Monday, September 04, 2006

Foreign sex blogger in China a hoax

An anonymous blog allegedly by a British man that sparked outrage in Shanghai by claiming a long list of sexual conquests among local women may actually be a hoax.

The Sex and Shanghai website, which was not immediately accessible Monday, chronicled in racy language the exploits of the author who claimed to be an English teacher at a local university.

Using the pseudonym "Chinabounder," the blog also took the occasional swipe at Chinese men's sexual prowess as well as a critical view on the ruling communist party government.

Anger over the blog came to a head last week when a Shanghai professor launched an Internet campaign calling on Chinese men to hunt down the author and expel him from China.

"If you are a Chinese man with guts and if you respect Chinese women, please join this Internet hunt for the immoral foreigner! Let us act together!" wrote Zhang Jiehai, a psychology professor at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

"We must find this foreign trash and kick him out of China."

In response to an e-mail querying the Chinabounder site, a message on the website said the content written had been fabricated, the Financial Times reported. AFP on Monday could not verify the accuracy of this claim.

Since Zhang's angry blog last week, Internet sites and blogs have been full of vitriolic messages mainly supporting Zhang and calling for the "castration" and removal of the "foreign filth".

Others urged Chinabounder's exposure so that "we make other foreigners restrain their behavior".

When contacted by AFP, Zhang refused to comment pointing only to his own latest findings about the writer on his own blog, which said the writer was no longer believed to be British and had likely already left China.

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse.