I am doing a series of interviews with migrant workers and after much searching found (courtesy of Kiki in the office), a prostitute willing to speak to me. Ellen, also from the office agreed to come and translate and although initially a little hesitant warmed to the idea.
I decided to meet her at Sculpting in Time near the Confucius Temple because it has great outside space on the canal, there’s never anyone there and nobody bothers to come and take your order – ideal location.
The first thing which struck me was that she was just a regular looking nice girl who you would never think in a million years was a prostitute. I thought she might be in a mini skirt with fishnet tights and thigh length boots.
I had organised plenty of questions and a sort of progression through her life until this point and beyond. I had bought a voice recorder from Taobao (eBay equivalent) and I was set.
Ellen was briefed to translate everything I said and no more, not to have any private conversations with her but only to translate what I said and what she said. However, as anyone who has used a translator who is not professionally trained knows, what happens is that you ask a simple question like “What sort of life do people have in your home village” and the interviewee spends several minutes answering it and Ellen translates it as “They mostly farm”. It’s frustrating because you know there’s more but Ellen has decided the other stuff the girl said was not important.
Anyway we managed 45 minutes and I got the answer to most of my questions. When I asked Ellen to translate “Do you like being a prostitute?” she looked at me a bit funny and then I changed my mind and told her not to bother asking because it was a bit of an embarrassing question. We both laughed and the girl looked perplexed. I quickly thought of a more innocuous one instead.
So now when I think of a prostitute I will think of this sweet girl who moved from the countryside to work in a factory in Changzhou, got lured to Nanjing by a promise of work in a KTV (Karaoke Bar) as a waitress and then was persauded that there was money to be made by sleeping with the customers, most of whom work for the government.
She refused a photograph even when I said I would take it from behind (Oooh aahh matron) and not publish it anywhere in China. She said I might publish it but would have to ask her first.