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
S1E5 - China's Heaven & Hell: Working as a pimp - Part 5
Stepping back into the shadowy world of Shanghai's KTV clubs, we pick up where we left off in the previous episode - exploring life as a "duck" or paid male companion in China's evolving nightlife scene.
The unexpected relationships formed with wealthy female clients reveal complex human stories beneath the surface of simple transactions. My first regular, a divorced businesswoman seeking some form of revenge after her husband left her for a KTV hostess, challenges my expectations with her gentle manner and genuine conversation. Rather than the predatory encounter my manager warned about, we develop a respectful dynamic where I eventually feel uncomfortable accepting her generous tips.
My second regular client presents a more troubled soul - a Beijing-born heiress with British education and a horrifying self-inflicted wrist wound. Her heartbreaking story of betrayal during pregnancy, subsequent abortion, and suicide attempt emerges during emotional breakdowns between clubbing and drinking. Our relationship evolves into something resembling siblings rather than a client-companion dynamic, forcing me to confront the inadequacy of my life experience when faced with such profound pain.
The cultural context adds fascinating layers to these interactions. In China at that time, women were expected to remain conservative before marriage while potentially becoming more open afterward - the inverse of typical Western patterns. The entire industry operated with strict unwritten rules about discretion, especially for married clients. Fast forward years later, and my disturbing visit to the exclusive "White Horse Club" reveals how dramatically the landscape had shifted, with venues now openly catering exclusively to women seeking male company.
These experiences offer rare insight into the evolution of gender dynamics in modern China and the universal human search for connection, even when packaged as a commercial transaction. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where societal expectations clashed with your personal values? Share your thoughts and follow for the next installment of this continuing story.
Yo, what's up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of Asian Uncle. Let's start where we left off last time. So that was the first time I really quote-unquote sold myself for money to be somebody's company. I had mixed feelings even now, but back then it was kind of exciting.
Speaker 1:And she didn't just come that once. She would come to see me once or twice a month at least, and most of the time she would come alone. That's what was surprising. She would sit, sing, dance, order a bottle of expensive wine, some Sprite, and all she wanted to do was just hear me sing and chat. And during our conversation she would break a smile here and there. And I couldn't help but to be attracted to her by her matureness. I'd never been with a girl so much older than me, or at least 10 years older than me, but I still didn't know what her age was. It was just impolite to ask her. And we did go out for a midnight snack after the first encounter, but surprisingly she never asked me to go back to her place and she told me later that she recently divorced and was left with a kid and plenty of money. Her husband left her for a KTV girl Ironic, isn't it? So she said she wanted to come in and see what it was like. It was more like a revenge for her than really needing my company. And when she told me that I didn't know how to respond, except I just asked her to stop tipping me. It made me feel guilty and I just wanted to be friends. But she smiled and she tipped me anyways. I felt it wasn't that bad. It wasn't as scary as I imagined and it wasn't as scary as my manager said that she was going to eat me alive. Will they? Probably Some do, but I was lucky to have had such a nice customer that didn't want to push some agenda on me or slap me in the face to degrade me. Some women do that.
Speaker 1:Now my second regular. She was a bit different. She's from Beijing, again, around 30 years old, a little bit over. She came from a rich family and she can speak fluent English, the real English, and she went to school in UK. And this one she was more hyperactive than the first. She liked fast beat music, didn't like slow dance, and she often asked me instead of going to midnight snack, she asked me to go clubbing with her. I think I only went once or twice. I didn't like going clubbing, it just felt so the bass kind of hurts my, that kind of hurts my body. I just don't like that environment.
Speaker 1:And my manager would always say all these women who pay for company have a story to them and if I can make them spew out the story and feel for them, hit the sweet spot, then I would get better tip. And indeed this one did too. She had a very obvious story Because when I first met her I noticed a deep I mean like deep gash on her wrist, not like a slice deep, okay, it looked like she took a knife, stabbed it in and turned it. It was just so obvious so she would always wear like a Cartier bracelet to hide it. But still, you could, you could tell.
Speaker 1:She would tell me later on that she dated this guy for 5 years. He was also from a good family, her parents loved him, they were the perfect match made in heaven. And she caught him cheating when she was pregnant I don't know if it was a KTV girl, I don't even want to ask, I don't even want to know and they divorced because of it and she had an abortion. And sometimes when she would get drunk she would just grab me and just start crying and she would tell me how much she regretted it, regret, what Regret having the abortion, regret meeting the guy. And sometimes, when she spewed her heart out, she would even tell me she was too immature back then because she was raising a good family so she didn't learn the value of being a forgiving wife. What if she just looked the other way? You know what if she just had the baby, took care of him, looked the other way a couple years, for the guy to turn back. And she always tell me that and again, at the time I didn't understand. But looking back now I'm like, wow, there was something to learn from her words. Her experience should have been wisdom for me. Honestly, I should have taken a notepad and write it down. She also told me that indeed, she didn't just slit her wrist, she wanted to kill herself after the abortion. She was in depression and she did stab her knife into her wrist and turn it, and so she smiled right after she told me this horrific story and said I don't care anymore, I just want to have fun now. And she was really cool.
