The Guizhou vice-governor learned an important lesson about the risks of social networking when he attacked unpatriotic Chinese citizens as "human scumbags". Chen admitted he made the comments on his , or microblog, which also included a rant about gun crime in the United States, but promised to "be more careful and responsible with my choice of words" in future.

The co-founder of property agency Centaline was forced to seek police protection after two men tried to attack him in his car, although he insists his outspoken stance was not the reason for the attack. Shih, who is also founder of free Chinese-language daily , has publicly criticised "hatred towards the rich" and led a protest by real estate agents against property cooling measures.