For leading condom manufacturer London International Group, the Chinese market offers, excuse the pun, "untapped" marketing potential for those rubber products offering that essential "something for the weekend" or, in this case possibly, "something for the Chinese New Year". LIG, which for some time has been attempting to penetrate this massive market, this week secured an foothold in China via a £4 million joint venture manufacturing operation with a Chinese company. One marketing dilemma yet to be resolved is what size China's Durex - or Du Lei Si in Chinese - should be. Condoms sold in Asia tend to be narrower than those in the West, but are not marketed as such. An LIG spokesman said "it's prudent not to offend cultural sensitivities. You wouldn't want to dwell on the fact that perhaps the Asian man is a slightly smaller gentleman". The commercial logic of the deal is self evident. China has one fifth of the world's population and a government attempting to limit couples to just one child. While local manufacturers supply 1.2 billion condoms a year, LIG, owning the market leader Durex, expects to win market share by trading on its international brand recognition, targeting young, richer urban couples who, according to LIG, are now developing "a taste for western branded goods". Initially only the basic range of Durex will be manufactured; other varieties, including "flavoured" considered to have too much of the aura of western decadence for what is still an essentially conservative society.