Jian,a 42-year-old property developer in the booming southern metropolis of Shenzhen,had acquired just about everything men of his socioeconomic ilk covet: a Mercedes-Benz,a sprawling antique jade collection and a lavishly appointed duplex for his wife and daughter. It was only natural then,he said,that two years ago he took up another costly pastime: a beguiling 20-year-old art major whose affections run him about $6,100 a month. Jian,who asked that his full name be withheld lest it endanger his 20-year marriage,cavorts with his young coed in a secret apartment he owns. Keeping a mistress is just like playing golf, he said. Both are expensive hobbies. As China has shed its chaste Communist mores for the wealth and indulgences of a market-oriented economy,the boom has bred a generation of nouveau-riche lotharios yearning to rival the sexual conquests of their imperial ancestors. Even the Chinese term for mistress ernai, or second wife harks back to that polygamous tradition of yore. Judging from the embarrassing revelations to emerge in recent months,such arrangements appear to be commonplace among the corporate titans,rags-to-riches entrepreneurs and government officials. In July,Xu Maiyong,the former vice-mayor of the capital of Zhejiang Province was executed for bribery and embezzlement worth over $30 million. Nicknaming him Plenty Xu, the press reported he kept dozens of mistresses. In February,Railway Minister Liu Zhijun,a 58-year-old,was removed from his post after news reports said he had embezzled $152 million over the years. But a leaked directive from the Central Propaganda Bureau revealed a more salacious side to his misconduct: All media are not to report or hype news that Liu Zhijun had 18 mistresses. In one of the most shocking cases,an official in Hubei Province was detained in December on suspicion of strangling his mistress then pregnant with twins and dumping her body in a river after she demanded he marry her or pay $300,000,media reports said. The phenomenon has been an official concern for some time now. In 2007,Chinas top prosecutors office said that 90 per cent of most senior officials felled by corruption scandals in previous years had kept mistresses. The Communist Party is trying to stanch the mistress tide through carrots and sticks. The Supreme Peoples Court has considered a draft interpretation of the countrys marriage law that would for the first time acknowledge mistresses,stating they have no legal right to their patrons money,property or other expensive trinkets,experts said. In an effort to combat the lure of the sugar daddy,some local governments have gone on the offensive,preaching against moral turpitude and trying to encourage young women to rely on less carnal skills to survive.DAN LEVIN
