While many showed their angelic sides in the aftermath of the deadly tremor, the Internet community in China was still far from being a paradise.

Police in northern China have arrested at least four people for fabricating and spreading earthquake-related rumors online to stir up public panic and seek personal benefits, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

The four were accused of spreading rumors on their personal blogs and some BBS communities soon after the Sichuan earthquake, saying that a strong earthquake will soon hit Beijing and that the Sichuan temblor was manmade, the ministry said. Apparently, the rumors were created to boost traffic to their blogs, the ministry added.

Meanwhile, reports of donation fraud also appeared online. The scams were done via fake donation Webpages on popular Website portals, phone calls, and mobile phone short messages.

"The Internet is prone to spread and blow up sentiments. When the whole nation is faced with disaster, the Internet inevitably becomes the platform for conflicts of views and outlet of emotions," said Zhou Xuan, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing.

In the case of Zhang Ya of Liaoning, following her insulting video's appearance online, at least a dozen "cursing-back videos" were uploaded to YouTube overnight, some of which showed the indignant speakers cursing Zhang and her whole family with words much more profane and vicious than her original version.

"I can understand their fury and overreaction, as Zhang's remarks did challenge the bottomline of humanity," said a Beijing Internet user with the Web name Thorn Bird. "But I can't agree with the way they expressed themselves, which virtually made them no difference from Zhang."

Although "verbal violence" on the Internet is not illegal in China, it's a real disgrace to the nation for anyone to act like riffraff on the Internet, he said.

"The case of Zhang has showed how far it is for the Chinese Internet community to grow mature and rational, and how arduous the job is to purify the country's online environment," he added.

(Xinhua News Agency May 23, 2008)