German-based Metro Cash & Carry, one of the most successful foreign retail groups in China, has one of its 15 mainland stores in the Hongshan district of Wuhan and has plans for another outlet in the city.

I put the chief of police behind the bar, instructed him in his duties, and we four convivial spirits sprawled along the counter drinking ale and telling yarns till cockcrow.

The negotiation ended in deadlock, with neither party willing to compromise on the price.

A senior rail source said: "Frankly, no one believes being on the government books is temporary. The only bits of the railway still genuinely privatised are the freight trains and the rolling stock owners.