"I deeply admire Chairman Mao but also criticize him for what he did wrong. I would not rip up his portraits but that doesn't mean other people have to respect him the way I do," Meng noted.

Chen Xiaowei, a lawyer from Beijing Yingke Law Firm, told the Global Times that descendents of Mao can press charges against Cao and the other three for personal attacks, but there is currently no law stipulating that ripping up a portrait, no matter who the subject, is against the law.

"Chairman Mao is the founding father of the new China. Tearing up his portraits not only damaged Chairman Mao's reputation but also inevitably harmed China's national interest," commented a Web user.

His opinion was acclaimed by supporters but challenged by some who stated that Mao was chiefly to blame for the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) that left the country in chaos for a decade and for the famine between 1959 and 1961.

The dispute was not the first of its kind. A similar debate swept the Internet when Han Deqiang, a professor at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, slapped an elderly man for allegedly insulting Mao during the September 18 anti-Japanese protests in Beijing.