Read an eye-witness account of the demonstration by Duke student Emmeline Zhao

When an angry crowd of Chinese protesters came to loggerheads with a procession of pro-Tibetan students at Duke University in North Carolina, Grace Wang, a Chinese first-year, saw it as her duty to mediate between the two sides.

But the 19-year-old has become a hate figure for millions of Chinese internet users after pictures of her branded with the word "traitor" were posted on Chinese message boards and YouTube. Her family have been forced to seek police protection after their address was posted online.

Her story has highlighted how the Chinese students who have flocked to British and American universities have been caught in the crossfire between the human rights groups popular on campuses and nationalist ex-patriot communities, enraged by the demonstrations that have marred the Olympic flame’s journeys through London and San Francisco.

Pictures and videos were posted online and the website of China’s state broadcaster, CCTV, displayed her picture with the caption “most ugly foreign student”.

One e-mail correspondent threatened to chop her “into 10,000 pieces” if she returned to China, and her parents house in Qingdao was daubed with “kill traitors” in red paint.

“If traitors are people who want to harm China, then I’m not part of it,” she told the New York Times. “Those people who attack me so severely were the ones who hurt China’s image even more.”

The stand-off between the two groups, which occurred earlier this month as the Olympic flame made its way out of San Francisco under heavy protection, lasted for several hours.

The targeting of Miss Wang comes as Chinese crowds have gathered to protest at the offices of the BBC and CNN, who they blame for biased coverage.

One protester, Daniel Weiss, said that Miss Wang eventually persuaded him to talk to his Chinese counterparts. “We could compromise and say we all wanted increased human rights for all Chinese, and especially for Tibetans”, he said.

Times recommends

• Students face big rise in university fees
• Students to rate lecturers online
• Lord heads team to look at raising tuition fees