Chinese man with 3 wives awaits trial after women discover each other

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One man from China is awaiting trial after his three wives found out about each other: his first wife divorced him, while the second and third wives reported him to authorities.

The 36-year-old man, identified only as Zhang, hails from Jiangsu province and is a property agent by profession. It turns out that two of his three wives were his clients in the past.

Zhang married his first wife, who was from Kunshan, back in 2015. He then went on to marry his second and third wife, who were from the Henan and Anhui provinces, respectively. He also arranged for his wives to live within a kilometer radius which allowed him to spend time with each one in the pretense that he was away for business, as per the Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation via South China Morning Post on Jan. 14.

Zhang’s marriages were not detected by authorities since the provinces where he married them did not share a database. He continued on with the charade until his second wife, identified by her family name Chen, started to become suspicious when she discovered him exchanging flirty messages with another woman last March 2017. As per the report, Chen followed him one time when he told her he would be traveling for work, only to end up in a residential area where his first wife lived.

There were other red flags, too. When Zhang was with Chen one time, she noticed he kept disconnecting a call from his phone. She took note of the number and sent texts to it, which led her to the discovery that Zhang’s third wife, identified by the family name Wang, was pregnant with his child.

Zhang’s first wife eventually divorced him upon discovering his affairs. Meanwhile, he was reported to authorities by Chen and Wang last March 2018.

Zhang was charged with polygamy in November 2018. Polygamy is considered a criminal offense in China and entails a maximum penalty of two years behind bars. Cody Cepeda/JB

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