ANGER is mounting among regular Chinese as the Olympic torch relay is repeatedly tripped up by protests and disruptions on its tour around the world.

After a fracas-filled run through Paris earlier this week, Chinese netizens rained criticism on the French government and circulated petitions to boycott French products from cosmetics group L'Oreal and the much-loved Louis Vuitton luxury brand.

As of last night, some 690,000 netizens had signed one of several petitions on Chinese news websites, pledging to - virtually - 'protect' the flame.

The torch's journey through London, Paris and San Francisco this week has been hit by pro-Tibet protesters trying to seize or extinguish the flame, forcing organisers to change or cut short its route. Images of those scuffles have been beamed on state TV here.

The pre-Olympics mood here had already soured over last month's anti-government riots in Tibet - the worst in decades - which China has framed as a 'life and death' struggle against 'separatists'.

Now, the torch relay disruptions are being seen as unfair attacks on China itself, stoking nationalistic fervour here.

Beijing-based events manager Zhao Guofu, 29, spoke for many when he said: 'To us, the Olympics is a grand, historic event for China. These people spoiling the torch relay are just trying to beat China down.'

Mr Zhao, who spent five hours this week posting angry messages online, added: 'Even ordinary Chinese who wouldn't usually be interested in politics are now asking: 'Why is China being treated like this?' '

Perhaps more than anything else, a single image has crystallised that sense of victimhood: that of amputee torch-bearer Jin Jing, 27, who fended off pro-Tibet protesters from her wheelchair in Paris on Monday.

That image was used on the front page of the state-run China Daily newspaper yesterday. A commentary in the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily yesterday said the French government should be ashamed of that 'chaotic scene', terming it 'a slap on France's own face'.

Professor Yu Guoming, who studies Chinese public opinion at Renmin University, noted that while Chinese netizens tend to be young and hot-blooded, the widespread simmering anger comes out of China's baggage as a victim of a 'century of humiliation' at the hand of Western 'imperialists'.

But, he added: 'China is no longer a weak country. The authorities and regular Chinese alike should realise that as a big nation now, it's necessary to face people and groups who may not agree with us.'

Netizens' campaigns and Beijing's propaganda machinery are now feeding off each other, noted China expert Jiang Wenran of University of Alberta in Canada.

But with the Chinese public already riled up recently over the foreign media's purportedly 'distorted' reporting on Tibet, Beijing has a delicate balancing act ahead, he said.

'Beijing wants people to be patriotic, but not xenophobic. And nationalism is always a double-edged sword.'

<i>This article was first published in The Straits Times on April 12, 2008</i>

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