A post praising China’s President Hu Jintao for his picking up a Chinese flag sticker after leaders of the G20 nations gathered for a family photo at the Group of 20 leaders summit this week was widely reposted and discussed on Sina Weibo, China’s biggest microblogging site.

Wang Wen, an employee with the official Global Times said on his verified Sina Weibo account: “In the group photo of the G20 summit, every leader’s position is marked with a flag sticker on the floor. After the shoot, all the flags were still on the ground and trodden on by people except the Chinese five-star red flag because its master bent down and picked it up and carefully put it away.”

The post also attaches a combo picture recording the scene.

The post has been reposted more than 16,000 times so far with most users praising Hu’s actions and claiming to be touched.

@阿忠橡胶 : There’s a spirit called patriotism.
@小金钟 :I wanna cry!
@阿蒂夫 :The moment should be remembered!　
@泽瀚SEM :This is dignity!
@鱼小陶 :Brother Tao did a great job!
[Editor’s note: Brother Tao is a nickname for President Hu made by the Chinese people.]

Other users however were quick to point out that Hu was actually pulling a sticker bearing China's flag off his shoe.

Some even provided a video clip of the incident which verified Reuters’ caption of the picture. The video post was also widely spread but later deleted by the Weibo webmasters.

@邢立达 said that even if the flag was stuck on his shoes, he put it away carefully and didn’t stomp on it. The user provided a video clip showing how Hu put the sticker in his pocket. This post was also widely spread but not deleted.

@假装在纽约 said: “Just now I saw a comment of a netizen, I would like to share it with everyone – before I gain the freedom to critize, I would never praise any politicians.”

@雨殇霏 said: “Pick it up or not pick it up, that’s not a question. We actually don’t care. We just want the country to be better.”

The G20 Summit took place in Los Cabos, Mexico on June 18, 2012.