[blog] Extra! Extra! Giant Maos, Taiwanese gay parades, and more internet controls?
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- Changsha sculptors are carving a giant 100-foot-tall statue of Mao ZeDong out of granite, but many are complaining it doesn't look like Mao. Netizens say it reminds them of the Sphinx while one British paper has drawn a comparison to Lord Byron. [Telegraph]
- Even more than wanting to see the pictures from Taiwan's largest gay parade ever, you probably want to hear what Chinese netizen reactions were on it. Lucky we have Chinasmack, eh? [Chinasmack]
- Get to know a little more about the "Father of Chinese Aerospace" (aka "Rocket King") Qian xuesen, who helped launch the P.R.C.'s missile program after, ironically, leaving the U.S. over accusations of having Communist ties. He passed away this weekend. [Wall Street Journal]
- Here's a visual update on artist Ai Weiwei's brain - he was beaten by police while attending the trial of Sichuan earthquake activist Tan Zuoren, and developed subdural hematoma about a month later. [China Geeks]
- Did you know Shenzhen is said to have more 二奶 “er nai” (mistresses) than any other city in China? These ladies allegedly get roughly $1,000 a month (with extras for apartment, cars and clothing budgets). They then usually build up a nice nest egg, return home and marry some dude from their village. [China First Capital]
- China has stopped publicizing trade data between it and North Korea as it tries to improve ties with the skittish nation. This newest move comes after months of courting between Kim Jong-Il and Wen Jiabao. [Reuters]
- Really dude? China's police chief has called for a reinforced nationwide Internet security system, because "there are many loopholes in social management, and maintaining social stability faces unprecedented new challenges." We say STFU, Meng Jianzhu. [Inquirer]
[blog] TIME's Austin Ramzy on GDP growth, the Global Media Summit and the TIME China blog
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Austin Ramzy has been reporting for TIME for 6 years, starting in Hong Kong and moving to Beijing in 2007. Since then he has covered the Hong Kong Chief Executive election in 2007, the Beijing Olympics, Wenchuan earthquake and the Xinjiang riots.
Working in regional journalism in the US before moving to Hong Kong, Ramzy has a Bachelor degree in East Asian Studies from Middlebury College and a Masters in Journalism from Berkeley. He was in Harbin for a term during his university days.
His most recent articles in TIME includes ones on the Global Media Summit, China and Russia
seeking an oil pact, China's 3rd Quarter GDP rise and the economy and Censorship at the Frankfurt Book Fair. Ramzy was also the main contributor to TIME China's blog, which recently stopped operating.
Danwei asks Ramzy questions about his reporting background, the stories that he has written from Beijing (above), and why TIME closed down the TIME China blog.
Danwei: How long have you been covering China affairs for TIME? Did your methods of working change when you moved from Hong Kong to Beijing? Did any new difficulties arise or was Beijing a easier place to be a China journalist?
Austin Ramzy: I started as an intern at TIME Asia in 2003. I was eventually hired full-time and worked four years as a reporter-researcher. That's TIME-speak for a fact checker who is sometimes uncaged to write book reviews, obituaries, short pieces based on reporting from stringers in the field and occasionally even cover stories. The opportunities to cover China from that job were somewhat limited. I did write about Hong Kong politics, but only made a few reporting trips to the mainland.
When I moved to Beijing in the summer of 2007 someone I interviewed often told me that reporters used to sit in Hong Kong trying to figure out what was happening in Beijing, now they go to Beijing to figure out what is happening in Hong Kong. This city has become an important place for journalism, not just for covering China but global issues as well. The variety of interesting people and stories you can find in Beijing more than make up for the difficulties of living and working here.
Danwei: Where do you look when you look for stories? How much of it is already decided for you by TIME?
AR: I search as broadly as I can for stories. That includes domestic and foreign media, blogs and websites, academic journals and conversations with sources. I would estimate that about half of what I do comes from my own ideas and half is assigned by editors.
Danwei: Taking a story that we recently linked to, about the World Media Summit in Beijing. Was there anything genuine about the conference and safeguarding foreign media rights? David Bandurski said it was a bit like the Communists holding court, would you agree?
