The Japanese comfort stations disappeared as World War II ended with Japan's defeat. However, this was not the end of them. In the midst of colonization and post-colonization, as well as both hot and cold wars that broke out in postwar Asia, some Asian governments resurrected the military comfort station system in diverse ways. A series of military comfort stations appeared after World War II in Okinawa, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and elsewhere, which demonstrated the influence of the Japanese military comfort stations. The present article briefly introduces postwar comfort stations in Taiwan (Special Assignation Teahouse), which are rarely noticed even though they persisted for the longest period until very recently.^[1]

1. Establishment and Naming of Special Assignation Teahouse 

The original name of Special Assignation Teahouse was "Paradise in Service" (軍中樂園). Based on the trial operation of around a year and positive feedback from frontline personnel, the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense enacted the "Paradise in Service Installation Implementation Act" (hereinafter referred to as the Paradise in Service Act) in 1954 and began installing these spaces in army, navy, and air force units all across Taiwan. Paradise in Service was later renamed as Special Assignation Teahouse, but it was still more commonly referred to as Paradise in Service, which may be explained by that this title represents its essential nature more literally.
 

2. Coexistence with Ordinary Brothels and its Distinction from them

In 1946, shortly after Japan's defeat in World War II, the government of Taiwan declared the shutdown of brothels. However, with the enactment of the "Regulations for the Management of Brothels in Various Counties and Cities of Taiwan Province" (hereinafter referred to as the Brothel Management Regulations) in 1960, just less than two decades after the declaration, the licensed prostitution system returned. Accordingly, Paradise in Service positioned itself more securely as a part of the system. In close connection with ordinary brothels, they coexisted for decades. 

Nonetheless, as a special type of brothel, namely military brothels (軍娼, also referred to as camp prostitutes or prostitutes management), Paradise in Service was positioned in a system with distinctive differences from ordinary brothels. First of all, it was a military welfare facility targeted to achieve military objectives such as promotion of the mental health, morale boosting of soldiers and management of sexually transmitted diseases. In addition, instead of the "Brothel Management Regulations", its legal basis was the "Paradise in Service Act (Special Assignation Teahouse Act)" enacted by the Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan. Even though its operation was entrusted to private sectors, the Ministry of National Defense and each military branch had ultimate authority and responsibility for the management and supervision of Paradise in Service. The Ministry of National Defense were also directly involved in the finance and management of Paradise in Service. 

Instead of "ginyeo " (female entertainer) or "changgi" (prostitute), as in licensed brothels, women working in Special Assignation Teahouse were called "shiyingsheng" (waitress) and were considered as military employees. The Ministry of National Defense provided staples, side dishes and military medical necessities for them and managed to help each military branch maintain the number and scale of Paradise in Service, as well as the number of shiyingsheng appropriately depending on the unit size. As of 1961, there were reportedly around 50 Paradise in Service on the main island and about 20 on offshore islands^[2] with a total of 1,182 shiyingsheng working on the main island. The military's efforts to distinguish shiyingsheng from ordinary prostitutes ironically illustrates the distance between Paradise in Service and licensed prostitution, which was so far away from and close to each other at the same time.

3. Operation and Withdrawal of Paradise in Service

In principle, private entities operated Paradise in Service, while the military was responsible for its management and supervision. Nevertheless, the actual operation varied depending on factors such as timing, location and the intention of different military units. The biggest difference can be seen in  Paradise in Service on the main island and offshore islands, which mostly derived from the differences of the political and military environments. Offshore islands of Taiwan were closer to the Chinese mainland than the Taiwanese main island. Governed under martial law for 44 years from 1948 to 1992, they were restricted areas where the military assumed responsibility for local administration. As a result, under the influence of strict military discipline, Paradise in Service on the offshore islands was operated under much tighter supervision and management of the military compared to those on the main island. Moreover, these establishments, which secured tens of thousands of soldiers as potential customers, once achieved success generating substantial profits enough to cover all expenses of military bases' welfare and consolation performances. Thanks to these special circumstances, shiyingsheng working on offshore islands appeared to be guaranteed a safer environment and significantly higher incomes than those on the main island.

