interviewees, 64 were full-time sex workers and the other six were part-time. The parttime sex workers all had daytime jobs and engaged in sex work at night to supplement
their incomes.
The transgender sex workers interviewed in Beijing mainly found their customers
through cell phones and the internet, and their work places are mainly at their own
homes or hotels. The sex workers interviewed in Shanghai were mainly street-based
workers.
Education levels also varied between the two sets of interviewees and may be a factor
in the type of sex work both groups were doing. In terms of education, the Shanghai
interviewees were relatively less educated, which limited their ability to use cell phones
and the internet. The variations between these two groups is most likely reflective of the
communities Beijing Zuoyou Information Center and Shanghai CSW&MSM Center work
with, rather than a more fundamental difference between the transgender sex worker
populations of these two major Chinese cities.
In should be noted however that there are subtle differences in the policy environment
between the two cities, which could also be a contributory factor when assessing the
different practices of sex work