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A Chinese man recovering in hospital after a car crash had a shock - when all 17 of his girlfriends turned up to see him.

Mr Yuan, from Changsha, was involved in the accident on March 24 and has been in hospital ever since. 

None of the women knew he had been seeing anyone else - some for up to nine years - and one even had a son with him.

Xiao Li, who had been seeing Mr Yuan for 18 months, said: 'I was really worried when I heard that he was in hospital.

'But when I started seeing more and more beautiful girls show up, I couldn't cry any more.' 

Other girls said they had started planning their weddings with Mr Yuan. 

Wang Fang, the mother of his son, added: 'What can I do now? I don't love him any more, but I do love my son.'

The women have now set up an online Facebook group so they can all chat and are quickly discovering just how much he hid from them, South China Morning Post reported. 

The story has attracted a lot of attention on social media, with some condemning Mr Yuan's actions and others expressing admiration. 

One user with the handle @shusshshussh wrote on Twitter: 'What we can learn from Mr Yuan of China with 17 girlfriends is that: players should NOT get into accidents & allow hospital visits.' 

@J_Rain26 simply asked: 'How does one manage to have 17 girlfriends?'

And one user known just as Shan said: 'Salute this man RT: Man's 17 girlfriends respond when he gets in car accident #awkward.'

Police have launched an investigation into allegations of fraud. It is too early to say if the girlfriends were victims of a scam, officials added.