He Built China’s First Sex Doll Brothel. Then The Police Came Knocking.

The entrepreneur Li Bo felt like striking gold when the idea hit him: Why not open a sex doll brothel in a factory town, where men are in abundance and entertainment options are not?

He built it. People came. 

Li opened what he called the China’s “first sex doll experience studio” near a Foxconn electronics factory in the southern city of Shenzhen, where customers could pay as little as $15 to use a range of sex dolls for an hour. 

But with success came scrutiny. Li’s enterprise was shut down by police last week, after it inspired copycats across the country who see a lucrative business opportunity in renting out sex dolls.

The first store, named Aiaile, literally “love, love, joy,” opened in 2018. In December last year, he set up a second branch in another migrant worker neighborhood surrounded by industrial parks. The stores attracted thousands of customers, all men, according to the business’s website.

It’s unclear exactly why the stores were closed. Regulators in Shenzhen have previously said the business did not violate the law.

“It happened suddenly, and customers all ran away,” Li, the founder, told Chinese news outlet Zhengguan on Wednesday. 

“Playing with dolls is at least better than playing with humans,” Li, who worked at a factory before becoming an entrepreneur, was quoted as saying. He declined to talk to VICE World News, citing concerns about speaking to foreign media.

Li’s sex doll brothels charged between 98 to 368 Chinese yuan ($15 to $57) per hour, and offered a selection of sex dolls in rooms decorated as classrooms, prison cells, and hospital wards, according to its WeChat page. Customers could also get free condoms, lubricants, slippers, and towels.

The business has made national headlines, and at least dozens of similar establishments have sprung up across China since 2018. Some stores even offer virtual reality headsets for customers to watch porn as they use the dolls, according to a December report by state media, which called for tighter regulations on the sex doll boom.

The global emergence of an industry built on sex dolls catered almost exclusively to men remains a controversial one. In China, while some internet users have praised the brothels for giving low-income workers a cheap alternative to other sex services, others have criticized the business as objectifying women and fueling a rape culture.

“[The brothels] are good for the humankind and can reduce crimes,” said one of the most liked comments on microblogging site Weibo. 

“The customers don’t find it dirty?” another person said. “Why not just use your hands or buy a masturbation cup.”

Internet users also questioned if these brothels will spread disease, although many of the stores promise to disinfect the sex dolls thoroughly between each use.

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