Recently, mainland Chinese media have discovered through visits to Xi’an, Chengdu, Sanya, Dali, and other places that some private cinemas are offering illegal services such as overnight stays and companionship. These private cinemas use movie-watching as bait but actually engage in forced sales of companionship packages that include explicit services. Even after being investigated, some of these private cinemas continue to operate by changing locations.
In recent years, many Chinese citizens have noted that the phenomenon of “private cinemas” turning into something else has become increasingly serious in some areas. Many private cinemas have started to offer overnight services, essentially turning them into alternative accommodation options resembling hotels.
According to a report from Jiangsu News on December 20th, undercover visitors conducted investigations at private cinemas in Xi’an, Chengdu, Sanya, and Dali, revealing numerous issues.
Near Xian’s Xiaozhai commercial district, which houses over ten large commercial complexes and is Xi’an’s largest commercial district, private cinemas are densely concentrated. Some “private cinemas” do not even show movies.
Among the businesses with high online sales, “Dream Private Cinema” stands out with package prices ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan, significantly different from other private cinemas. On November 1st, an undercover visitor arrived at “Dream Private Cinema” on the 5th floor of Huayan Building. Upon entry, scantily clad girls would occasionally pass by, and the service staff insisted on moving to a private room to introduce the services. Inside the room, the staff handed the visitor a service menu on their phone, with explicit service names, clearly offering paid companionship.
The staff stated that they do not accept the low-priced 99 yuan package available online, and the minimum selection is a 299 yuan package with a girl as a companion. When the visitor mentioned only wanting to watch a movie, the staff directed them to go elsewhere and requested the visitor to leave the cinema.
In Chengdu, the local high-ranking private cinema “Yunshuiyao Private Cinema” publicly listed their address online. An undercover visitor found room 406 in a commercial and residential building on Huansi Commercial Street in Chengdu, but the door was tightly locked. After contacting the provided phone number, the staff mentioned they operated in room 418 and offered services including opposite-sex companionship.
The outer rooms of this private cinema were used for customer reception, while the inner rooms were used for watching movies. A paper board on the coffee table had various game suggestions like “Violently Tear Stockings in 10 Seconds,” with the staff explicitly stating that customers coming here were not solely interested in movies and hinting at taking the staff members away for overnight stays.
In Sanya, undercover visitors also discovered that some private cinemas offer “edgy” game services. The Sanya Beibei Private Film Club, in a brief sent via QQ, detailed various services along with corresponding prices, where the higher the price, the more explicit the content.
Why does this kind of illegal activity occur so openly? On December 2nd, an undercover visitor reported clues of paid companionship and sexual transactions at Xi’an’s Dream Private Cinema to relevant authorities in the guise of a tourist. Two police officers arrived at the scene, checked the cinema’s business license, and evacuated the customers present.
Half an hour later, the two police officers left the scene. Subsequently, the undercover visitor revisited the cinema and found that the private cinema was still promoting paid companionship and adult services, including various explicit items. The visitor left the private cinema under the pretext and twice made calls to report the situation to the police. The next morning, the community police called to explain that the concealment of illegal activities in private cinemas was too strong, and no violations were found during the on-site inspection by the police…