In spite of its heyday, Paradise in Service on offshore islands declined quickly as the Taiwan military force experienced a large-scale reduction in the aftermath of the normalization of US-China relations in 1979. Furthermore, as democracy sprouted along with the lifting of martial law on the main island in 1987, and the issue of Japanese military "comfort women" between Japan and South Korea came to light in 1990, criticism against Paradise in Service escalated among Taiwanese people. Eventually, the Ministry of National Defense of Taiwan ended up issuing an official order to shut down Paradise in Service in November 1990.

The main island was also under martial law for a long time from 1949 to 1987. However, people enjoyed much more freedom than than those on offshore islands. Above all, a variety of the sex industry existed. On the main island, Paradise in Service competed with all sorts of private and licensed brothels and boundaries between them became ambiguous. Therefore, it was natural that supervision of the military over Paradise in Service there was much less severe than those in offshore islands. In fact, various disgraceful incidents frequently appeared in the media as a result, which indicates that private owners of the sex industry had greater discretion on the main island, while military supervision was lax compared to that on the offshore islands. In the end, it was reported that Paradise in Service on the main island disappeared in the late 1970s, earlier than those on offshore islands for around a decade. 

Meanwhile, the Bongsan Special Assignation Teahouse of the Second Army on the Taiwanese main island must be mentioned as a very special instance. According to Yeh Xiangxi (葉祥曦), who served in the military in this Special Assignation Teahouse from 1967 to 1970, the Bongsan Special Assignation Teahouse was operated entirely under the military's direct management, unlike other Paradise in Service, which was operated under private owners’ discretion. The scale of this establishment was overwhelmingly large, with the number of shiyingsheng reaching 900 to 1000. However, above all, the top secret was that all of these shiyingsheng were convicted criminals. They were not only exempted from half of their remaining sentences, but also had the chance to make money while serving as shiyingsheng. 

Because Yeh Xiangxi's memoir is the only source of records regarding this Special Assignation Teahouse, the claim cannot be fully verified. However, considering rumors of female convicts working in Paradise in Service, which started spreading from decades earlier, coupled with the sincerity and detail of Yeh Xiangxi's accounts, it is highly possible that Bongsan Special Assignation Teahouse was a special prison existed during that period. If Yeh Xiangxi's recollection is true, the Bongsan Special Assignation Teahouse would represent an unprecedented brothel secret led by the military and backed by the Ministries of Administration and Judiciary, while the Taiwanese government, which hid behind the Army Headquarters, was the actual procurer. 

4. The East Asian Decolonization Division System and Paradise in Service

In that case, why did the government and military of Taiwan create and maintain the troublesome Paradise in Service with so many secrets for so long? First and foremost, there were demands from frontline officers. In 1949, when the Kuomintang-ruled government of China retreated to Taiwan after losing the Chinese civil war against the Chinese Communist Party, about 600,000 soldiers accompanied. A need for creating military comfort stations as  "the breakwater of sex" targeting the large-scale group of young soldiers was raised by the frontline officers. 

Meanwhile, under the plan to reclaim mainland China, the central government issued a ban on marriage to active-duty soldiers in 1952. As a supplementary measure, it began promoting installation of Paradise in Service. However, as the separation between the two sides became entrenched, many soldiers from the mainland who became refugees missed the opportunity for marriage and ended up aging as singles. For these soldiers, Paradise in Service was propagated as a benevolent policy of the Kuomintang government and that was the superficial reason and justification for it to exist for a long period of time. 

In fact, the Chinese Civil War was the actual reason and background that caused the tragedy of those soldiers from the mainland and appearance of Paradise in Service.  It was a civil war between factions with differing ideologies for decolonization and the establishment of post-war nation-states. As it was interconnected with international politics, namely the Cold War, it laid the groundwork for the unique East Asian decolonization and division system. The pro-freedom factions in post-war East Asia quickly united under the name of the anti-communist ideology and military comfort stations began to appear one after another with a deceitful title as a 'special' tool for this ideology-driven hot war. It should be noted that, as if promised with each other, it was intentional in all these anti-communist decolonization plans to revive Japanese military comfort stations, the legacy of colonialism. 

The Paradise in Service of Taiwan illustrates the context of the legacy of Japanese military comfort stations being passed on from the colonial era to the post-war decolonization and division system for longitudinal study. For horizontal study, it indicates how the comfort station and "comfort women" issues are constantly appropriated and discoursed, incurring a new wave of controversy.