Photos of a foreigner disobeying regulations is all it takes to spark a heated debate between Chinese people about double standards and moral authority at a time when Chinese tourists have been chastised and blacklisted for committing the same behavior.

On Sunday, an unidentified expat mother was seen putting her two children onto the back of a 600 year-old statue at the Ming tombs in Nanjing. And yet, seen together in the same photograph, a sign posted nearby asks visitors to refrain from climbing onto the historical relics.

Poor behavior by Chinese tourists has been popular in the news lately, with a few tourists even being blacklisted. And, as if to punctuate its own pointed criticisms, reports of the disobeying expat mother have included photographs of Chinese parents at the same statue, doing the same thing next to the same sign.

What does it all mean? If we were to take the answer from the heated discussion from this popular post, it means that even the most benign behavior by expats can lead to heated rounds of soul-searching by Chinese.

As seen in the comments that follow, no middle ground exists between those that say expats exploit a double standard afforded to them in China, and those that say Chinese are in no position to occupy the moral high ground.

Here’s what some had to say:

伱媽脸色吥呔好：
Foreign trash has flowed into China.

脂舞先森：
So many complainers. None of you Nanjing residents have ever ridden on it when you were young?

还算幽静的胖子：
It’s common for people to have ridden on it when they were younger… what’s more, it’s been climbed upon for hundreds of years without any problem. If you honestly want to protect it, then put up a fence around it along with posting bilingual signs in Chinese and English along with regular patrols arranged by the management. Not paying attention to rules is human nature.

-fishliyan：
I think the pictogram (on the sign) is fairly easy for everyone to understand…

世界的heaven：
Chinese should be the first to pay attention towards correcting poor morals.

00要自强不息：
You retards! You say that foreigners follow the example of Chinese parents who put their children on the statue because there are no English signs. You say that even if it’s her own fault, foreigners are always cultivated people! And yet, besides not being able to read Chinese, she also can’t understand the pictures?

不捉老鼠的黑猫：
When in Rome, do as the Romans do. We can only blame our own countrymen for not setting a proper example.

南京笑笑生999：
That foreigners are shown to be “cultured” really makes people blush!

飞机飞远了：
Some people have kneeled for so long that they’ve forgotten how to stand up. And yet you say this isn’t inappropriate? Hehehehe

L刘宇翔：
Double standards are nauseating.

小D飞蛾子：
It sickens me to see people kissing up to foreigners. Those Chinese who get ridiculed when you travel abroad to places where you don’t know the local customs: Do you also ridicule your countrymen for lacking proper etiquette?