AR: The World Media Summit story was assigned by an editor as the event was winding up, so I wasn't able to attend in person. What I wrote was based on the speeches that were presented at the event. Was there anything genuine about safeguarding foreign media rights? Hu Jintao made that pledge, which is similar to what the government has been saying for the past few years. I'm not so cynical as to think there was nothing genuine about that pledge, but I think the commitment is limited. China has become an easier place for foreign journalists to work, but the reporting rules are often ignored by local officials when you're in the field. Like many regulations in China, the protections for journalists look good on paper but are easily cast aside when they conflict with the interests of people in power.
David Bandurski is a keen observer of Chinese media and foreign coverage of China, and I quoted some of his comments in my piece. His message that you shouldn't ignore your fundamental responsibilities in a quest for access is important. That said, I think he may have been a bit harsh in that piece. Some of the speeches given by foreign media executives did include requests for China to be more open and fair with access to information. They were couched in polite language because they had to be. That's the only way to get the message across in that environment.
Danwei: You also recently wrote about the astonishing 3rd Quarter GDP growth (8.9%). If you could give us one, what would your predictions for the Chinese economy over the next year or more be?
AR: I think China's recent growth has been uneven and possibly a bit exaggerated, but it isn't completely a mirage. I think in the next year there could be some stumbles as the government is forced to manage the bad debt produced as a result of this year's lending binge and also tries to control the overcapacity produced by poorly targeted investment. There is still an unhealthy reliance on exports, and foreign demand is unlikely to return for a long time. The government still hasn't done enough to make consumption a pillar of the economy. But despite all those obstacles, I think China is in a pretty good position to maintain moderate economic expansion next year, though probably short of double-digit growth.
Danwei: Could you tell us why the TIME China blog got closed down and what did you get out of writing a blog on TIME that is pertinent to reporting on China?
AR: I don't know all the reasons why the China Blog was shut down. I don't think it ever ranked very high among TIME blogs in terms of traffic. If we had managed to sustain a large volume of posts or attract a big readership the blog would have probably survived.
Blogs are useful because they allow a connection with readers that you don't get writing at a big magazine. When I started at small newspapers I would come to work most days to find my voice mail jammed with messages from readers. Usually they were related to what an idiot I was, and occasionally to what a genius I was. But I never lacked a sense of what people thought about my work. As I moved to bigger publications that connection seemed to fade, but blogs are a way to revive that. As you noted on Danwei, the China Blog's comment section was lacking. I wish it could have been more of a reasoned dialogue rather than ranting from various entrenched viewpoints, but sometimes there were insightful comments.
The blog was a good format for covering breaking stories and writing about quirky or personal stuff that wouldn't qualify for a magazine or web story. I live in a courtyard that is divided among 20 laobaixing families. I wrote a story about the neighborhood ahead of the Olympics that ran in the US edition of TIME, but there's a lot of other stuff that wouldn't make it into print. On the blog I wrote about my toilet overflowing and flooding the courtyard, my neighbor creeping in one night with a butcher knife because he thought I was being robbed, another neighbor getting wasted at a dinner party, declaring our courtyard a "harmonious society" and then puking. I found it all interesting and entertaining, but I could see where some readers might find it too personal and self-indulgent.
Danwei: Do you find reading Chinese and English blogs, Twitter and other digitalized information useful for your story needs?
AR: Yes, without a doubt. When I first started reporting the go-to resources were the clips morgue and library card catalogs. It's hard to imagine how anything was possible. There are of course limitations to digital resources. There is still no substitute for being there, especially when you have a breaking event like the Sichuan earthquake. But the Internet opens up a lot of possibilities.
Danwei: In the face of the changing media landscape, where digital and new media is on the rise, would you say that going to journalist school (as you did) is still crucial and road-paving?
AR: I don't think going to journalism school was ever critical. It was useful to me, and there are j-school grads at a fair number of Chinese publications and foreign outlets covering China. Of course, most of my classmates aren't even involved in journalism any more. Part of the difficulty is that journalism is in tremendous flux right now, and a lot of jobs are disappearing, especially at traditional media outlets. So it's hard for j-schools to know what to teach. My advice to people considering j-school right now is to think very carefully about what you hope to get out of it. You could just end up with a lot of debt.
