If he were alive today, the famous Chinese philosopher, Confucius, would surely not know what to say.
Embarrassed Chinese cultural officials confirmed yesterday they are investigating how priceless Confucian relics were extensively damaged in a clean-up operation that went horribly wrong.
The Confucian Temple, the Confucius Family Mansion and the Confucian Cemetery - in Qufu City in East China's Shandong Province - are so precious they are listed in the United Nations Catalogue of Global Cultural Heritage sites.
However, possibly hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage has been caused to the relics of the great wise man by a tourist company which used inappropriate cleaning techniques.
Staff of the China Confucius International Tourism Co Ltd took on the cleaning job last December. They hosed down plaques and walls with water and used other tools to brush filth from the surface of the ancient structures.
As a result, the paint on the walls is now peeling off and coloured drawings in many places have been damaged.
According to experts, more peeling is expected as water has seeped into the wood structures, causing the paint to blister. The cleaning process has also raised the humidity level in the buildings, threatening the closure of some exhibition areas.
A spokesperson for the State Bureau of Cultural Relics told The Irish Times yesterday that the bureau is conducting a thorough investigation into the matter after receiving reports from clerks in the offices of the local cultural relic authorities.
The Qufu local government and the Shenzhen Overseas Development Co set up the China Confucius International Tourism Co Ltd in early December.
The new company was given managerial authority over eight sites in Qufu, including the three at the centre of the damage controversy.
However, there is now a question-mark over the legal right of the new company to carry out this work, as apparently no commercial companies are allowed to get involved in protecting cultural relics under Chinese law. No-one seems to know how this provision was overlooked.
What would Confucius say? After this episode, surely he would be clean out of wise words.