This is also activism in China (and we think it's silly)

Just one day after Apple's iPad 2 launch drew long lines in China, conflicting reports emerged Saturday regarding an alleged altercation at an Apple Store in Beijing.
....The report alleges that a near "riot" erupted after retail staff attempted to close the store and usher customers out the back door. A separate unconfirmed report claims that a fight broke out between "a foreigner and a Chinese man," though MacX notes that the information "is difficult to distinguish between true or false."

I am slightly worried about Western portayals of Chinese, as a consuming frenzy mass. Though I cannot deny it is not there, or that materialism is not the near national religion of China (very consistent with Marxist ideology). However to emphasise and reduce people to mere economic beings is a worrying trend, not only in China. How different is it from consumerism in China from elsewhere, in the West? Domestic consumption in China, while representing close to 2 trillion USD in value, is still low compared to Western countries. Moreover, consumption in China cannot be seen as separate from a globalized world. It could well be that the 'riots' are organized (or allowed) by the company in question to help to create an air of desirability to the product; that is what I heard from an Apple app developer in Beijing. The perverseness of this consumerist religion is not limited to class or country. To only show how 'silly' (some) Chinese-comme-consumer act is like saying 'remove that splinter' while not seeing the beam in your own eye.