The bad behavior of certain world travelers is prompting a world-wide discussion about an entire nation of more than 1.3 billion people.  The last straw appears to be teenager from China scratching his name to a 3,500-year old Egyptian Hieroglyphic.

“Ding Jinhao was here.”

Those are the new words adorning the torso of the man depicted in a bas-relief at Luxor.  It turns out Ding was a brat from Nanjing who went with his family on holiday to Egypt.  He was outed and is being hounded on-line by his embarrassed countrymen, humiliated at the nasty reputation Chinese Tourists are making for themselves around the world.

But it’s not just the Internet commentariat on the case.  China’s government is issuing new guidelines telling people to check their behavior overseas.

“They speak loudly in public, carve characters on tourist attractions, cross the road when the traffic lights are still red, spit anywhere and [carry out] some other uncivilized behavior.  It damages the image of the Chinese people and has a very bad impact,” Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang complained.

In fact, there is plenty of non-Chinese graffiti in Luxor and elsewhere in Egypt.  But China is getting all of the attention because its growing middle class provided 83 million customers for the world’s tourism markets last year.

Now that the Luxor incident has gone viral, China’s newspapers are running scolding editorials saying, “this instance shows our families and schools have failed to deliver to the children something that should be expected first and foremost of any education: moral principles and civic virtues.”

But Ding’s mother is reacting the way any mom would when junior gets in trouble.  She’s mortified.

“We want to apologize to the Egyptian people and to people who have paid attention to this case across China,” she told the local newspapers.