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Sing-song girls (also known as flower girls) is an English term for the courtesans in nineteenth century China.<br/><br/> Although generally concubines or courtesans, people in Shanghai called the women who performed in sing-song houses 'xian sheng' in Wu dialect. The term was pronounced 'sing-song' in English and the young women always sang to entertain the customers; thus Westerners called them Sing-Song girls. The word xian sang in this case is a polite term used to refer to an entertainer.
Sing-song girls were trained from childhood to entertain wealthy male clients through companionship, singing and dancing in special sing-song houses. They might or might not provide sexual services, but many did. They generally saw themselves as lovers and not prostitutes.<br/><br/> Sing-song girls did not have distinctive costumes or make-up. Often they wore Shanghai cheongsam as upper-class Chinese women did. Sing-song girls often did amateur Chinese opera performance for clients and often wore the traditional Chinese opera costume for small group performance. Sing-song girls had one or several male sponsors who might or might not be married, and relied on these sponsors to pay off family or personal debts or to sustain their high standard of living. Often sing-song girls married their sponsors to start a free life.