The Chinese have a centuries-old tradition of wealthy men taking on second wives — or er nai — and this has important marketing ramifications:
If he takes on a mistress, for most unwealthy people, this is a fundamental threat to the marriage. But if a husband is a man of means, and has a significant income, then he can take on a second wife without violating his obligation to his first wife. So there is a whole way of maintaining the system without it resulting in divorce.
I wouldn’t say er nai are socially accepted, they’re just not scandalous.
When I ask people how much it costs to maintain a second wife — a trophy concubine — the average I’m told is 50,000RMB [$7,600]. This isn’t just a girlfriend, this is someone who is kept. And she is displayed as somebody that’s a result of this guy’s power and influence, and access to funds.
In China, half of all luxury purchases are gifts:
Male consumption is the largest source, with much of it coming from man to man gifting for business purposes — you could call it trust facilitation. That’s one of the things that makes the luxury market in China absolutely unique; men buy a lot more luxury products than women do, and this is largely to smooth business transactions.
Sometimes those payouts are ill-gotten, and a way of siphoning profit into non-measurable ways, and sometimes it’s just a way of currying favour. Women self-purchasing is also a critical segment, as is gifting between man and wife and boyfriend and girlfriend.
That said, in my casual but extended observation, gifting to the second wife is significant. And those brands tend to be much more flashy.
Second Wives [like flashy brands] because they have to display that their man is dedicated to them. They lead very insecure lives. They are not independent and need to advertise the fact they have a sponsor.
Any city that has a middle class is going to have Second Wives:
I asked people what percentage of upper middle class guys [had mistresses] — and this might not be accurate but it gives you an idea of how widespread the perception is — and was told 85-95%. It’s certainly become accepted as a perk of power. Even a former president had a very high profile mistress. And it’s not a scandal.
However, the reason the government has policy for officials not to have mistresses is not about morals, it’s about corruption. The mistress is often thought to be sustained based on ill-gotten gains and it’s a trigger for corruption accusations, because the actual salary of an official is not high enough to support a mistress.