Fans of online pranks in China have taken a break from parodying big-budget Chinese movies to focus on the Olympic emblem, triggering anger and criticism from game organizers.

Internet users have transformed the emblem for the 2008 Beijing Olympic into signs for male and female public restrooms.

The original emblem, dubbed "Dancing Beijing", shows a human figure in mid-stride, arms stretched out, and looks like the Chinese character "jing", which means capital and forms half of the word "Beijing".

The Beijing Olympic mascots, the five Fuwas, have not escaped the attentions of the online parodists either. In one case, the heads of the mascots were replaced with famous Chinese comedians.

The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympic Games (BOCOG) was not amused, condemning such behavior as "tarnishing the Olympic spirit".

"We will take legal measures should things get any worse," Wednesday's Beijing Youth Daily quoted an official with the BOCOG law department as saying.

The official said the online pranks violate Chinese laws and regulations "whether or not they are driven by commercial motives".

But Beijing-based Mirror quoted Fang Yu, a lawyer from Beijing Dadi Law Firm, as saying that the Regulations on the Protection of Olympic Symbols effective from 2002 only prohibit the unauthorized use or redesign of any Olympic symbol for commercial gain, so the regulation may not apply in this case.

Chinese internet users appear divided in their views about the emblem prank.

Some echoed the official opposition, saying that the Olympic Games should not be made fun of. But others shrugged off the accusation and said that the pranks were just jokes with no evil intention.

Chinese internet users aroused public interest in their online parodies in 2005 when a netizen named Hu Ge made an applause-winning short film spoofing Chinese director Chen Kaige's big-budget movie, The Promise.

Director Zhang Yimou's blockbuster "Curse of the Golden Flower" has also been the butt of online parodies.

But online short film parodies are not supported by the government.

China's State Administration of Radio, Film and Television announced a new regulation last August to rein in the fad by ruling that only authorized websites can show short films online in order to protect morality and intellectual property.

Source: Xinhua