Red heart spreads as MSN and QQ symbol of Chinese patriotism
Xinhua and a Zhejiang Province news website report on the spread of "Red Heart China" on IM and e-mail platforms as a pro-Olympic and nationalistic symbol.
Xinhua and a Zhejiang province news website report on the spread of "Red Heart China" on IM and e-mail platforms.
The Zhejiang News Center link, auto-translated here, says the word is spreading via QQ, a top instant message platform in China.
Hexun.com carries step-by-step instructions in how to inscribe your MSN account with slogans declaring "I love the Olympics" and encouraging them to go on strongly.
This is all part of an extensive reaction to foreign press coverage on the recent events in Tibet. Other websites, including anti-cnn.com, have emerged to point out examples of sloppy reporting by foreign media. A popular mistake: using pictures of Nepalese police and saying they're in Tibet.
The nationalist reaction online has been strong. In another example, online challenges to a pro-free-speech journalist led to a printed editorial denouncing him. But it's unclear how much this online passion reflects the opinions of less outspoken Chinese citizens. If we took everything on 2ch to be the gospel opinion of the "Japanese people" we'd have a pretty screwed up idea. Not to mention the U.S. blogosphere.