Which came first? The corruption or the mistresses? In China, they most often go together. The stories abound: from the corrupt official in Fujian who, in 2002, held the first (and only) annual competition to judge which of his 22 mistresses was most pleasing, to Liu Zhijun, the former railway minister deposed in 2011 for allegedly embezzling the equivalent of millions of dollars -- and maintaining a relatively modest 18 mistresses. The association is so strong, in fact, that it’s all but taken for granted in China that when an official falls due to his -- and it’s almost always a he -- misdeeds and miscalculations, the mistresses will be uncovered next.