China's answer to Des Lynam humiliated by his wife on national television
It was a moment to make angry wives applaud and two-timing husbands – and the Chinese government – squirm.
With eight months to go to the Beijing Olympics, Zhang Bin, the Des Lynam of Chinese sports broadcasting and one of the most famous faces on the nation's television, was proudly relaunching its main sports network, CCTV-5, as the Olympics Channel.
As Zhang talked enthusiastically into the cameras before a studio audience, a small woman in a brown duffel coat clambered on stage, bore down on him and grabbed his microphone.
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The sports anchor was left gobsmacked after his wife entered the stage and accused him of having an affair
Onlookers immediately recognised Zhang's wife, Hu Ziwei, herself a well-known sports anchor.
But what came next surprised everyone as Mrs Hu launched into a blistering attack on her husband for having an affair with another woman. Only two hours earlier, she said, she'd discovered his "improper relationship."
And as Zhang stood open-mouthed, uncertain what to do, she bravely coupled his infidelity with her country's poor human rights record.
"Today is a special day for the Olympics Channel, it's a special day for Zhang Bin, and it's a special day for me too," she said.
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Then quoting a French diplomat who has been critical of the Games she added that if China's values don't improve, the Games will have been for nothing.
Fighting off attempts to remove her, she said: "That French foreign diplomat also said that until Chinais able to start exporting its values, it won't be able to become a great power." "Yet Zhang Bin can't even face up to his own hurt wife. I think China, to succeed as a great power...
"Don't any of you have any conscience? Let go of me! We're very far from being a great country."
Even at this late stage, Zhang thought he might avoid public embarrassment because as usual in a nation always anxious to censor out any unwanted disclosures, the show was being pre-recorded.
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The host's wife claimed she discovered his infidelity two hours before she humiliated him on stage
His wife's outburst could be edited out, he thought. But, as has happened in the past, the authorities underestimated the power of the Internet and the mischief of its enthusiastic devotees. Within hours a renegade tape of the three-minute confrontation was posted on the Chinese websites tudou.com and Sina.com.
As Chinese authorities scrambled to remove it from those, it was switched to YouTube and other international sites they could not control - and they reported that hundreds of thousands of people were watching it.
Chinese reaction to Mrs Hu's outburst was divided.
The nation's leaders, always eager to paint a picture of a perfect society, were said to be deeply embarrassed.
On the streets many people chuckled over the wandering husband's humiliation. But others pointed out that Mrs Hu should not have been surprised because Zhang left his first wife for her.
