Lurid tale of China's cross-dressing 'red uncle' goes viral online

A man in the eastern city of Nanjing lured 1,691 heterosexual men into sexual encounters at his home that he then recorded and distributed online. - Screengrab from Weibo via ST/ANN

BEIJING: The tale of a middle-aged Chinese man, or "uncle", who disguised himself as a woman to secretly film and share videos of his hookups with more than 1,000 men, shook China's social media, spurring fears for public health, privacy and marital fidelity.

The hash tag "red uncle" was the top trending item on China's popular micro-blog Weibo on Tuesday (July 8), drawing at least 200 million views as users expressed incredulity and shock.