startling perspectives, given the West's hope for China opening up to liberalism, and China's history of squashing dissent

“Beating them to a pulp is not enough,” one person said about protesters on Tuesday, echoing an increasingly common sentiment on Weibo. “They must be beaten to death. Just send a few tanks over to clean them up.”

“The five-star flag has 1.4 billion guardians,” CCTV wrote indignantly to its 87 million followers on Weibo. “Repost! ‘I am a guardian of the flag!’ ”

It was reposted by more than 10 million people, including Jackie Chan, the Hong Kong martial arts film star.