Matt Schiavenza

Having never been to Taiwan I’m always interested in discovering ways in which the island differs from the mainland. One phenomenon that seems to exist in Taiwan but not in the rest of China is that of the “betelnut beauties”, who are attractive, skimpily-attired young women selling booze, cigarattes, and betelnut from glass-enclosed booths.

Photographer Tobie Openshaw has studied the betelnut girl culture extensively and has posted several hundred shots of the girls on Flickr. These photos and Openshaw’s notes are well worth checking out. There are several additional links at the bottom of this Wikipedia page.

While betelnut girls to my knowledge do not exist on the mainland, this sort of thing isn’t unusual at all. Most major nightclubs in Kunming for example hire a group of pretty young women to work as “entertainers”- they dance, drink, and flirt with the male guests but are not in any way prostitutes; they simply serve as a ploy to get the men to stay longer and spend more money. It may be exploitative and sexist but nobody seems to object to it much; the one or two girls I’ve met who have actually had this job shrug their shoulders and say it’s not a bad way to earn a living.