Five tonnes of trash in Tiananmen provoke questions about patriotism
The five tonnes of refuse left in capital's central square seen as an unwelcome legacy of National Day flag raising ceremony
Last Tuesday morning, 110,000 spectators from around the country flooded Tiananmen Square in Beijing to watch a rain-drenched flag-raising ceremony commemorating the nation's 64th anniversary.
The crowd no doubt took home indelible memories, but the five tonnes of rubbish they left behind took a small army of cleaners half an hour to clear away.
Pictures of a sea of refuse covering one of the country's most symbolic public spaces angered many Chinese and prompted a flurry of discussion, criticism and reflection in mainland media.
Watching the flag-raising ceremony at the square on the National Day held some solemn meaning, but the tonnes of waste made us wonder how much further people could sink in terms of civil behaviour, it said.
The Oriental Morning Post referred to those who left their litter behind as "patriotic worms".