【明報專訊】The Incident

It can be any other national emblems (標誌) - the Stars and Stripes, the French Tricolour or the Star of David (大衛之星). But not the one with the ''Blue Sky, White Sun and a Wholly Red Earth'' (青天白日滿地紅), if you want to be spared from the fury (怒火) of angry Chinese students.

It was exactly what Deserts Chang (張懸) demonstrated to their chagrin (惱怒). On 2 November 2013 the Taiwanese singer performed at a Manchester concert attended by students from Taiwan and mainland China. Midway through the performance, she took a Republic of China flag from a compatriot (同胞) offstage, unfurled it and, holding it aloft, passionately declared, ''This is where I come from''.

Heckling (倒彩) from mainland students immediately followed. ''No politics today,'' one shouted at the singer. After the concert had ended those irate youngsters took to social media and started a cyber war of words with those from the other side of the Taiwan Strait (台灣海峽). Chang was forced to cancel a Beijing concert scheduled for next December.

The ''Blue Sky'' flag was first used by the Kuomintang (KMT, the Chinese Nationalist Party 國民黨) in 1917. It has been the official flag of the Republic of China (中華民國) since 1928. But many mainlanders consider it sensitive to display the flag and have reacted strongly to such moves.