Danwei: Can you imagine a situation where you would dislike reporting from China? What would it be?
AR: I once interviewed an executive in Beijing who said China is a place where nothing is permitted and everything is possible. That's an exaggeration on both ends, of course. But it says a lot about the rewards and frustrations one finds working here. I experience things I dislike about reporting in China on a regular basis. I also experience minor victories and moments of satisfaction. All in all I can't think of anywhere I'd rather be working.
This article is from Danwei.org.
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[blog] Earthquake and Tsunami in Samoa
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At least 65 people were reported dead in Samoa, more than 20 in American Samoa and at least six in Tonga.
Tags: Pacific / Samoa / American Samoa
Earthquake, Tsunami, Disaster, Emergency, Humanitarian, Relief, Rescue,
[blog] Surgery for Ai Weiwei in Germany
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[blog] Five-year retrospective -- Imagethief on hiatus until 2010
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Imagethief arrived in China on June 6th, 2004, a naive and wide-eyed whelp of just 36. The last five years have been quite an education, and it's an older and (incrementally) wiser Imagethief who corresponds with you today. China years are like dog years. It's not so much the frequency of events as the amplitude. China seems a nation always on the threshold of crisis, with about one reliable trip per year over that threshold.
Let's be honest: I'm addicted to the rush. To be a foreigner in China is to live in a state of perpetual voyeurism, like being a guest in the household of a proud but slightly dysfunctional family. For someone who enjoys writing, this is solid gold, and for five years this blog has been the collecting point for various scribblings on current events in China. There are more talented writers out there, and certainly more talented voyeurs, but I've been thrilled at how many people have taken the time to read and comment. The blog has been the starting point for many of my best friendships in China. It is also, as I've discovered, read by a good share of the foreign-correspondent community. For a PR man, that's gratifying.
So I'd like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read, comment and e-mail. And to let you all know that I'm going take a little time off from the blog. Anyone who's been reading for a while will know that I write a lot less than I used to (and anyone who hasn't been reading for long can track the trajectory here). Partially this is a result of changes in my life, including expanding professional responsibilities and, more importantly, the birth of my son in early 2008. But it's also the result of a bit of creative weariness. Since June 12, 2004, I've written just a shade under 1,300 posts. At the risk of stating the obvious, that's a lot.
So I'm going to put the blog on the shelf for a few months to give myself a chance to restore a little creative vigor. To anyone out there who is devastated by that news and is now reaching for a fistful of sleeping pills, it's just a freakin' blog for chrissake. Get over it. But also, this is not retirement. Imagethief will return in early 2010, so keep that entry in your RSS reader alive. In fact, it's entirely possible that the occasional post will go up in the meantime, but it will be strictly an as-and-when thing.
Yes, I realize a hiatus is blog readership suicide. But, really, what's it going to do? Bottom out my ad rates?
Meanwhile, if you want to stay in touch, you can follow me on Twitter, Facebook or Friendfeed or just send me an e-mail at dwmoss at gmail dot com. Facebook and Friendfeed largely echo my Twitter feed, but they also catch my occasional photo and video uploads. If you "friend" me on Facebook, please identify yourself as an Imagethief reader or I'm liable to ignore you.
I don't want to leave you empty-handed. I did miss the actual fifth anniversary of Imagethief, but it's not too late to celebrate. In commemoration of a half-decade of snarky, juvenile ranting, here is the chronology of my stay in China as documented in selected Imagethief posts. Even if you don't read the actual posts, the topics are a nice recounting of five years of life in China, at least via the things that catch the eye of a PR man. It's also a wonderful reminder of how cyclical China news topics are. Or, perhaps simply how cyclical my own interests are.
See everyone in 2010.
Five years of life in China as seen through Imagethief
2004
Just one, as many 2004 posts were banal expat observations, like the one below.
Nothing here is in English: Imagethief fresh off the boat and stating the obvious in his first post. June 12, 2004.
2005
The most prolific year, following a six month hiatus that started when I began working in Beijing.
