If you're rich, you can do whatever you want. This sentence sums up the unusual story of a Chinese billionaire that would be worthy of creating science fiction films.
Corriere della Sera writes that Xu Bo, a Chinese billionaire made rich from online gaming, is accused of having fathered dozens of children through surrogate pregnancies in the United States, without ever knowing them personally.
Los Angeles County District Judge Amy Pellman has stayed several legal proceedings after noting the large number of child recognition requests linked to Xu Bo's name. Investigations revealed that he may have at least 100 children in California (all boys) and about 300 more in China, born through surrogacy or out of wedlock.
Xu Bo, born in Wuhan in 1977, officially has 12 children from six different women, but none of them are married to him. He has stated that he does not believe in marriage, describing it as an institution that often ends in divorce and where women are left damaged.
This phenomenon has sparked widespread debate in China, where more and more wealthy people are using surrogacy to provide heirs, even selecting the mother's genes according to criteria of beauty, intelligence or strength.
Specialized agencies have even been created that offer eggs from models or women considered "superior", with the aim of creating family alliances similar to those of the imperial era.
Xu Bo's case has revived memories of the old dynastic traditions that Mao Zedong had tried to eradicate during the Cultural Revolution. Today, as China makes giant strides in technology and science, some of its elite appear to be returning to the old practices of ensuring male heirs, viewing wealth as a means of controlling private life.