Chinese use the internet to fight back

Last week I received an email from a Chinese student whom I taught in Korea.  It read in part:

"Maybe you have already known the riot in Tibet.I really can not understand why Western always slander China.
Although a lot of differences between Western and us.But we have already changed a lot things,have admitted a lot of things.Why Western can't give us a fair treating?
If you are free,please come to China.Please prove we are not devils by your eyes.Thank you

Please watch this video clip.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uSQnK5FcKas"

This seems to be part of what the New York Times is labeling Chinese Cybernationalism.   On the weekend, thousands of Chinese protested against the French department store chain Carrefour which has stores in all the major Chinese cities, because of the protest of the Olympic flame being carried through Paris.  If you want to see a Chinese student's reasonably unbiased point of view of the protests, visit the Everyday Easy Life blog.

And today, TechCrunch has coverage of a Chinese hacker group taking down a sports web site that they apparently thought was part of CNN which is their target because of comments made by Jack Cafferty calling Chinese "goons and thugs."

Whether or not you disagree with the Chinese, it seems they have found an effective way to get their voice heard globally, but hacking U.S. websites is not going to get them any sympathy.  Also, if they boycott Carrefour can Walmart,  MacDonalds, KFC etc which are all over China be far behind?  And speaking of boycott, I'm betting Jacques Rogge of the International Olympic Committee is having a few sleepless nights right now.