"Darling, look what a clever pet I bought today!" she exclaims when she gets back home.

"WATER, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink," lamented the becalmed Ancient Mariner.

"Many reasonable companies must surely have concluded...that investment in poor countries is not worth the effort, " sighs Ms Bernstein.

"The rules [in China] are not always transparent," sighs "James Smith", an executive at a Western firm that sells beauty products in China.

But, he laments, now "you have to go out and blow the trumpet and bang the drum in front of your book.