girls out for whatever reason, and these reasons could be plentiful. It might not just be taking them out to have sex prostitution, it could be taking them out to eat for a couple hours, but normally it would be for that reason. There was even a time I recall the 20-something-year-old white collar just came to Shenzhen, came to our club, fell madly in love with this girl and paid her for three days to take her home to her parents, just so her parents would stop bickering about him not getting married. That's crazy, but these things do happen. That's crazy, but these things do happen.
Speaker 1:From my experience, especially personal feeling, this is perhaps the most difficult to deal with in terms of the part of the night, because back then the demographics were split. What I mean by demographics is the willingness for a girl to sell themselves. Back then it was 50-50. Some girls didn't care, wanted to make the extra money. Some of them even had kids to feed, but some did. They had boyfriends at home. Maybe they were a little young and they were new to this industry.
Speaker 1:So the bargaining for those that wanted to sell was very easy. Two options quickie or overnight was very easy. Two options quickie or overnight. And there was an unspoken base price. But they'll tip if you're special or if they like you. And they made around $200-$300 at a high-end club in the early 2000s for a night of company. At present day, to be honest, that's not enough to pay for a girl to sit next to you to drink. The money doesn't go through the company either.
Speaker 1:We as managers, assistant general managers, mommies, we help negotiate, but whatever happens after they leave, it's pretty much none of our business, unless they hit a girl or beat them or cause unnecessary trouble. Has it happened yet? Yes, okay, has it happened yet? Yes, but we'll get into that. The second thing is do we get a cut? Of course pimps should get a cut and if you wanted to, you could.
Speaker 1:Back then it would be around 20 to 30 percent 20 for quickie and 30 for overnight and given that they make 200 to 300 bucks average, you can kind of calculate how much cut you would get, maybe like $150 to $100 per girl. However, it was an unspoken rule that the guys the general managers, assistant general managers if you were a guy, you wouldn't take a cut. My manager told me that in Chinese it's in China, especially for the Chinese it's bad luck to make money off prostitution for a guy. But the mommies, the mama sons, were different. They took the cuts. So they were very happy and on some good nights, if they had 20 girls go out under their name, they could easily make a couple of thousand dollars US dollars a night. Back then it was very high income a night. Back then. It was very high income. That's what people made a living off of back then. If you chose this type of or you chose this line of work.
Speaker 1:The negotiation for going out also had a certain procedure to it. We would of course sit down awkwardly between the girl and the guy and after the guy whispers how much she is, we already know. We will look over to the girl and we whisper into her ear are you convenient tonight? So that's our cue, that if you're on your menstrual cycle or if you didn't want to go, you better speak now. For the most part customers are understanding. If the girl doesn't want to go, they would normally not force them.
Speaker 1:The trouble came with the girls that didn't want to sell and customers that wouldn't cave in whom had money. The sad truth is most of these girls would eventually cave in for whatever reason. My manager man, he would get pissed when these conversations would go on and because it would drag out time. So, for instance, if the girl wouldn't go but the customer insisted, we would have to take the girl to the next room and then talk to her, and if she still didn't want to go, then we would have to tell the guy, tell the customer like look, she doesn't want to go. May I find you another one? For the most part they would be like fine, these horny bastards just want to get laid. So we would go down to the ladies room again in that big room and then find whoever's left in there that needed to make quick cash Sometimes girls. When they flip tables, the customers leave early and they want to go out and these girls will stay left behind at the room and we will pick them out to do another round of tryout, just to go out. And when the customers find it satisfied, they leave. And this process could take a long time and there's even instances where the customer just wants that girl, no matter what we say, he's just sitting there, not leaving, and that would really piss us off.
Speaker 1:Like I said before, girls would eventually cave in and my manager, he didn't like to do it. He also told me that's the worst part of his job. So he leaves it to the mommy son to normally convince them. But I did hear him a couple of times talk to girls. He'd take them to another room and start the craziest verses I've ever seen, like jaw-dropping shit, and of course, eventually I found myself doing the same.
Speaker 1:It kind of goes like Yo, it's not your first time, don't you want to make some extra money. Mr Lee really likes you. If money's the issue, I'll talk to him. I'll raise the price for you. Or, oh shit, you have a boyfriend at home. Well, he's not a real man if he lets this girl come out and drink with strangers. Now is he we would give guilt trips. We could go back and renegotiate the pricing. There'll be all sorts of tricks and tactics that you can use, depending on how the girl responds.
Speaker 1:At first it was very intriguing to me, but in the end all their problems kind of just accumulate into a pool and there was a way to deal with all sorts of reasons whether you're on your period, whether whether your mom was home, whether you were a student, and sometimes there would even be underage girls, and that was where my manager would draw the line and find somebody else for them. And it's hard to tell sometimes too, because the girls will not show you their IDs and it's not up to us to check. If the talk didn't work the first time, there would be a second time, a third time, and it doesn't pass for a girl to not ever go out without pissing people off. And the way the system, the way the management works, there is pissing off the managers or the mommies didn't do them any good, because next time we just won't bring you to try out, right? If you're going to just be a glass vase sitting there and not work, then we don't want you there.
Speaker 1:My client, my rules. No one dared to cause trouble at the club not talking about the girls, but the customers as well. That's all the time we have for today. Thanks for tuning in and remember to follow. Have a great rest of your day.
