Chat rooms, websites alive with opinions

Mainland internet users yesterday swamped online chat rooms and websites to express their opinions on the sharp nationwide rise in fuel prices.

Most of those angry about the increases were worried about the effect on inflation and people's lives.

'With the price of everything rising along with the surging oil price, how can ordinary people move on?' a contributor called 'Half piece of a monk's robe' wrote on the popular Tianya online forum.

'When talking about being in line with international standards, the point should be to not only target commodity prices, but more importantly, the system,' a poster added. 'If nothing has changed about the latter, ordinary people will suffer more while those with advantages will benefit further.'

Another wrote: 'I miss Lai Changxing, the price of oil was so cheap in his era, thanks to him.'

Lai, at the top of China's wanted list for years, has been accused of masterminding the 'Yuanhua Smuggling Case' in which he is alleged to have illegally imported millions of tonnes of oil into the mainland.