An angry crowd assaulted a man for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the Rising Sun flag 0f the Imperial Japanese Navy during a mountain climbing event in East China's Shandong Province on Saturday, media reported on Sunday.

The man was surrounded by enraged visitors of the 28th Taishan Mountain International Climbing Festival in Tai'an and forcibly stripped of his shirt, which also read "Imperial Japanese Navy."

Photos of the incident, uploaded on an online photography forum on Saturday, show locals confronting the man after Chinese competitors condemned him before the opening ceremony.

"I have lived in Japan since childhood. I wore this in Japan, why can't I wear the same clothes in China?" said the man in fluent Chinese, who was said to be in his 30s from Tianjin, according to the Sina Weibo post by "Taishan Photography School."

One event goer tore off the man's T-shirt, which was later trampled by the crowd.

Many Net users echoed the same indignation. Over 80 percent of 25,952 respondents in a sina.com Sunday supported the move while only 13.4 percent said the crowd should have remained calm.

"See what would happen if you wore a vest with a swastika in Israel," one Netizen wrote.

"The young man should be criticized. Japan launched its invasion in Shandong Province, killing more than 10,000 civilians in 1928 during the May 3rd Tragedy in Ji'nan," Qiu Yi, a political commentator from Taiwan, said on his Sina Weibo account.

Some Netizens, however, expressed their disapproval of the crowd's reaction.

Wearing a Japanese flag T-shirt does not violate the law, and people should not meddle in what people are wearing, which is their freedom, some Net users said.


Newspaper headline: Man attacked for wearing Japanese flag T-shirt