Here is a good Samaritan if there was one. A restaurant owner in Zhengzhou, the capital of the Chinese province of Henan, is up in arms against those who are wrong-doers in his book. In a Ten Commandments-plus notice board outside his establishment, he makes known the category of customers he is keen not to have. The PLA veteran will have no truck with men who have mistresses, men and women who show no filial piety, and those who spend public money for private ends.

There is a lesson in this for all climes, but perhaps most of all for China’s officials. If every spoken word that goes around is not a rumour, then many of the party brass have pampered mistresses, and their existence is hardly a state secret. Perhaps this is a throwback to the concubine tradition among China’s pre-revolution elite. And how do you keep mistresses in luxury without stealing public funds? Of course, the ex-soldier knows he can’t tell people from their faces. But he believes those who see the billboard will at least squirm. Fond hope that — in China or elsewhere.