Although Mo hasn’t responded to Wu’s attacks directly, this week – in response to the “recent storm” – Chinese media outlets shared a video of him reciting a poem by the Song dynasty poet Su Shi about the struggles and joys of being a scholar despite setbacks.
And while some people have accused Wu of trying to boost his own social media clout, the fact that such a campaign is tolerated by China’s censors reflects the rising levels of online nationalism, which in recent years have reached dizzying heights of fervour.
Another offending beverage, a brown rice tea, features on its packaging fish that allegedly look like Japanese koinobori, flags in the shape of carps.
It soon spiralled into an all-out attack on Nongfu, with netizens criticising the drinks’ packaging as well as the fact that the company has US investors and that Zhong’s son is a US citizen.
Analysts say online vitriol has been particularly intense since China’s zero-Covid regime kept tens of millions of people cooped up at home for the better part of three years, only to emerge into an economy battered by poor job prospects and weak demand.
According to one outspoken Tsinghua law professor, Lao Dongyan, the online environment amounts to an “anti-intellectual culture” – unlike comments from many of the self-styled patriots, however, hers has since been deleted.
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