It is not only China's government that was outraged by the remarks of CNN journalist Jack Cafferty that described Chinese people as "goons and thugs."

The ordinary Chinese public, which is enormously proud of the economic progress the country has made in the last 20 years and is delighted to be hosting the Olympic Games, has taken deep offense. Some folk have taken matters into their own hands - and come up with appropriately high tech responses.

On Wednesday (April 16), MSN China hit on the idea of its members adding "I heart China" icons to their instant messenger identities. Within two days some two million had adopted these virtual bumper stickers. By Friday (April 18) total had reached 5 million. There were soon other derivatives, such as these with a heart for China and a broken heart for CNN.

While that is all very peaceful, others have gone a step further. Several pages of CNN's website in China have become unavailable. The finger of suspicion, for once is not pointed at the government, which already operates an aggressive censorship of the Internet concerning inflammatory subjects such as Tibet, drugs and anti-state protests. This time it appears to be Chinese hackers.

The outrage against CNN is all the more interesting as the vast majority of Chinese TV viewers do not have access to the channel. Net is supposedly only available in 'foreigner compounds' and hotels with three or more stars. However, Chinese media have been quick to accuse CNN and other channels of bias.

In some instances they have shown news footage purporting to prove that CNN framed its Tibet video in ways that only show Chinese police in action and not the images of monks smashing property.

However, considering that CNN is already restricted in China its problems are small compared with those of French supermarket chain Carrefour, which has a large presence in Chinese cities.

Outraged by images of French protesters disrupting the Paris stage of the Olympic torch relay, Chinese people have lit bonfires outside company stores and there have been calls for a boycott of French goods.

That would sound very familiar to the U.S. public.

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