Post date: May 30, 2013 1:39:15 PM
Reuters Business Report -REUTERS VIDEOJOURNALIST, ANITA LI, SAYING:
"China's microbloggers are out to discipline some of us.
This picture of Chinese graffiti on Luxor Temple in Egypt has sparked major online outrage, and soul-searching.
It reads 'Ding Jinhao was here.'
Those kinds of statements are very common at China's monuments and tourist spots.Not surprising really. A lot of Chinese leaders have done the same...of course with more pomp.
One microblogger crawled the web and said he managed to figure out who the Luxor scribble belonged to by checking population and travel records.
Now netizens are lining up to shame the unlucky boy, who is 14 and lives in the eastern city of Nanjing. Local reports say hackers even attacked the website of Ding's school. The site is now down.
His parents even apologized in a newspaper interview.
Some microbloggers have turned the criticism on the government, accusing it of failing to protectChina's own heritage sites.
The microblog of government mouthpiece People's Daily, meanwhile, is taking foreigners to task, saying a lot of the graffiti on the Great Wall is in English.
Traveling abroad used to be a luxury for Chinese people -- but not anymore. With a lot of more people traveling, it's unfortunately a lot easier to find examples of bad behavior -- I've noticed plenty on my own trips.
Hopefully with examples like this one, it will teach people to be more considerate -- not just abroad, but also at home.
This is Anita Li, your China Weibo Watcher."