In 1868, a rule was set by the Secretary for Home Affairs, “It can be said that the streets are caves, the house is full of women who are being kept. Those rooms are for men to find prostitutes to play. If necessary, the prostitutes would go out to find customers.”

 

After WWI, the economy collapsed all over the world. Britain even went bankrupt. The British government also legislated against prostitution. Sir William Peel proclaimed against prostitution in 1930. At that time, more than one hundred thousand females earned money from sex work in Hong Kong. In 1932, he announced that all the sex shops in HK needed to shut down before 1935. After 1935, no legal sex shops have existed in HK until today.