By day Liu Shitao, 42, works as a painter and decorator and by night he is something else again. Once he is home and after having changed from his tatty work garb he does a makeover on his own life, and suddenly Liu the foreman has become Liu the top-notch singer.

All he need do to attain that status is retire to the bedroom of his rented Beijing home, close the door, put on a set of earphones and switch on his mobile phone.

Staring at the screen he begins to sing to his heart's content, with the backing of WeSing, a popular mobile karaoke app developed by the Chinese internet giant Tencent.