*plus a few more ‘greats’.

Through studying genetics in China they’ve found that one chap from the beginning of the Qing dynasty, 500 years ago, is the direct ancestor of 1.5 million people today. Blimey!

He is thought to have been from the Qing dynasty ruling class, so had many wives and concubines, whose offspring stood a good chance of survival due to the status of their father, and so on through the ages.

With ruling-class families that size it’s no wonder that religion is banned by the communist state, can you imagine the number of presents you’d have to give out at times religious celebrations? The list of your relatives would take all year just to write out, nothing would ever get done, the whole country would fall into disrepair, and the west would have to spend more money on their clothes. On the bright side, card manufacturers would do extremely well out of it.

A slightly more serious version of events can be found here.