A Chinese 15-year-old who wrote “Ding Jinhao was here” in Mandarin on a 3,500-year-old sculpture at the Temple of Luxor in Egypt has been tracked down and shamed by internet users in China. A photo of the graffiti was posted by a Chinese blogger last month as an example of poor behaviour by Chinese tourists. An online hunt for the culprit followed. The boy’s parents said he had done it some years ago and apologised profusely to the Egyptian authorities, who said the damage was now being repaired.

If only more parents apologised for uncivilised behaviour! Epicurus would approve of the outcome. On the other side of the coin a world renowned Chinese artist is being paid huge sums for taking very valuable 3000 year old Chinese pots, inscribing them (or defacing them – take your pick) with the Coca Cola logo and selling them for double the price (artist’s name witheld). Seems like double hypocrisy?