BEIJING — As the Olympic flame continues its tumultuous journey around the world, the lives of two young Chinese women whose brief gestures during the torch relay were captured on video have emerged center stage in the black-and-white world of Chinese public opinion.
One is Jin Jing, a one-legged former fencer in a wheelchair who, with her tiny body, defended the torch from pro-Tibet protesters trying to snatch it from her on the streets of Paris. The images of her action have been disseminated on the Internet, and she has been elevated to national hero status and dubbed an "angel in a wheelchair."
The other is Wang Qianyuan, a newly arrived student from China at Duke University in North Carolina who turned up in the middle of a videotaped shouting match during a pro-Tibet campus rally on the day the torch passed through San Francisco. She is now viewed as a traitor.
The tales of the two women, who have become well known beyond their imagination, illustrate the sweep of cyberspace and the deep emotions here over issues of national pride.
"Chinese people all over the country salute you and thank you Jin Jing! Those who want to split our country will never succeed," reads one Internet chat-room message.
"This traitor hurt the feelings of the entire Chinese nation. She deserves the death penalty!" another chatter wrote, referring to Wang.
In Wang's case, the flaring tempers facilitated by the ease of communication among an Internet-savvy generation have elicited a sort of mob mentality. Even the Communist Party is now trying to curb the outrage for fear it could spiral out of control. But Beijing should not be surprised by what is happening, some observers say.
"This just shows that Chinese people have lived too long in a world with unbalanced information," said Zhou Xiaozheng, a sociologist at People's University in Beijing. "After listening too long to only one side of the story, we have developed zero tolerance for a difference of opinion.
"In this mind-set, you are either on our side or you deserve to be stepped on forever."
For Wang, 20, it has proved a rude awakening. When she moved to North Carolina for her freshman year, she thought she had escaped limits on speech and actions.
"I never expected something like this would happen to me in the States," Wang said in a phone interview. "If they can shut me up, it will be just like another Cultural Revolution. People who try to speak up will be labeled as traitors. It's just a vicious cycle."
