Children from a Kindergarten at Rugao county of Nantong city, East China's Jiangsu Province, wave national flag with joy, on September 20, 2019. Photo: VCG.

Chinese netizens experienced a patriotic carnival on Tuesday by joining a campaign to take a photo with the national flag, showcasing their feverish love for the country and happiness about the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

"Please give me [a photo] of the national flag @WeChat team" - this message has been seen on many WeChat users' Moments since Tuesday morning. 

Initiated by tech giant Tencent, a mobile H5 program allows users to attach a photo of the five-starred red flag on the bottom right corner of their file photo. Tencent called on its users to join in the campaign to celebrate the anniversary of New China with a "new" face. 

The campaign quickly attracted WeChat users' attention and the request for a flag photo went viral on WeChat. It even broke down the company's server at one point.

Around 290 million users have participated in this campaign as of press time. According to a report published by Tencent in August, WeChat has 1.133 billion live users per month. 

The program also allows users to attach the logo of 70 and the characters of Happy National Day to their file photos. 

Apart from WeChat users, Sina Weibo also allows the platform's users to attach a small photo of the national flag behind their user names by reposting the flag photo. 

The topic with the hashtag of "I am proud of you, the five-starred red flag" has received 800 million reviews. 

There had been some controversy over whether the campaign violated the country's National Flag Law, which stipulates that the national flag and its image can not be used for trade marks and advertisements and also can not be used for private funerals. 

"Whether the campaign violates the law depends on the company's purpose. The key is to see if the company launches the campaign for profit or public welfare," Liu Junhai, a business law professor at Renmin University of China in Beijing, told the Global Times.

Xu Xinming, a Beijing-based lawyer who specializes in IPR, told the Global Times that the campaign had brought a positive energy on the internet and it should not be seen as a commercial stunt. 

Similar offline activities are also being held on several platforms. Photos of Chinese citizens and overseas Chinese who take a photo with national flag at schools, tourist attractions, and exhibition halls can be seen on various social media platforms.