This dissertation takes the prostitution industry as its object of study and examines the forms of existence of prostitutes in Qingdao between 1897 and 1928, the mechanisms through which they were managed, and the changes in governing policies adopted by ruling authorities in relation to this industry. As an important treaty port in modern China, Qingdao exhibited pronounced colonial and international characteristics in the course of its urban development and population mobility, and the prostitution industry likewise gradually developed a pluralistic and complex structure within this process. With the growth of the urban economy and the large-scale influx of population, the composition of prostitutes’ origins became increasingly diversified: in addition to local Chinese prostitutes (Huaji), Japanese and Russian prostitutes also emerged as groups that could not be overlooked within Qingdao’s prostitution industry. Among them, Russian prostitutes predominantly adopted a seasonal mode of operation, engaging actively in business along coastal streets during the summer months. This pattern of operation vividly highlights Qingdao’s characteristics as a gateway port city.
From the perspective of governance, this dissertation seeks to elucidate the subjective agency and social significance of prostitutes as a subaltern group by analyzing the survival strategies they adopted within the process of urban modernization. During the period of German leasehold rule, the colonial authorities incorporated prostitutes into a hygienically oriented and scientized management system—measures that, in practice, constituted infringements upon women’s rights. Following Japan’s occupation of Qingdao, the existing licensed prostitution system was inherited and further strengthened, with the aim of fully incorporating prostitution into the scope of official control and regulation. After the Beiyang government assumed control of Qingdao, the licensed prostitution system was largely maintained; however, under the influence of nationalist discourse and currents of social reform, public opinion calling for the abolition of prostitution (feichang) began to emerge, accompanied by preliminary measures of institutional adjustment.
As this analysis demonstrates, the rise and decline of the prostitution industry and the transformations in policies governing it not only reflect shifts in political power and changes in social structure during Qingdao’s transition from a colonial port to a national city, but also reveal the complex and intertwined operation of colonial modernity, nationalism, and social control within the framework of urban governance in modern China.