From sneakers to skin cream, Chinese consumer goods companies are no longer willing to kowtow to the foreigners who taught them branding. What’s more, they are taking their game to the big leagues.

Take Li Ning, for example, the Chinese gymnast whose sportswear brand is going upmarket to challenge the likes of Nike and Adidas in China. The brand is neck and neck with Adidas for second place - suggesting that increasing numbers of Chinese feet are happy to be shod by compatriots. A Chinese cosmetics giant is now seeking to emulate Li Ning’s success.

State-owned Shanghai Jahwa has made a play to lure Chinese women away from their L’Oreals and their Lancomes, to a brand famous from when Shanghai last tried to rival Europe for decadence - in the 1930s.