in the Olympic torch relay worldwide, we have heard or seen rather violent protests. One key incident was a wheelchair-bound female athelete Jin Jing who had to shield herself from pro-Tibet protesters, during the Paris leg.
the incident was sure to stoke nationalist sentiments in China's common people, and it did. Carrefour stores in China were boycotted, and in a particular store Chinese drivers moved their trucks to block the front entrance. In return, Carrefour's management told the people that their stores carry mostly MIC products, hinting that the Chinese is stepping on their own toes. This simple statement may hurt even more feelings.
i think they felt shamed and bullied. I'm a Singaporean Chinese, but i can roughly empathize their feelings.
my personal take is simple - heads of western countries should have been smarter to anticipate the repercussions of their criticism. It's somewhat similar to the incident when Australia protested to Japan regarding the killing of sharks - but they themselves were killing kangaroos for pleasure. Thus, as a Chinese being interviewed in a particular news channel, "no one is perfect". When France set out to condemn China's handling of Tibet, i don't think France is perfect to start with.
i'm concerned about the Chinese impression towards France. Will this hatred stay? We will know only in the near future...
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The torch protests were orchestrated by Western government, specifically US and Germany:
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/en/fulltext/56145
“research of a Canadian journalist reveal that a German Foreign Ministry front organization is playing a decisive role in the preparations of the anti-Chinese Tibet campaign. According to this information, the campaign is being orchestrated from a Washington based headquarters. It had been assigned the task of organizing worldwide “protests” at a conference organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (affiliated with the German Free Democratic Party - FDP) in May 2007. The plans were developed with the collaboration of the US State Department and the self-proclaimed Tibetan Government in Exile”
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