Il concubinaggio nella Cina contemporanea e il fenomeno delle "seconde mogli"

China in the post-Mao era was transformed by a veritable economic miracle and simultaneously underwent a series of radical époque-making changes in the Chinese ruling classes’ political and ideological approach to government. At the same time, the continued rapid growth and the expansion of a consumer society have contributed to the discrediting of a whole series of values such as attention to the common good, social justice, honesty and rectitude, which for many years underpinned and fortified the force of communism, governing its capacity to mobilize the Chinese population. The supreme ‘good’ today has become “money” and business dealing, which seems to have taken over as a guiding force in the party, the government and in society as a whole. In addition to the demise of traditional values, the waning belief in Maoist ideology and the rise of consumerism as the new ideological credo, there have also been transformations in some of the main pillars of Chinese society, in particular the family as a result of a resurgence of social practices that were thought to belong to the past. The most widespread in modern China is the practice of “bao ernai” , or the taking of a second wife or concubine, which involves mostly businessmen and politicians.