Angry Guangzhou residents are resisting a government campaign to light up the city before and during the Asian Games and are planning a blackout instead.
More than 2,000 internet users have vowed to support a campaign posted on Sina.com's microblog service on Thursday night calling on people to switch off their lights or burn candles at home on November 12, the night of the Games' opening ceremony.
'Please protect the environment, turn off your lights or burn candles at home as a silent protest against the government's money-burning Asian Games project,' the posting said.
In just a few hours the campaign generated more than 2,100 favourable reactions, with internet users rounding on the government's plan. The posting was deleted yesterday morning and then reinstated in the afternoon, showing only about 200 reactions. However, copycat campaigns have also gathered support.
Ray Zhou, 30, who works in the hotel industry and initiated the original Guangzhou lights-off campaign, said the Games had given Guangzhou people a year of misery.
'The government has been talking about increasing electricity fees lately and now they are asking us to turn on our lights just for the Asian Games, how immoral is that? This is totally going against the low-carbon concept the government has been promoting,' Zhou said.