Nothing is more politically sensitive and riskier on the mainland than publicly speculating about the personal lives and family members of top government and Communist Party leaders.
The official media is banned from carrying anything except for officially sanctioned bits of information and offenders risk the peril of heavy official retribution.
But fewer things arouse more curiosity among mainlanders - and in most cases, send their blood boiling - than such speculation. This is largely because spouses, children and other family members of many mainland leaders, collectively known as 'princelings', are widely known as taking advantage of their power and influence to make easy fortunes.
That explains why the controversy over whether the wife of Premier Wen Jiabao possesses millions of yuan worth of jewellery has generated such keen interest in the overseas Chinese-language media and mainland internet chat rooms.
Earlier this month, TVBS, a Taiwanese cable news station, reported that Zhang Peili , Mr Wen's wife, loved Taiwanese-made jewellery and had bought earrings and rings worth 2 million yuan a piece at an international exhibition in Beijing last year.
It quoted a Taiwanese jewellery dealer as saying he had prepared jade jewellery worth 15 million yuan for Ms Zhang to view at this year's exhibition and showed a picture of her looking at jewellery at last year's show.