In China, the Communist Party is trying to impose culturally normative values on the population through the proscription of 'bad personal behaviour." Doubtless this has something to do with China's rapid rise as an economic power and the change in circumstances, for the better, of millions of people. While it may well be 'glorious to grow rich' as Deng so aptly put it 30 years ago, the act of growing wealthy and chasing the filthy dollar, or yuan, can detach people from their roots. It can also change attitudes and behaviours for the worse, for affluence has its own price.

In China this is a double whammy, for not only does 'socialism with Chinese characteristics' have to deal with the contradiction of having swallowed capitalism almost wholly, but a society steeped in centuries of Confucian ideology must deal with the most rapid changes it has faced in hundreds of years. I doubt that President Xi would be interested in a Cultural Revolution 2.0, which wreaked disaster on China the last time, though he may be interested in reinventing Mao as a kind of wise ancestor.

Most of the proscriptions on behaviour are perfectly understandable, with no spitting, shouting and general anti-social behaviour apparent. But there are a few curious examples too, such as "No square dancing that disturbs others". Perhaps an innocent square dance is just one step away from an insurrection in the minds of the authorities. Strangely enough, there are no injunctions against the mass display of umbrellas, wet weather or not.