CHINA:The booming southern Chinese province of Guangdong is drafting a law to stop businessmen and cadres keeping mistresses. The move is part of ongoing efforts to encourage more "social harmony".
Many Chinese businessmen keep mistresses in second homes, and the practice of keeping an er nai (second breast) is particularly widespread in the economic engine-room of Guangdong province since the market economy returned to China.
Hong Kong businessmen have been known to keep second families across the border in Shenzhen, while local mainland tycoons are also taking up the tradition again, which had been all but banished after the communists swept to power in 1949.
Local Communist Party officials have also been accused of setting up "love nests" for their lovers and there has been a series of high-profile corruption cases involving mistresses, which led to the sacking and punishment of senior cadres. Last year prosecutors launched criminal proceedings against Beijing vice-mayor Liu Zhihua, who was denounced for taking millions of yuan in bribes and helping his mistress "seek profit" while he was in charge of Olympic venue construction.
One of the navy's top commanders, Wang Shouye, was sacked last year after his mistress blew the whistle on him for taking millions in military contract bribes.
Late last year, the mistress of a building contractor was jailed for six years for arranging the "rescue" of her lover from police who were questioning him over alleged corruption. She became known as the "paragon mistress".
The new law is being drafted as part of legislation guaranteeing women's rights, and would ban married people from setting up "love nests" to engage in extramarital affairs, according to the Beijing News. "Adding this provision is aimed at preserving and enhancing marital stability," Guangdong politician Cheng Jingchu told the paper.