On 7 May 1999, a major incident occurred that shocked China and the United States -- NATO, under the leadership of the United States, bombed the Chinese Embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, resulting in the unfortunate death of three Chinese journalists and the injury of more than 20 staff members.
In Guangzhou, a protest is raging. Young students took to the streets with enthusiasm, holding signs and shouting slogans to protest NATO's atrocities. In the crowd, a young student with glasses was captured by a photographer because of his passion and courage, and his image was disseminated because of it.
The photo quickly circulated in major media outlets and became a symbol of the anti-American protests. About the identity of this young man and his subsequent behavior, but a careful rumor has been woven on the Internet.
It is said that this young man named "Qin Weiping" later immigrated to the United States, completely changed his position and behavior, became a supporter of the United States, and also ran for the United States Congress. This extreme shift has left many people feeling incredible.
But is it really what the internet says it is? On July 16, 2020, an important voice sounded on social media. The man known as "Qin Weiping" publicly spread the rumor on Twitter: The young man at the protest site is not him at all! He noted that it was an organized rumor attack aimed at framing and discrediting him.
There was a voice of truth, but the rumors didn't stop there. On April 18, a Weibo account titled "Lawyer Zhang Hai's Patriotic Enlightenment" repeated the same trick and continued to spread the rumor. This brought things to the forefront again.
On May 9, 2024, the real protester, the bespectacled young student, could not bear it anymore and posted a video on his social media account.
In the video, he clarified: "It's been 25 years, and those well-known and colonists are still using the photos I took in Shamian in Guangzhou in 1999 to fabricate them, fool the public, confuse the public, and spread rumors and smear them!" Let me know clearly, I have been living well in China, and I have no interest in your spiritual motherland!"
The video quickly sparked an enthusiastic response on the Internet. Netizens expressed their support, and voices of support and anger came one after another in the comment section, with everyone appreciating the young man's integrity and courage, while at the same time expressing indignation at the long-term misunderstandings and rumors.
Okay, okay, finally put an end to this "identity chaos" that has lasted for more than 20 years. This angry protest brother with shiny glasses turned out to be in China all along, and he didn't go to the United States to become a "politician" at all. Misunderstanding is really a little thing that people love and hate, and if you are not careful, you can make everyone play with flowers.
I hope everyone can get a valuable lesson from this "adventure": in this era of information explosion, each of us is our own editor, and the check between truth and falsehood starts with me! Let's make the online world a little cleaner together, after all, no one wants to get lost in the "carnival" of rumors again, right?