A question about unusual customs amongst Chinese prostitutes

[Raynall]

I must have heard dozens of 'rites of passage' stories from my buddies overseas. You know, the usual high school virgin 'losing it' at the local whore house. But this one from Singapore strikes me as unusual.

A friend of mine (ex-virgin) told me a story of how he went to the Geylang red light district and did it with a China 'working lady'. Nothing interesting about the deed itself, but as he was leaving the hotel room the China girl insisted on giving him a 'red packet' containing 6 dollars and 60 cents.

Why's that? The punter pays the lady, and that's it. Why on earth would a 'working lady' give 'change'? Apparently, that's because my friend was a virgin at that time. I know people who did it around the world and apparently this only happens in Singapore. When I was in the Army, my buddy lost his virginity in Thailand and he didn't get no 6 dollars change even though we were sure the lady's a Thai Chinese. And certainly working ladies in USA don't have this custom.

So can anyone shed light on this custom? Its history and so on etc...

Thanks in advance.

Raynall the Hooker History Student

[ron21]

wow 6 dollar and 60 cent. Might be enough to take taxi back home

[measurebroad]

6.60 = 'liew liew da soon' mah

[Tom_Jerry]

Are you serious?

[TKee]

Heard of this custom but how does the ladies verfy that this is your first time?

Have heard about this ang pow thingy but I dont think anybody practises it .... TS, is your buddy a samster, maybe he can answer or tell us more clearly

[donjean]

last few yrs, did bring a younger bro of my fren to HC.
that time he is virgin and the prc did gave him angpow of RM10..

what a funny situation that time...

[Frankiestine]

aiya this type of thing is up to individual believes...just like some men who thinks bonking a virgin gal is good becos they absorb in the "life force"..so they are willing to pay a high price to for one...likewise for pros becos everyday they are being screwed by all sort of men presumably non virgins, so to be screwed by a virgin she is also in a way absorbing in his "life force"...so naturally she want to give him a ang pow as a form of appreciation...but like i said before it is up to the individual to believe whether this "life force" thing is true or not..

[colins]

What I've heard about this custom is this,

In the olden days, prostitutes believed that taking a virginity is considered bad luck or bad karma. Therefore, they must give an angpow to signify that the process of taking the virginity is a transaction and therefore will not attract karma becos the client is a willing party (when he accepts the angpow).

This may sound strange but you have to read into the significance of virginity to understand why. In those days, virginity is seen as sacred, and a pre-requisite for men to undertake certain occupation or roles in a society. For example, monks and taoist, priest and mediums, martial arts practitioners and many other jobs that requires the man to take chastity vows. These occupations are seen as the protector and higher class vocations in the society. In those days, religious people are of really high regard.

Taking the virginity removes the possibility of their clients in participating in such highly regard vocations. In that light, it is seen as a bad deed. And to do so would attract bad karma. Its like removing a good person from the view of divinity and rendering him useless to gods.

So giving angpow to ex-virgin boys became a tradition, basically to protect the pros themselves (dun be too happy with the little money inside, cos this effectively render you useless if you're living in those times!). As to why the 6 dollar and 60 cents, I reckon this is newer traditions that had evolved in some locality within the culture. Remember that our currency is a relatively new concept compared to this tradition.

[minichamps1664]

my first time with PRC girl in zhuhai. she offer me angpow but I said no because i didnt want her to come to see me afterwards as I would be seen by family member hehe.

Shoulda asked her about the custom but too caught up in the moment

[sexbomb!]

? I catch not much meaning here?

[Be Safe]

Me so many years ago lsot virginity to KS ger also got no ang pow ...