🚀 go-pugleaf

no indecent shows in their theatres, no orgies in their
    houses of public entertainment, no parading of lewd women in their
    streets.... In short, as far as outward and public observation
    goes, China presents a more virtuous appearance than most European
    countries."

The report goes on to show that nevertheless the practice of polygamy,

    "leaving the childless concubines liable to be sold or sent adrift
    at any moment, the law of inheritance neglecting daughters in
    favour of sons," and "the universal practice of buying and selling
    females combined with the system of domestic servitude," makes
    the suppression of prostitution difficult. "This intermixture of
    female slavery with prostitution has been noticed in Hong Kong at
    the very time when the Legislature first attempted to deal with
    Chinese prostitution."

We now understand the nature of this wretched form of slavery as
carried on at Hong Kong. There did not exist a class of women brought
to the pitiable plight of prostitution by the wiles of the seducer, or
through the mishap of a lapse from virtue, after which all doors
to reform are practically closed against such, as in Western
civilization, nor were there those known to have fallen through innate
perversity; but such as existed among the Chinese were literal
slaves, in the full sense of that word. From the standpoint of these
officials, for the most part, prostitution was necessary. This was
plainly declared in many off