Yellow box - An ethnography of yelaixiang nightclub

Abstract

<P>THIS IS AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF A LOW-END NIGHTCLUB IN SINGAPORE. ALTHOUGH IT ALSO INCLUDES OTHER UNDERGROUND MARKETS, THE PRIMARY OBJECT OF THIS STUDY IS THE UNDERGROUND SEX INDUSTRY IN THE OPERATIVE CONTEXT OF A NIGHTCLUB. THE IMPETUS FOR THIS TOPIC STEMMED FROM MY DESIRE TO STUDY WHAT FORMS THE THEMES OF THIS ETHNOGRAPHY: THE GREY ECONOMY, PARTICULARLY THE UNDERGROUND SEX MARKET AND ITS PARTICIPANTS. WHILE BOTH ARE UNEXPLORED AREAS LOCALLY, EXTENSIVE LITERATURE CAN BE FOUND ON THE LATTER UNDER THE SUBJECT HEADING OF A??ORGANISED CRIMEA??. GOING BY WHAT SOME STUDIES SUGGESTS A?? THAT ORGANISED CRIMES ARE LARGE-SCALE TRIAD OPERATIONS (ROBERTSON: 1977, BOOTH:1990,AND LINTER:2002) A?? WHAT OF THE LOCAL PLAYERS? WHAT IS THE SCALE OF THEIR OPERATION? HOW EXTENSIVE IS THEIR NETWORK AND HOW ARE THEY ORGANISED? IF NO ONE REALLY KNOWS ABOUT THE GREY ECONOMY AND ITS PARTICIPANTS IN SINGAPORE, IT IS NOT BECAUSE THEY DONA??T EXIST BUT THAT THEY ARE SOMETIMES INVISIBLE, SUPPRESSED, LOOKED DOWN