A Washington Post article today describes the flooding of a popular Chinese bulletin board with comments concerning warlords who opened fire on protesters — long ago. But those posting comments are actually complaining about something much more recent.

They were using Lu’s essay about the 1926 massacre as a pretext to discuss a more current and politically sensitive event — the Dec. 6 police shooting of rural protesters in the southern town of Dongzhou in Guangdong province.

Confucius: Many posting mob is smart.