A search for the name Wang Lijun on Sina's wildly popular microblog service returned more than 540,000 hits yesterday, as mainland internet users were allowed to openly discuss scandalous rumours about the former Chongqing police chief.
Reports that Wang tried to defect to the US consulate in Chengdu this week, along with other rumours, have been disseminated and followed by millions of mainland web users keen on collecting as much information as possible about the political scandal and passing it on to their friends via social media outlets.
Users of the Twitter-like service, which has more than 250 million registered users, have marvelled at the wild tales about Wang, such as that he put a gun to the head of Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai.
Web users have posted pictures of tight security around the US consulate, political zealots have weighed in with widespread comments, and spectators have followed it all, eagerly awaiting more.
Even those who aren't interested in or familiar with the scandal can see that 'Wang Lijun' is a trending topic on the microblog, as his name is listed under the 'most popular searched' list on the right side of the page.
Michael Anti, a political blogger based in Beijing, called it 'the most tremendous political event that has happened on the mainland in the era of social media'.
