In Changsha in Hunan province, residents held up a banner outside a KFC restaurant that reads: "Get out of China, KFC and McDonald's."

On Tuesday, police in central China's Henan province detained three people outside a KFC outlet over organizing a disruptive boycott.

Defiant rap and patriotic mango

Since the South China Sea ruling was handed down, a musical video compiling Chinese citizens rapping "South Sea arbitration, who cares?" has gained nearly 4.9 million views on social media platform Weibo, China's equivalent of Twitter.

At one point the video, which was backed by the Chinese Communist Party Youth League, shows two young women in camouflage clothing repeat the lyrics while showing off daggers.

"We only sell domestic dried mangoes! .... Safeguard the South China Sea," one seller wrote.

'Irrational'

"Any action that promotes national development can rightfully be called patriotic. But so-called patriotism that willfully sacrifices public order will only bring damage to the nation and society," a People's Daily editorial said Wednesday.

Analysts say the ruling has sparked an outburst of nationalism among Chinese.

"It will further escalate nationalist sentiment in a big nation like China, which is might is right," Wang Jiangyu, law professor with the National University of Singapore, said. "In fact, it has immediately forced many of China's moderates to become hawks."

But not all Chinese social media users are in favor of this type of behavior.

"I am Chinese; I think the boycotters are idiots and I am boycotting them," Weibo user @Age_AVR commented.

Calls to Yum! China, the company that owns KFC, and Apple, went unanswered.