Muslims in China feel discriminated online. (Photo : Getty Images)
Adil Memettur, aka "Princess of Qiegao," an online Sina Weibo celebrity with more than 200,000 followers, threatened to uninstall Alibaba's travel app, Alitrip.
Alitrip decided to change its name to "Fliggy" or feizhu in Chinee which means "flying pig." According to Adil, this "hurts Muslim sentiments" as it contains the word "pig."
Adil later deleted his post.
Fliggy explained on their site that the use of the pig symbolism is mere to show that the app is fun to use and can be a convenient online tool for travel.
In another site, Adil wrote, "It makes me uncomfortable when I open my phone and see the word 'pig.'"
Another netizen by the surname Huang said, "Religion can be a basis for personal self-restraint. But it will be inappropriate if someone uses his religious beliefs to restrict others."
A woman from Hui, an ethnic Muslim province, commented that most Muslims are not uncomfortable with pigs.
"We just don't eat pork, but we have no problem with the word 'zhu' (translated as a pig). Moreover, some Muslims even have their surname as 'zhu,'" she said.
Despite the increasing awareness of Islam and China's tolerance of the religion, observers saw the increasing online hostility between Chinese and Muslims.
According to Beijing journalist Mu Chunshan, "Chinese social media is quite different from traditional media in many ways; netizens, for instance, express their support or criticism of certain social groups more aggressively, with much less reserve."
He added, "This is due partially to the government's tight control of television broadcasters and newspapers, which does not allow any deviation from the official line. Conversely, China's Internet is relatively open--government's control notwithstanding, a netizen can post angry comments from time to time with impunity."
