Bars raided in Beijing. Anybody hear anything?

this last weekend in Beijing -- March 21, 2008 -- police raided the popular ex-pat nightspots, "Maggies bar", Holiday Inn Lido's "Pig and Thistle", and "Cafe del Mar". Quite a lot of Mongolian girls were apparently arrested or deported. Maggies was apparently shut down for 5 days. The other bars are still open but very quiet.

Rumours were also rampant that the raids were in response a Mongolian girl being murdered for her body organs after going to a hotel with a man.

I can't find any news on this in the usual places. Anybody know anything or read anything?

this last weekend in Beijing -- March 21, 2008 -- police raided the popular ex-pat nightspots, "Maggies bar", Holiday Inn Lido's "Pig and Thistle", and "Cafe del Mar". Quite a lot of Mongolian girls were apparently arrested or deported.

Did the "clients" get deported too?

Rumours were also rampant that the raids were in response a Mongolian girl being murdered for her body organs after going to a hotel with a man.

This sounds a lot like the urban legeng about the tourist getting drugged and waking up in a bathtub full of ice and a note instructing him to call an ambulance...

I can't find any news on this in the usual places. Anybody know anything or read anything?

It's the first time I've heard this - where did you hear this from?

Also, are you a regular at Maggies?

client? Why are the girls there hookers?

Hmm... that's not what I meant to imply...

What I meant was, since Martin pointed out that those places are frequented by ex-pats, maybe the police decided to do a visa crackdown while they were at it...

For Beijing ex-pat nightlife, you're much better off on thatsbj.com or one of the other ex-pat Beijing sites to be honest.

Raids wouldn't be surprising, the involuntary organ donation story I am inclined to write off as daft rumor until it gets backed up by something more substantial. You're better off asking the people you heard it from.

no, I'm a regular at cafe del mar. Occasionally, I'll drop in the Pig and Thistle. I live walking distance to both. I know a lot of people in the Mongolian community, since my previous girlfriend was Mongolian. I dropped into the "Pig" last night and "Cafe del Mar" and they were both uncharacteristically dead. Only ex-pat corporate types were hanging out.

So, no, I don't think there was a visa crackdown against caucasian type ex-pats.

I sometimes don't understand the Chinese police. I'd think they'd want more working girls with the olympics coming. I heard that 12% of the Chinese economy was sex-based. Maybe it's mainly targeted against Mongolians which seems to be the situation.

Removed some posts. Anyone who wants to compare Mongolian and Chinese girls is definitely better off on one of the ex-pat forums.

Removed some posts. Anyone who wants to compare Mongolian and Chinese girls is definitely better off on one of the ex-pat forums.

Thank you! I had almost given up completely on the worth of these foreigner-living-in-Asia forums before finding this one. The forum we have in Hangzhou is terrible.

Did the "clients" get deported too?

Why they should get deported? And as you mentioned "too", did any Mongolian national got deported?

I've heard of those places mentioned, but never have been in any of those. I did google up a little more from the ISG board:

21/3

The raid took place at 3:30 am early Friday morning. Several police, as well as a police dog, entered Maggie’s and started asking the Mongolian girls for their passports. It seems they did not bother any of the Chinese girls, or any girls engaged in a conversation with a man. If the girl had a valid visa then she was left alone, but if her visa was expired she was arrested. The girls were booked on visa violations, had their photos taken, and had to spend the night in jail. To my knowledge they were all released this morning. I asked if they have to leave the country, or pay some kind of fine, but I was told no. The owner of Maggie’s was engaged in deep discussions with the policeman in Charge, and the girls believe he somehow arraigned for the ones who got arrested to get off with just a warning.

The girl I spoke with believes that the police came to Maggie’s due to the recent death of a Mongolian working girl. It seems that 2 weeks ago she went missing. Her roommate recently reported it to the police, and it was found that she was murdered by some Chinese guy that picked her up at Vics. This made it into the Mongolian media, where I am told they talk about Hard Rock, Maggie’s and The Den here in Beijing all of the time. I assume the murder prompted some sort of diplomatic communication, which in turn resulted in the crack down on Mongolian’s illegally residing in Beijing.

It seems that 2 other girls are currently missing. It my be that they just haven't checked in with their friends in a while, but the girls are very spooked right now.

I think it's probably some pre-olympic clean up on illegals (aka visa overstayers). That would go very well hand in hand with the current visa tightening. That a dog was present probably also points to an interest in drugs, which I heard, is also easy to get in BJ (or in all cities to be exact).

actually the Mongolians are being asked to leave the country. A few of my friends are leaving today or have already gone. It doesn't seem to matter if their visas are in order or not. The police seem to have the power to cancel them arbitrarily.

Last night Lido's "Pig and Thistle" and "Cafe del Mar" were raided again. There actually have been daily raids on both. I was at "Cafe del Mar" when 3 vans and 1 police cars pulled up. There was a large group of Mongolian friends in there basically having a party amongst themselves.

Lido was totally dead. There weren't any Mongolians or Chinese girls there. Normally it would be packed any night. Even the Chinese working girls are nervous and staying home. All the ex-pats were grumbling and asking where they could find girls. I think Beijing is going to totally suck leading up to and including the Olympics for anybody living here.

I think Beijing is going to totally suck leading up to and including the Olympics for anybody living here.

Yeah, everything's going to totally suck without working girls around

Try "Language Exchange", it's the same.

well, it's not so much about the working girls as the oppressive nature of the police crackdowns. Even people who are doing nothing wrong don't want to go out.

And good tip on language exchange partners. I'd heard that might be useful.

It may be a problem if you are learning Mongolian.

yes, learning Mongolian with a language partner might be tough in Beijing these days. You'd be better off moving to Ulan Bataar (UB) if that was your main goal.

For that reason I might be visiting UB quite soon

I heard that Maggies is closed for good. I also heard that BJ is cracking down on Mongolian "visitors", I suspect they focus on single ladies in their prime age.

That means, it will be harder in any place in Beijing to foster the international Mongolian friendship on a personal level.

it's had a chilling effect on all the bars I go to. And none of them are typical hooker bars. But with all the Mongolian girls gone home, gone somewhere else or in hiding, the Chinese working girls are also scared and staying home. So the customers are bored and stop coming. Other customers see its dead and don't hang out.

It makes me angry. I think its all Olympics related and/or the new police chief has a bug up his a**e.

In real socialism everybody is always happy and you don't need bars. And on top of that, in a few month there will be the Olympics, that alone should fill you with deep happiness.

I think that's how the government thinks, and as we know, they can not understand why everybody would think differently.

Seems Beijing will become more boring by the day. Watch out for that sign:

So what exactly is the difference between a hooker bar and a bar that loses all of its business when the working girls stay home?

So what exactly is the difference between a hooker bar and a bar that loses all of its business when the working girls stay home?

I think the mix does it. Even if you don't buy their service, they are fun to watch, and can be fun to talk to (until they realize you're not becoming a customer).

If places stay busy I wouldn't bother about any crackdown. Let's see when I am in BJ in a few weeks time....

PS: I wonder if the visa crackdown will have any effect on the foreign population in BJ? I can imagine some may just leave China for the next 6 month.