Fury at torn Mao pics

Four young men who uploaded pictures of themselves tearing up portraits of Mao Zedong to their Weibo microblog accounts went into hiding Saturday. Earlier that day, one of them was released by the police after being detained for a day in Zhengzhou, Henan Province.

"Their behavior has drawn so much fire both online and offline from Mao's supporters that they have received many hate phone calls threatening their safety over the past week," said one of Cao's friends on condition of anonymity.

Cao Xiaodong, 22, a college graduate and a volunteer at HIV aid stations in Henan, were detained for over 24 hours by the Zhengzhou police for questions before he was released on Friday night. The other three participants were not detained or questioned.

Cao's girlfriend, who goes by the name Yejiang1 on Weibo, started an online campaign for his release after Cao's detention. Her posts sparked such heated debate that the microblog service provider Sina shut her account down on Saturday to avoid an escalation of conflicts.

In a Weibo post, Cheng Shuaishuai, one of the other three participants, wrote that he doesn't want to justify their behavior. "I believe it's just how a citizen expresses his opinion and participates in politics, in a peaceful way."

Meng Fangui, a law professor from Peking University, wrote on his Weibo account that ripping up portraits is part of the rights people are entitled to, including freedom of thought, speech and action.

"I deeply admire Chairman Mao but also criticize him for what he did wrong. I would not rip up his portraits but that doesn't mean other people have to respect him the way I do," Meng noted.

Chen Xiaowei, a lawyer from Beijing Yingke Law Firm, told the Global Times that descendents of Mao can press charges against Cao and the other three for personal attacks, but there is currently no law stipulating that ripping up a portrait, no matter who the subject, is against the law.

"Chairman Mao is the founding father of the new China. Tearing up his portraits not only damaged Chairman Mao's reputation but also inevitably harmed China's national interest," commented a Web user. 

His opinion was acclaimed by supporters but challenged by some who stated that Mao was chiefly to blame for the Cultural Revolution (1966-76)  that left the country in chaos for a decade and for the famine between 1959 and 1961.

The dispute was not the first of its kind. A similar debate swept the Internet when Han Deqiang, a professor at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, slapped an elderly man for allegedly insulting Mao during the September 18 anti-Japanese protests in Beijing.