'I love Thai shows. The actresses are so beautiful and the leading men very handsome,' says Jang jing, a 44-year-old housewife from Beijing and an avid fan.

It was middle class matrons, the sort who dressed up to go shopping, who missed the deference shown by traditional grocers.

Belluomo rises from the bed of his wife's lover's wife, the kerchiefed housewife is astir, a saucer of acetic acid in her hand.