It's Colman Wong's turn at the karaoke. Wong has a blunt, slightly pitted face, unruly hair, and a heavy build, and though he's fluent in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese, he tends to speak sparingly and in a coarse mumble. So it is a surprise when he belts out a silky, soulful rendition of "How Can I Tell Her (About You)?" The five other rough-looking men in the smoky private nightclub room, including the two engrossed in a fistfight-like drinking game of complex finger motions and barked numbers, stop to applaud and hoot appreciatively. The seven young women applaud too, but then they are each being paid $10 an hour to be appreciative. There's a brief lull while everyone checks his cell phone and pager; the karaoke microphone is passed, and the partying resumes.
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