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A SHENZHEN village labelled an enclave of mistresses for Hong Kong men has hit back, saying reporters were lying.

  An investigation was launched after claims that Huangbeiling village had more than 1,000 concubines.

  But yesterday, officials said the probe had found the reports to be false.

  Local cadres said they feared foreign investors had been driven away by the 'extremely big lie'.

  And 7,000 to 8,000 residents had also left the village since reports appeared in the Hong Kong Chinese press last summer, according to the Hong Kong China News Agency yesterday.

  Shenzhen's name had been tarnished, and the lives of the villagers and their businesses had been affected, officials said.

  Central authorities had been greatly concerned and the rest of the country shocked, they added.

  Shenzhen's party boss Li Youwei ordered a thorough investigation into the village after learning of the allegation while in Singapore, the agency reported yesterday.

   Officials from the All China Women's Federation also launched their own investigation.

  The village authorities organised a 86-member special team to conduct a door-to-door investigation, the agency quoted a Shenzhen magazine, Fengcai, as saying.

   Spot checks were also carried on a suspect families.

   But only five cases of illegal cohabitation and one of bigamy were unearthed, officials said.

   'Foreign businessmen do not dare to come.

  'The proprietors said if they set up factories in Huangbeiling, people would believe they had a mistress, even if they did not,' the agency said.

  The property business also suffered from the allegations.

  A village official said half of the Huangbeiling villagers were living in Hong Kong or overseas.

  They were entitled to return to build their own houses for their families there, provided their marriages were legal.

  The fact that a handful of people had concubines in the village did not mean most women there were mistresses, he stressed.



'Mistress village' says reporters lied