On being asked about his wife, Chen Dongsheng stiffens in his large ivory-coloured armchair, but stays calm. His office manager and translator looks more weary than worried by a question about Kong Dongmei.
In China, guanxi, or connections, have always been important, but rampant corruption in recent years has ingrained a deep cynicism about almost all such links. Ms Kong is a granddaughter of Mao Zedong, founder of the People’s Republic of China and after Mr Chen married Ms Kong in 2011, the couple began to attract innuendo-laden media coverage.
Ms Kong, a decade younger than 56-year-old Mr Chen, has worked at his insurance company, Taikang Life, since its earliest days. She also helps run a Beijing cultural centre and bookshop dedicated to communist history, and has written books about her grandfather, leading some to denigrate her for profiting from his legacy.