Peking Propaganda: A 1950’s Socialist Docu Soap Starring Former Prostitutes

《烟花女儿翻身记》1950

We made a remarkable discovery the other day. In 1950, a documentary was made about the closing down of the notorious brothels district Bada Hutong in Beijing. Bada Hutong is in fact situated only a couple of hundred meters from our Hutong gallery. Calling the film a “documentary” is maybe a bit of a stretch, because everything in the fifty-two minute-long film is scripted and pre-arranged. Nobody is acting naturally. The main actresses, however, are actually all former prostitutes of Bada Hutong. 

The movie, called “烟花女儿翻身记” (which roughly translates as “Liberation Diary of the Flower Girls") was meant to be a potent propaganda tool designed to show a new socialist direction for the city. One of the fascinating facts about the movie is the speed at which it was made - it was completed only half a year after the Bada Hutong was closed in 1949. That says a lot about the symbolic value the government placed on closing down this area of town.

Strictly speaking, closing Bada Hutong was not only about stopping prostitution. The Bada Hutong was a symbol of the Republican era. The brothels had  been a platform where intellectuals and politicians would meet. But the floating world of ideas without a clear direction was about to come to an end. The communists wanted to show strong leadership and a way forward and that meant the end of the eight great lanes – Bada Hutong.