China on Sunday suspended the Olympic torch relay for three days of mourning for victims of last week’s earthquake. Nevertheless the torch’s progress around China is proving more tranquil than the international portion of the relay, which was disrupted repeatedly by anti-Beijing protests. Even more striking than those rallies, however, were the counter-demonstrations by overseas Chinese nationalists determined to defend the torch.

Thousands of Chinese students rallied in Seoul and a few threw bottles at critics demonstrating against Beijing’s treatment of North Korean refugees. In Canberra, 10,000 Chinese were bussed in from Sydney and Melbourne, vastly outnumbering the pro-Tibetan independence protesters.