Chinese city's sex trade meets firm but compassionate foe

The young Chinese woman steps from a back room into the soft, pink light of the small brothel. She adjusts her short dress and black stockings. A middle-aged Chinese man follows a few steps behind. Under the watchful eye of the shop's owner, the customer hands her a wad of bills -- about $60.

She nods and accepts the money, flashing a strawberry tattoo on her left hand, often a sign of rebellion in this ancient culture. Transactions like this take place every day in brothels throughout China, says Belinda Baker*, a worker who shares the Gospel among commercially exploited women in a city of 8 million people.

To read more stories about human trafficking in today's BP, click here.

The 40-year-old New Orleans native is careful not to say "prostitute," a word that implies that women choose that lifestyle. "No child says, 'I want to grow up and sell my body,'" Baker says.

Instead, poverty, lack of education and lack of opportunity drive women to prostitution as a means to provide for their families. Baker hopes to free the estimated 35,000 exploited women in her city both physically and spiritually -- first by sharing the Gospel, then by offering a safe place to live and alternative job skills. To read more, click here.