Chinese man's 17 girlfriends discover each other during hospital visit

CHANGSHA, China, April 6 (UPI) -- A philandering Chinese man who secretly had 17 girlfriends was exposed when all of his paramours arrived at the same time to visit him in the hospital.

The Changsha man, identified by the surname Yuan, was hospitalized March 24 with non-life-threatening injuries from a car accident and doctors got into contact with a number of people they believed to be family members.

However, the 17 people who turned up at the hospital were revealed to be Yuan's girlfriends, who were unaware of each others' existence until they all arrived at the hospital at the same time.

A girlfriend who identified herself as Xiao Li said she has spoken with several of the other women and discovered many of them had been regularly giving him money. She said one of the women had been supporting him financially for nine years.

Yuan, who also allegedly fabricated his education background to get a job with a large company, is facing a fraud charge after he allegedly bilked his ex-wife of more than $40,000.