War heroes should be respected

Cao Tingming, 102, visits the tomb of Zhang Zizhong, a general killed in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggressiona, to mourn the hero in a cemetery of revolutionary martyrs in Chongqing, April 5, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

A recent online campaign launched by Jiaduobao Group, a Hong Kong-based beverage manufacturer and China's biggest herbal tea brand, has been criticized as clumsy and disrespectful because it repromoted an infamous post on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like social network tool, that mocked and doubted a Chinese war hero Qiu Shaoyun two years ago. Comments:

Defamers of Chinese people's heroes should pay the price for what they did, instead of gaining rewards from online commercial promotions. Their punishments can come in many ways, such as being treated with disdain by others. Governments at all levels are also supposed to isolate these disrespectful rumormongers to silence their slanderous talks.

Global Times, April 23

Heroes are also human beings not gods, thus should not be deified and blindly worshiped. Being human they are not perfect, and might have weaknesses, even faults, that are open to fair and objective judgment. However, their true accomplishments and sacrifices should never be erased, especially by being belittled with frivolous jokes based on some pointless research.

Guo Zhan, a guest commentator with Guangming Daily, April 22

Intentional or not, Jiaduobao's poor online commercial promotion, which was based on defaming war heroes, overestimated the freedom of speech one can enjoy. The company's marketing skills cannot be appreciated.

Guan Zhong, a columnist with guancha.cn, April 23