The Daiyou islands (if you're Chinese) or Senkaku islands (if you're Japanese) have recently been purchased by Japan. The islands are uninhabited and were privately owned. However, Japan has maintained sovereingty over the islands since 1895. In the '70s, however, China decided that they should be Chinese islands. Now that Japan has purchased them from the owning family, all hell has broken loose in China.
Many people's Japanese cars have been destroyed, dealerships have been looted and razed, and most of the Japanese auto makers have had to evacuate their plants. Probably the most screwed up thing we've seen is this banner that the employees of an Audi dealership put up. It reads (more or less) "Even if China is covered in graves, all Japanese must be exterminated. Diaoyu must be reclaimed even if China becomes barren land."
Audi, of course, has issued a statement disapproving of the message that read, "As a company, we should not take positions in political issues. We sincerely regret such kind of behavior happened, and feel indignant toward this behavior," and the banner has been taken down. While it's not bad, we think Audi PR probably should have put something in there about being strongly against genocide.
[via SF Gate, Jalopnik]
