People's Daily's anti-American rant backfires as Chinese teen trashes ancient Egyptian temple
Papers, news portals and bloggers form chorus of criticism as red-faced party mouthpiece drops entire column
A Nanjing teenager became famous literally overnight after photos appeared online of self-incriminating graffiti he left at the Temple of Luxor in Egypt.
The teenager's act of vandalism - he scratched the words "Ding Jinhao was here" in Chinese characters on a 35-century-old sculpture - struck a raw nerve in a in a country so proud of its ancient civilisation. And, embarrassingly, it followed an astonishing attack by the Communist Party mouthpiece that labelled Americans untrustworthy and lacking in integrity.
Early last week, internet users found the online version of People's Daily had quietly run an editorial entitled "Americans lack virtue and reputation". Its introduction said that although most Chinese believe Americans are honest and reliable, "once you spend enough time in the US, you will find that you have been misled".
People's Daily admitted that not all people in the US were dishonest or immoral, but it nevertheless urged readers to share their worst experiences of dealing with Americans to help other Chinese get a better understanding of "real" statesiders.
The column, however, has become a national joke among a public more likely to point the finger at Chinese society over corruption and dishonesty, from dairy companies selling tainted milk to officials obtaining degrees from colleges that don't exist.
"Our mouthpiece has become the watchdog of the US government, while the Chinese public wants it to spend more time overseeing our own government," said a popular post on the Sina Weibo microblog service.