'Rotten women' only expression of desire

The BBC drama Sherlock has proved so popular in China that when the first episode of the third series was launched on a Chinese video-hosting website just two hours after it was broadcast in Britain, it received almost 3 million hits overnight.

Much of the appeal of the show lies in the interplay between the sharp-witted and acerbic Sherlock Holmes and his loyal and awestruck sidekick John Watson. And since the first season of the drama, numerous Chinese websites have appeared hosting stories about the two characters written by fans.

Many of these stories depict the characters as gay, and it is this suggested sub-text to the characters relationship that has attracted some of the show's most ardent fans the so-called rotten women, or funu. Rotten being a self-mocking reference to these women's "rotten" taste.