A photo taken on April 21, 2008 shows national flags waving from a dormitory building in Beijing Institute of Technology. [China Foto Press]

Currently, Sina has received 26,500 flags that cost 347,500 yuan (about US$ 49,500) and Sohu 29,403 flags. Thousands of national flags were sent to countries including Germany, Britain, France, Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and the Republic of Korea, many of which appeared on the way of the torch relay tour.

"Everyday, everywhere the flame passes, there are our hot-blooded netizens escorting it," said a netizen nicknamed "Nameyers".

And there they are.

A picture posted on websites showed a Chinese student in London wearing a cotton-padded jacket and carrying a national flag. He jumped into a fountain to block two others who held flags of the "Tibet government-in-exile".

Another portrayed a silver-haired grandpa in San Francisco saluting the Olympic torch with his right hand. His left hand held a placard that read "Greetings to my motherland".

These are just a few stories among the numerous photos entitled "The unnamed heroes behind the torch relay".

A netizen named "Praying for Peace" said, "Let those who want to sabotage the torch relay see how united we Chinese are".

"The persons who cry for 'Tibet independence' should stand the trial of justice and their own conscience," wrote "Free Blob".

Passion rewarded

Their voices were heard.

Nouvelles d'Europe, a Paris-based Chinese language newspaper, carried an editorial on April 18 calling on French media and officials to calm down, to stop fanning hostility between Chinese and French people, and give the Chinese due respect.

An article in the Singapore-based Lianhe Zaobao on April 16 said the Western media, which danced to the tune of obstructors and protesters to distort the truth, finally stirred a fire that burnt themselves.

Commenting on the turmoil that has disturbed the global relay, International Olympics Committee (IOC) President Jacques Rogge urged the West to stop badgering China over human rights.