Chinese media have confirmed what we in the West suspected all along: that concealed in the northern Swedish woods is a city of 25,000 women, many of whom have turned to Sapphic love to satiate their natural Scandinavian sexual desires.

According to news agancy Xinhua, the all-female enclave is called “Chako Paul City”, and was founded in 1820 by a "wealthy widow". The city is guarded by two blonde sentries who prevent men from entering. Those chaps who do unwisely attempt to force the issue risk being “beaten half to death” by Nordic gender police.

Women, though, are welcome to visit Chako Paul City, which boasts a burgeoning tourist industry with hotels and restaurants catering for international guests. Locals, however, are discouraged from leaving their female paradise, and those who do "are only allowed to re-enter Chako Paul City if they agree to bathe and undertake several other measures designed to ensure that their out-of-town trysts don’t negatively affect the mental state of other women in the town".

Of course, Chako Paul City's economy doesn't rely solely on tourism. Most of the population is involved in forestry, and workers boast a “thick waist belt full of woodworking equipment”.

All of this came as a bit of a surprise to Per Wilhelmsson of the tourist office in Umeå in northern Sweden, who said he was "fairly certain" no such city existed.

Claes Bertilson, a spokesperson for Sweden’s Association of Local Authorities and Regions, similarly described himself as "doubtful" that such a place could have escaped the authorities' attention.

He told The Local: “I’ve never heard anything about it. At 25,000 residents, the town would be one of the largest in northern Sweden, and I find it hard to believe that you could keep something like that a secret for more than 150 years.” ®

Bootnote

Yup, the usual ta very much to Mike Richards for the heads-up. Mike says: "If you're up for paying expenses, I'm selflessly willing to risk a trip north to find out more ;)"