A post by Li Ye sparked unexpected conflict and fervor, drawing countless first-generation mainland netizens who had caught wind of it to join this war of words, one destined to be recorded in the history of the mainland internet's development.
One side in the war of words was the "Lighthouse Faction." They looked outward to the West's prosperity and civilization, despised the mainland's backwardness and decay, and despised mainlanders' narrow-mindedness and ignorance even more.
The other side was the "Self-Improvement Faction." They were more devoted to the mainland's self-strengthening and revival, believing that everyone should join forces to help their motherland realize its dream of modernization.
The Lighthouse Faction scorned the Self-Improvement Faction as "sour grapes because they couldn't reach them," mocking their poor academic records, their failure to obtain overseas-study spots, and their inability to leave the country and see the vast world outside.
Meanwhile, the Self-Improvement Faction blasted the Lighthouse Faction for being selfish and ungrateful, for betraying the country that had nurtured them, refusing to return after completing their studies, and abandoning even their ancestral graves for a bite of foreign bread.
It had to be said that the Lighthouse Faction was stronger than Li Ye had imagined. After all, people throughout the entire Eastern Bloc longed for the West in those days. Just like the song GO WEST used as background music by a certain director surnamed Jia in one of his films, it was practically calling on Eastern youth to head for Western capitalist countries.
Thus, all sorts of highly inflammatory rhetoric sprang up one after another on the Light Vehicle Company BBS forum, battering the Self-Improvement Faction into a retreat after retreat.
``` [Even American vagrants can play the violin. That is a world of freedom and civilization. Their wandering does not mean they