A joke in Sichuan province says passengers aboard any plane descending upon the capital, Chengdu, will hear clicks and clacks.

The punch line plays up Sichuan's omnipresence of mahjong - a game making international headlines as local media urge officials to refrain from playing and foreigners are beating Chinese at international tournaments.

Netizens responded to calls for civil servants' abstention by half-joking: "How will Sichuan's officials live?"