Prostitution in Tibet

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Prostitution in Tibet is thought to have existed for centuries. Testimonies of its existence were provided by outside visitors in the first half of the twentieth century. According to the British writer Christopher Hale, due to the practice of polyandry in Tibet, many women were unable to find a husband and moved to villages and towns, where they fell into prostitution. Their clients came from the caravans crossing the Tibetan plateau, and also from the monasteries.

However, according to the Tibetan government in exile, prostitution as an industry was virtually non-existent before the Chinese occupation of Tibet.^[1] According to the Tibetan Women's Association: "In the past, in Tibet there were no brothels".^[2] Tibetan lawyer Lobsang Sangay recognizes the existence of prostitution before the arrival of the Chinese, but he says that the phenomenon was minimal compared to its current extent.^[3]

Since the 1980s, prostitution in the People's Republic of China, though officially illegal, has been growing.^[4] French poet Jean Dif, traveling in the Tibet Autonomous Region in September–October 2004, said of Lhasa, "There are said to be more than 4,000 prostitutes in the city, but I saw none".^[5] According to the French sociologist and religious historian Frédéric Lenoir writing in 2008, the traditional commercial quarter of Lhasa, capital of Tibet Autonomous Region, contained at that time karaoke bars, gambling houses and brothels. The number of brothels in Lhasa was estimated at more than 300.^[6] The establishments were located on the island of Jamalinka and in the Zhol Village near the Potala Palace.