Frivolity is subversive in Xi Jinping’s China

Chinese president Xi Jinping promised this week that he will start giving foreign companies better access to his country’s market. He might or might not follow through, but one thing is for sure: even if China’s economy goes in a more liberal direction, its politics won’t.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un recently visited Beijing on what is thought to be his first official foreign trip. China has at last been putting pressure on its miscreant neighbour by enforcing sanctions, and the visit was a taste of what political advantages Mr Kim might gain if he scales down his nuclear ambitions. To complete the picture, both leaders appeared with their smiling wives in tow.

Responding to the images, beamed into millions of Chinese households, social media users soon began a lively debate, not over North Korea’s nuclear weapons, but an issue of much greater import: which wife looked better.

According to the South China Morning Post, some users on Weibo, the Chinese social media platform, argued that while Mr Xi’s wife, Peng Liyuan, was more fashionably attired, Mr Kim’s wife, Ri Sol-ju, was prettier. “Ri Sol-ju is indeed beautiful and amiable,” one posted. She was as beautiful as one of China’s most famous actresses, suggested another. The Post itself cited the verdict given by a Hong Kong fashion designer: “Although the style of Ri’s two looks were ‘outdated’, it was still impressive considering she came from a totalitarian country where access to fashion was limited.” Well, quite.

Being Hong Kong-based, the Post is free to publish such bumf, but censors on the mainland quickly saw red. Searches for “Ri Sol-ju” were soon blocked on Chinese platforms and all comments on her looks began to disappear as fast as they were posted.

It’s a sobering reminder that freedom comes in many forms. It isn’t always about protesting or suing institutions. Sometimes, when governments are intent on grandiosity and splendour, subversion appears quite accidentally, in the simple enjoyment of frivolous pleasures.

One of the common gripes voiced by foreign companies operating in China is the issue of “trademark squatting”, whereby their brand name gets registered by some fast-moving clever clogs before its creator has even entered the market. Thank goodness we have not only trademarks but also the EU’S “protected geographical indications” scheme, which protects champagne, and its “traditional speciality guaranteed” products (like Bramley apple pie filling).

Britain has 18 different types of cheese registered under EU “PGI” law, but we haven’t always been the most successful user of such protections.

I found myself in the very pretty town of Bakewell, Derbyshire, last week, for the recording of Radio 4’s Any Questions. Swotting up on local issues beforehand, I quickly learnt to call the local speciality a Bakewell pudding, not a tart, and soon after heard that this important dish had once aspired to the kind of Euprotected status enjoyed by Cornish clotted cream and “Isle of Man queenies” (a sort of scallop). Sadly, it was considered too generic to benefit from protected legal status.

It’s just as well. Some years earlier, two of the town’s premier puddingmakers had waged a legal war over who owned the “original” recipe, though they settled the matter before going to court. The pudding name and recipe are now available to everyone. So we’ve finally all got our just desserts.

The most famous attraction in the Bakewell area is Chatsworth House. It also happens to be one of the few estates in Britain that is mostly open to the public and not run by the National Trust. My visit was luckily timed. Chatsworth has just reopened after a £33 million refurbishment.

Every room has been lovingly restored. The wood panelling is gleaming, the 17th-century tapestries look clean and bright, and the many, carefully painted faces of Roman gods are gazing across its ceilings in all their fleshy, garish glory. The Cavendish family are so proud of the extensive work that little peep holes have been installed so visitors can admire the house’s rewiring and new plumbing. All this is in stark contrast to many cash-strapped Trust properties, which struggle even to maintain themselves. It’s amazing what good stewardship and tax breaks can achieve.

 One of Chatsworth’s decorative themes is that of Julius Caesar, in honour of England’s new king at the time, William of Orange. The thenduke of Devonshire had been one of the Whigs who invited William over to take the throne and the entrance hall depicts a triumphant sacrifice in Caesar’s honour. In a typical, doubleedged, English manner, however, it also includes a scene showing his brutal murder, possibly as a reminder to William not to take the English aristocracy for granted.

Unfortunately, William never made it up to Chatsworth and nor did any monarch until Edward VII. This meant that all of the lavish state rooms, done up at great expense for the sole purpose of hosting a monarch, lay idle for more than 200 years.

Meanwhile, Buckingham Palace is in the process of replacing two miles of 1940s-era wiring. Perhaps the Queen should pay Chatsworth a visit, not for the pomp and circumstance of the state rooms, but to peer into the wall cavities at the splendid wiring. follow Juliet Samuel on Twitter @Citysamuel; read more at telegraph. co.uk/opinion