The British media are full of “barbarians” and “gossip fiends” with “bad manners”, a Chinese state-run newspaper has claimed after the Queen was caught on camera describing its officials as "very rude".
The Global Times said that the incident - where the Queen was caught on camera castigating Chinese staff during a state visit - had been blown out of proportion by the UK press, AFP reports.
In an editorial, it blasted the British press as "reckless" and "very narcissistic".
It said: "The West in modern times has risen to the top and created a brilliant civilisation, but their media is full of reckless 'gossip fiends' who bare their fangs and brandish their claws and are very narcissistic, retaining the bad manners of 'barbarians’.
"As they experience constant exposure to the 5,000 years of continuous Eastern civilisation, we believe they will make progress.”
In China, BBC World coverage of the Queen's remarks was censored.
Her comments were made while in conversation with a senior police officer at an event celebrating her 90th birthday.
The monarch began her conversation with Commander Lucy D’Orsi by quipping “oh, bad luck” when a palace official described how the officer had been assigned as Gold Commander for the state visit of Chinese premier Xi Jinping in October.
During the discussion recorded by a BBC cameraman, the official was heard telling the Queen the police had been “seriously undermined by the Chinese” in their handling of the visit, but the officer had managed to “hold her own”.
As Ms D’Orsi asked if she knew it had been a “testing time”, the Queen interjected: “I did.”
The officer described how Chinese officials walked out of a meeting with Barbara Woodward, British ambassador to China, at Lancaster House, telling them the trip was off.
The Queen said: “They were very rude to the ambassador.”
It isn’t the first time a Royal has upset the Chinese. In 1986 Prince Philip said to British students in China: “If you stay here much longer, you’ll all be slitty-eyed.”
Earlier on Tuesday David Cameron was caught on camera making the unflattering comment about Afghanistan and Nigeria during a conversation with the Queen ahead of an anti-corruption summit, which he is hosting in London on Thursday.