Mainlanders have turned to car stickers and instant-messaging icons to express their concerns about protests overseas and to show their support for the Beijing Olympic Games.
Cars plastered with the slogan Beijing, Jia you! (Go, Beijing!) began appearing on the capital's streets yesterday after a popular newspaper launched a campaign encouraging residents to voice support for the torch relay by putting the free, palm-sized red stickers on their vehicles.
The Legal Evening News teamed up with major internet portal Sina.com and Beijing News Radio to promote the campaign, and convinced department stores, cinemas and even KFC to distribute the stickers.
Wang Jia, editor of the paper's motoring pages and a key campaign organiser, said the initiative came about spontaneously among a group of editors.
'The government has absolutely no idea about our plans and we did not inform them beforehand,' he said.
People were motivated because they were Beijingers and Chinese, they wanted to support the Olympic Games and they hoped to uphold the Olympic spirit, he added.
'We are only expressing our love for our nation. We are not targeting any other country or organisation. We are hoping for peace,' he said.