A campaign asking Chinese Internet users to post snapshots of them and the national flag online has gone viral ahead of the 65th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on Wednesday.

Pictures posted on Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging platform, show Chinese posing all over the world.

In one, a woman stands in front of a wall painted with a national flag. In another, several police officers present their smartphones bearing the national flag as the wallpaper. One girl took a selfie in front of a computer with the national flag as the background.

Soldiers have also posted pictures of themselves standing guard at China's borders.

As of Monday, the campaign has become one of the hottest topics on Weibo, with more than 200 million comments.

The campaign was initiated by Lei Xiying, a Chinese doctoral student studying in Australia. "Let's all pray for China, post a picture with the five-starred red flag and write blessings for our motherland," wrote Lei in a post.

The student said he wanted people to express their patriotism.