form of sex work that resembles Chinese courtesan culture. Although the poem is fictional, it reveals a view of sex work in 19th century Vietnam as a kind of performative and affective, not simply sexual, labor. Plot The story takes place during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in Ming China. The entire plot in the Tale of Kiều spans over fifteen years. At the beginning of the story, set in Peking, Vương Thuý Kiều () () — a beautiful and educated girl — visits her ancestors' graves with her younger sister Thuý Vân () and brother Vương Quan (). On the way she identifies with the grave of a dead performer—Đạm Tiên (), who was said to be as beautiful and talented as she is but lived a life full of grief. There, she meets and later promises to marry Kim Trọng (), a young and promising scholar, but their marriage is delayed because Trọng has to go back home to mourn his uncle for half a year. During that time misfortune begins to befall Kiều. Her family is framed by a silk dealer and has all their wealth taken away by the government: her father and brother facing imprisonment. Kiều decides to sell herself to Scholar Mã (Mã giám sinh; ) to free her family, while asking Thúy Vân to fulfil the marital promise with Trọng. Mã turns out to be a pimp who is in charge of finding girls for a brothel run by Madam Tú (Tú Bà; ). He rapes Kiều and takes her back to the brothel in Lin-Tzu (modern day Xindian in Shandong), but she refuses to serve any guests and attempts to commit suicide when she is forced to do so. Madam Tú concocts a plan to crush Kiều's dignity by hiring Sở Khanh, a playboy and con artist, to meet Kiều and coerce her into eloping with him, and then lead her to Tú. With nothing left to hold on to, Kiều finally submits and becomes a prostitute. Kiều's beauty attracts many men, including Student Thúc (Thúc Sinh; ), who uses his wealth to buy Kiều out of the brothel and marry her, although he already has a wife named Lady Hoạn (Hoạn Thư; ), who is the daughter of prime minister Hoạn. Upon learning of this, Hoạn burns up with jealousy and secretly tells her henchmen to kidnap and force Kiều