Precursors and Pathways to Adolescent Prostitution in Taiwan‪.‬

Indentured juvenile prostitution is a cultural legacy for Taiwanese lower-class families dating back to early immigrants from China of Chinese decent (Han Chinese) in the 18th century. Common motives for Han parents to indenture their daughters were survival, emergency needs, and debts from gambling (Chiou, 1999; Hong, 2001; Hsieh, 1972). Girls as young as 7 were either directly indentured into brothels or sold off to adoptive families who intended to sell them into prostitution. Former prostitutes were among those who adopted girls to pass on their profession and to ensure income for old age (Chiou, 1999; Hsieh, 1972). In the late 1950s and 1960s when Taiwan was just launching into industrialization, it was still common for poor Han families to send away their daughters for adoption and indenture (Hsieh, 1972; Tsung, 1978; Wolf, 1972). From the 1960s to the early 1990s, the percentage of aborigines, especially from the Atayal tribe, among indentured girls in Taiwan continually increased. In the early 1990s it was estimated to be as high as 70% (Liang, 1992). Aborigines comprise merely 1.81% of the total population of Taiwan (Ministry of Internal Affairs, 1999a, 1999b). To indenture a girl, a contract is signed with a brothel and the girl handed over. Payment is made in full to the family, and the girl becomes collateral and loses her rights as a free person. In the early 1990s in Taiwan, payment for a one-year contract ranged between US $10,000 to $24,000 (NT $250,000 to $600,000). The family had to pay back the entire amount if the girl did not finish out her full tenure. Most families signed a contract for 2 years and then renewed it. During the agreed length of tenure, an indentured girl was allowed to leave the brothel only to see a doctor if severely ill. The owner of the brothel had the liberty to torture the girl or demand she work at any time, even during menstruation.