Fans, fashion, finances and the cultural appeal

Parked outside China Daily about two weeks ago, a Mini Cooper with both mirror caps painted in the Union Jack caught my attention.

It would be quite an ordinary car in London, but this is Beijing. How many Chinese car owners here paint their cars that way? Quite few, it seems.

I was amazed only a week ago at seeing another two, both Mini Coopers, also emblazoned with the nation's flag, one on the entire rooftop and the other across both front seats. How many hardcore UK fans are there in the Chinese capital, I asked myself.