D&G incident shows patriotism is rational in China

By 5:30 pm, a post with the hashtag #D&G designer# had already been read 450 million times on Sina Weibo, China's equivalent to Twitter, with 64,000 comments.

And topics containing "D&G", for fashion design house Dolce and Gabbana, account for five of the nine hottest topics on the micro blog, ranging from the above-mentioned #D&G designer# to #D&G Great Show canceled#.

All of this was prompted by a snapshot of an Instagram post by Stefano Gabbana, designer and co-founder of D&G, that used the poop emoji to attack China in this statement: "I will say the country of (the poop emoji) is China". The snapshot in turn caused an uproar after being posted on the micro blog, as shown by the large number of views and comments it received.

D&G responded via its official micro blog account that Gabbana's Instagram account was hacked and they were solving the issue via their legal office. Yet that explanation, which is without any proof, has not been widely accepted.

Since Thursday afternoon, several famous Chinese stars have announced their decision not to attend the D&G Great Show, scheduled in Shanghai on Wednesday evening. Hours later, D&G canceled the show.

The incident shows how powerful Chinese netizens can be in defending the dignity of the country. Some blamed Chinese netizens for being "too sensitive"; such a comment is unfair because describing a country using the poop emoji is unacceptable in any modern society. Chinese micro bloggers have been doing what people in other countries will do.

Besides, patriotism has become common sense among all groups in society, as increasingly more public figures, such as entertainment stars, have been joining the resolve to defend China's dignity when any challenge arises. With their huge influence, they can bring immediate, actual losses to the companies that dare insult China, thus teaching the wrongdoer a heavy lesson.

More importantly, Chinese micro bloggers love their country in a rational, not blind, manner. Just one day ago, when marathon runner He Yinli dropped a national flag handed by to her by a volunteer before reaching the end of her race, the majority of micro bloggers vowed their support for her because it was obvious that she meant no harm.

On the contrary, the marathon organizing company faced heavy criticisms and many micro bloggers asked why they allowed a volunteer to hand a national flag to a runner just before reaching the end of her race. There is no frenzy about that spreading in Chinese society, and the patriotism of people is quite rational.

Whatever the truth, we hope D&G soon makes it clear and learns a lesson from the incident. The dignity of a country should never be trampled upon.