Parents of a 15-year-old Chinese tourist have apologised after the teenager defaced a stone sculpture in an ancient Egyptian temple with graffiti. The act drew ire in both Egypt and China - generating a massive online backlash amongst China&rsquo;s unforgiving netizens. <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/may/2805china.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 362px;" /> Writings on the wall: Ding Jinhao, from Nanjing, China scribbled &lsquo;Ding Jinhao was here&rsquo; over hieroglyphics on the wall of an ancient Egyptian temple in Luxor. The vandal carved &lsquo;Ding Jinhao was here&rsquo; in Chinese in the 3,500 year old Luxor Temple. This was photographed by an embarrassed Chinese traveler and shared on Weibo, China&rsquo;s micro-blogging site. <img alt="" src="http://images.mid-day.com/2013/may/2805art.jpg" style="width: 500px; height: 351px;" /> Saving art: The ancient structure after it was cleaned by authorities following the act of vandalism. Pic/AFP &ldquo;The saddest moment in Egypt. I&rsquo;m so embarrassed that I want to hide myself. I said to the Egyptian tour guide, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m really sorry&rsquo;,&rdquo; that traveler wrote on the original Weibo post. &ldquo;We want to wipe off the marking with a towel. But we can&rsquo;t use water since it is a 3,500 relic.&rdquo; It didn&rsquo;t take long - actually, just a day - before outraged netizens tracked down Ding in Nanjing. Slammed online and exposed further in the mainstream, Ding&rsquo;s parents quickly contacted media outlets. &ldquo;We want to apologise to the Egyptian people and to people who have paid attention to this case across China,&rdquo; Ding&rsquo;s mother said. Ding&rsquo;s parents said they shouldered the responsibility of what their son did, adding he had learned his lesson. &ldquo;He has realized he made a mistake, and we beg your pardon, please give him a chance to correct his act,&rdquo; they further added. Many social media users in China condemned Ding for damaging the ancient relic and his parents for not educating him properly. One said, &ldquo;Ding&rsquo;s uncivilized behaviour disgraced Chinese people.&rdquo; Another said, &ldquo;Reading this disastrous news this morning is heartbreaking. I despise this behavior, especially in Egypt - the place I love. Now, I just want to say &lsquo;Sorry&rsquo; to Egypt.&rdquo; $102 bnu00a0The amount Chinese tourists spend on international tourism in 2012 becoming the world&#39;s top tourism spenders

Parents of the teen apologised for the graffiti their son scratched   on a stone sculpture at the Luxor temple, which triggered an online uproar as the act was dubbed as a 'loss of face' for all Chinese people

Ding Jinhao was here: 15-yr-old Chinese defaces Egyptian relic

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Ding Jinhao was here: 15-yr-old Chinese defaces Egyptian relic

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