Yeeshan Yang's first literary effort, Whispers and Moans, is a collection of "interviews with the men and women of Hong Kong's sex industry" in essence, but amounts to much more. It is a well thought-out, colloquially written, all-encompassing non-fiction account of the problems of the sex industry, and possible solutions. Yeeshan Yang exhibits a remarkable ability to summarize as well as editorialize, keeping these functions separate and evident. She posits opinions and colors stories abruptly, with little disguising description so that we know her stance on the subject matter before we read any objectivity into the stories. That said, she includes facts and quotes from a multitude of officials and sex-workers, alluding to the informed nature of her opinion.
Yeeshan's writing is brisk and educational, with a real "everyday person" perspective on the events she describes. Rather than limit herself to a dry scholastic approach, she infuses the material with wit as well as an unlearnable readability. Though the nature of the research can be both thrilling and depressing, often within the same paragraph, Yeeshan manages to maintain an optimistic viewpoint that's both admirable as well as contagious.
What's really striking about Whispers and Moans is its breadth. There are chapters on pimps, the Northern girls who come over from the China mainland, the gangster connection, as well as male prostitutes. Due to an early aggressive interview with Ms. Yip, one of the central figures of the 'Purple Vine', a non-government organization seeking to form the first sex workers union in Hong Kong, Yeeshan is put on the defensive, and it is because of her need to prove herself that the book functions as more than the sum of its parts.
In other hands, particularly more experienced and learned hands, Whispers and Moans could have become another of the typical interview books focused on the criminal aspects of the sex industry. Thanks to Ms. Yip's frustration with the mainstream media's perspective of the industry and her aggressive nature, Yeeshan is dead-set on proving that she has a different, and much more complex viewpoint.
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