Chinese campus brothel that gave students discount for sex ‘run by university president’
PUBLISHED : Monday, 27 October, 2014, 4:18pm
UPDATED : Monday, 27 October, 2014, 7:13pm
James Griffiths and Chen Yifei
Picture taken during a raid by police on a brothel as part of a wider crackdown on prostitution in Dongguan, Guangdong province. Photo: Reuters
A university campus hotel that operates a barely disguised brothel and offers discounts to students for sexual services is allegedly owned by the head of the institution, according to a Chinese newspaper report.
The Beijing Times reports that the “Guangxin International Hotel” has been operating on the campus of the Wuchang University of Technology in Wuhan, a medium-sized school of around 13,000 students, for a number of years.
According to a student who tipped off the paper, the “hotel” – situated atop one of the university’s canteen buildings – is in fact a brothel. The student, surnamed Chen, told reporters that when he went to the hotel to check out its foot massage service that were being advertised, he was offered “special services.”
A reporter for the Times who confirmed Chen’s story spoke to several hotel employees who said they provided sexual services on the side, but emphasised that this was managed directly within the hotel.
An employee the newspaper spoke to said that some of their customers were students, who could receive a discount if they showed a university ID, or someone referred by a student (which is how the reporter got access). She said that although they posted a phone number outside the building, if they received a call from an “unfamiliar person, we would not arrange [an appointment].”
Zhao Zuobin, president of the university, heads the Guangxin Science and Education Group, which owns both the hotel and the university. According to documents filed with Wuhan’s commerce bureau, Zhao was previously the legal representative of the hotel, but in early 2013, the hotel was transferred to another company registered at the same address, of which Zhao’s brother-in-law is the legal representative.
In a statement published on its official Weibo account, the university denied that Zhao or any staff were involved in the running of the hotel or alleged prostitution, adding that the matter had been referred to police for investigation.
The hotel said it only offered massage services to customers and the alleged prostitution may have been arranged personally by its staff.
The police said it had suspended the hotel’s massage business for investigation.
The university vowed to cooperate with police and publish their findings.
The Wuchang University of Technology wouldn’t be the first university to have a brothel operating on campus. In August, two men were jailed for running a prostitution ring out of student halls at the University of Sussex on England's south coast.
The gang trafficked women from Hungary to work in the brothel, which was based in a two-bedroom student flat they had broken into while its occupants were away during the Easter holidays.
