(Photo/Chengdu Business Herald)

Chinese social media is filled with laudatory comments over China’s rapid evacuation of 126 tourists following the magnitude-7.5 earthquake in Kaikoura, New Zealand. Many netizens have said they feel protected and proud of being Chinese.

The 126 tourists were evacuated by helicopter from Kaikoura to Christchurch, beginning Nov. 15. A total of 18 trips were made by five helicopters for the evacuation mission, which was organized by the Chinese consulate in Christchurch.

According to several online posts allegedly written by the evacuated tourists, the helicopters offered free rides to Chinese nationals only, and people were only let on after presenting a Chinese passport. Many netizens recounted similar evacuations carried out by Chinese embassies and consulates in other countries, when Chinese nationals were again among the first group to be brought out of danger.

One Internet user said he could empathize with the tourists, as he was evacuated on a flight chartered by the Chinese government in 2011 when Japan was hit by a magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami.

Many Chinese netizens also sympathized with British couple Scott and Selene Papworth, who watched helplessly with their children as Chinese tourists exited the quake-struck town. They reported that several calls to the British embassy had been so far in vain.

"We have to leave the kids' stuff behind, just leave it to goodwill. We have literally worked seven days a week for nearly a year for this trip, and it's all ruined. It has cost us everything. We have put the mortgage up just to get out of here," Scott told the New Zealand Herald. The report added that the family eventually left Kaikoura via a helicopter provided by a private company.

Some 1,000 tourists remain stranded in Kaikoura, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Nov. 16.