“They are all my children and will all have the same rights! I don’t want them to tear each other apart after my death,” Mr Durov told French political magazine Le Point.

Mr Durov said he was the “official father” of six children by three different partners, but the clinic “where I started donating sperm fifteen years ago to help a friend, told me that more than 100 babies had been conceived this way in 12 countries.”

He also reiterated that he denied any wrongdoing in connection with serious criminal charges he faces in France.

Standing nearby, Sun Jingguo agrees. “The cost of driving a petrol car is too expensive. I save money driving an electric vehicle,” he says.

“Also, it protects the environment,” he adds, leaning against his white Beijing U7 model.

It’s the kind of conversation climate campaigners dream of hearing. In many countries, electric vehicles (EVs) are considered luxury purchases.

But here in China – where almost half of all cars sold last year were electric – it’s a banal reality.

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