Real dirt on bent officials lies with ambitious 'public mistresses'

Largely invisible to the general public on the mainland, there are a number of smart and pretty 'butterflies' plying their trade in the secretive inner circles of senior government officials at both the national and local levels. Not necessarily young, these women have pleasant personalities and are attractive, understanding, attentive, well educated and well groomed.

They sleep with senior officials to secure lucrative business contracts and advance their business dealings, and these officials are only too happy to oblige - even though they know the women may also be sleeping with many of their close friends.

Anti-graft investigators know this game so well that if leaders decided to probe high-ranking officials, they would first detain the butterflies - known as 'public mistresses' - who generally know the dirtiest secrets.

The best-known butterfly is Li Wei, a 46-year-old woman from Kunming, Yunnan. She was detained a little more than two years ago when the leadership decided to investigate Du Shicheng, former Communist Party secretary of Qingdao, Shandong, for corruption.

It later emerged that Du helped Ms Li secure lucrative land deals in Qingdao at the height of the property boom because the city was the site of the Olympics' sailing events.

The most significant and shocking revelation by Ms Li was that she had slept with more than a dozen officials with the rank of vice-minister and above in return for business favours.