Speaker 1:She would always call me out to go clubbing, which I don't really go, but we would go to dinner instead, and she liked to buy me gifts, took care of me more like a little brother instead of a lover. I mostly refused. Unless it was small, like a wallet or a tie or a belt, I would take, but I would never take cash from her. It just felt so dirty. That was already like I need to set my bar low, but I can't not have one. So for me, not taking cash has been my trademark. Don't tip me in cash. Give me a gift, I don't know. Use a credit card at the club or something, just don't pay me in cash. It just made me feel so dirty and so we went out a lot.
Speaker 1:By the time she already felt like an older sister to me. I would drive her home and she would just get just shit-faced and again she would cry. The crying happens she just breaks down. It's like a trigger for her. She could cry anytime. We'd be clubbing in the middle, she'd be dancing, she'd just break down crying. She'd be in the car, just break down crying. And that was how she was. She just wanted this channel to let herself go, let herself loose and not think about what she had been through.
Speaker 1:And all my girlfriends before have been high school college. They were like blank pieces of paper from the US. Some of them even never left the state and seeing real women, mature women, kind of terrified me too, in a sense, and I wasn't used to these stories. And after they told me I had no way of comforting them. I felt like a ditz, like okay, after they'd run these stories to me I'm like all right, what you want to drink, you want to fuck? Like what do you want to do? Like what do you want me to do about? There's no advice that I can give you to even comfort you. So I'd rather stop asking questions at that point. And it felt weird. Not only because of that, because even she felt weird. Both of them felt kind of uneasy when they called me as company and then tipped me, even though they didn't show it in front of me, because China hadn't opened up back then.
Speaker 1:Yet. In that aspect, women were more conservative before marriage, yet they were more open after marriage. Same thing for men, and in the US it feels like the opposite, where women get it all out of their system and they become very conservative after they get married. And I think that ideal is. There's no good or bad. It's based on our religion, our culture, whatever it might be. But in China at the time this was not a thing. Women were expected to be home, take care of the family, and that's how our culture progressed. So for them to come out and pay men and for men to do this job was just degrading all around the board. There's nothing I could tell anybody, especially my parents, for instance, or elders, that could justify being a duck or selling my body for somebody's company. Yet there was a huge market and it wouldn't be long for Chinese women to turn that culture around.
Speaker 1:At the time, all the KTV nightclubs offered service to women. All the KTV nightclubs offered service to women, but it wasn't a mainstream. You wouldn't have men line up like the women. It would be more low key. You don't want people to find out. And they made sure these ducks people like me were well-groomed, well-educated and didn't talk shit or didn't cause any trouble for these girls, because some of them were still married. So yes, with us and with PR girls there were hidden rules. You couldn't disturb their family. But with young kids nowadays you never know what they're going to do, especially for money. But back then it was still conservative, but things changed and it was pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Years later, maybe like 10, 15 years later, the market opened up big enough for a dedicated KTV nightclub to show up in Shanghai. This nightclub was called the White Horse Club and it only served women. There was no PR girls in there, only guys. By guys I mean ducks, and normally people won't go there, especially if you're a guy. You're not going to go there for business, because they don't serve men. It's dedicated. But I did go there once to meet my older sister, like a close family friend, not a real sister, and she was rich as shit in her 40s and, mind you, I was at that time already in my early 30s, I was already successful, I already making money and that working in the KTV was long before me and she was throwing a party there and asked me to stop by. So this white horse club was located pretty city center and it was hidden.
Speaker 1:There was a little small elevator that took you up the stairs to where you wanted to go and once the elevator door opened, I swear to God, there was the most disturbing sight. In front of me there was this fat lady, probably in her 50s, wearing like a tight nightgown and her jelly rolls were just overflowing through her stomach, like her chest was down to her hips. And to make it worse, she was holding, like with her arms Grasping, two good looking dudes Right, clean, cut, good shape, tall, and these guys were just following her towards the elevator. She was walking down, she was a little bit tipsy and these dudes spoke like they were bitches. Right, they were like, giggly and acting like little silly bastards, right, walking towards me. That lady, that fat lady, was already disturbing enough and I had to see these two bitches next to her and the way they talked it was just and I walked past them, just clenching my teeth and my fist. It was. It kind of brought back memories of of, you know, like when I used to work, but not to that extent, you know, and I was happy that I didn't have any 50 year old ladies, you know, wearing nightgowns or jelly rolls.
Speaker 1:Nonetheless, when I went into the room, my sisters were already drinking and the room was like any other, except the server was a guy kneeling on the floor. And when I got there, because I was in a hurry, I didn't get to use the bathroom. I remember very clearly that I tried to use the bathroom and the server stopped me and told me it was women only. But I already got halfway in and I got heated. I was like then where's the men's bathroom? He's like, oh, there's only public men's bathroom. So I was like you mean to tell me, as a guest, I gotta go fucking use a public bathroom outside with the rest of the ducks? And he's like, yeah, but my sister came to greet me at the time. She heard it. She told me to shut the fuck up and I went in. And then when I went in I realized why.
Speaker 1:The place was nice, smelling with perfume. There were rose petals in the toilet bowl and I couldn't wait to pee on them. It was really cool. It was just like a. Very inside it was decorated very nice. It was still small but very cozy and they used great material great TV, great sound system. Everything was marble, glass. The place looked eloquent, high class, but from the outside you couldn't even tell. That's all the time we have. We'll pick up next episode. Thank you again for tuning in and follow for updates. Have a great rest of your week. That's all the time we have. We'll pick up next episode. Thank you again for tuning in and follow for updates. Have a great rest of your week.
