so many women, so little time

Logistics considerations alone make me sceptical of this:

An official from Jiangsu province has set what is believed to be a record after authorities revealed that he had had more than 140 mistresses, including a mother and daughter, reports the Chinese-language Qingdao Financial Daily...

...Some observers, however, are not impressed by Xu's record, claiming that Xu was merely into "quantity" whereas most other officials focus on "quality." Zhang Zonghai, the former chief of Chongqing's propaganda department, had three requirements for his mistresses: must be a university graduate, single and pretty.

Don't know about you, but I'm imagining an update of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch, with Chinese Communist Party characteristics. "140 mistresses! Nay lad, that's nowt. When I want to see t'women in my life I have to charter a 747." "A 747? so what! I Every woman in China is my mistress, and half the lasses in Vietnam too." "I've got so many mistresses, when you put them all together they're visible from outer space. I've got a Great Wall of mistresses".

If you're inclined to believe this source, you may also find its report on human breast milk orgies credible.

Comments

[ajay]

"Twenty-two acknowledged concubines, and a library of sixty-two thousand volumes, attested the variety of his inclinations, and from the productions which he left behind him, it appears that the former as well as the latter were designed for use rather than ostentation."

I dunno, though. 140 doesn't seem that difficult logistically if we assume they were mostly in series rather than parallel, and over a sufficiently long period of time (especially if each one was a fairly short-term thing in exchange for a definite consideration).

[Barry Freed]

That's less than a third of a full Flashman - so totally believable then.