Singapore Straits Times journalist detained in China: Ching Cheong is arrested in China. May 30, 2005.
Why American Internet firms betrayed me, not China: MSN censors controversial words. American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 1. July 4, 2005.
Cheap Chinese coffins in the US -- Another fiendish plot?: America agonizes about cheap Chinese coffins. July 12, 2005.
Remain calm -- The killer pig flu is under control! Pig flu! Aaaaarrrrggghhh! August 2, 2005.
No "Half Life" for China's half-pints: China cracks down on violent video games. August 6, 2005.
Keep your filthy orgy off our wall: A foreigner is photographed taking a leak on the Great Wall. Scandal! August 10, 2005.
Run silent, run cheap: America agonizes about Chinese submarines. August 12, 2005.
Only 79,000 attempted intrusions? Chinese cyber-spies are slacking! America agonizes about Chinese hackers. August 22, 2005.
Do you, uh, Yahoo? You're busted! Yahoo gets in trouble for complicity in the arrest of a Chinese journalist. American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 2. September 8, 2005.
Shanghai narrowly averts dastardly Japanese architectural plot: The Shanghai World Financial Center changes its round cut-out to the now infamous "bottle-opener" shape. October 18, 2005.
American Internet firms in Chinese peril: American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 3. November 2, 2005.
Qianmen and Xianyukou alley get the chai: The "redevelopment" of one of my favorite areas of beijing begins. November 6, 2005.
How to write a generic China bird flu story: Bird flu! Aaaaarrrrgghh! November 8, 2005.
Hello Kitty meets the Power Rangers: 5 Olympic mascots: Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, Nini. November 11, 2005.
The Harbin water crisis: Tons of benzene spill into the Songhua river. Chinese press reports blow a local cover-up. November 26, 2005.
China cracks down on anonymous mobile phones: The regulator tries to enforce real-name registration for phone numbers. Still trying. December 5, 2005.
2006
The golden age.
The martyrdom of Michael Anti -- Analyzing Microsoft's motivations: American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 4. January 5, 2006.
Congress to grill US net firms on China: American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 5. January 14, 2006.
Quick thoughts on Chinese media Google-trashing: Chinese media question Google's right to operate. American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 6. February 23, 2006.
China broadcast shocker -- SARFT to limit period dramas: Because they might give kids the wrong impression. Not to be confused with a July, 2009 order with similar content. March 3, 2006.
Socialist concepts of honor and disgrace -- Now translated: Remember this? Since superseded by the more compact and flexible "Harmonious Society". March 15, 2006.
Protest banners fly near new CCTV headquarters: And they're still working on the goddamned thing. April 16, 2006.
Bill Gates and Hu Jintao in the gaze of the Mighty Thought-o-Tronic: Hu Jintao visits Microsoft. One of my favorite deployments of the Thought-o-Tronic. April 19, 2006.
Q: What do my Chinese colleagues think of Bush and Hu? George W. Bush and Hu Jintao meet in Washington. It goes less than smoothly. April 21, 2009.
Shanghai commits ironic PR suicide: Shanghai gets pissed at how it is depicted in a silly, American action movie. May 17, 2006.
The strange case of the disappearing blockbuster: The Da Vinci Code is yanked during its run in China, for murky reasons. June 13, 2006.
Foxconn shoots themselves, Apple in the foot: Foxconn causes PR trouble for Apple. Not to be confused with recent developments involving the unfortunate suicide of a young Foxconn employee. August 29, 2006.
The elephant in the newsroom: Imagethief dismisses China's ambitions to become an International news power. October 22, 2006.
Olympics mean a softer touch for foreign correspondents, maybe: Sorely tested in the breach. December 2, 2006.
E-Bay E-jects from China: American Internet firms in Chinese trouble, part 7. December 20, 2006.
2007
The year I lived in Shanghai.
Once again, Starbucks ain't the problem with the Forbidden City: I leap to the defense of the ill-fated Starbucks. January 17, 2007.
Principles are good -- What happens when they are tested? American tech firms announce a set of "principles" for operating in democratically challenged regimes. January 21, 2007.
And for the fake ant-breeder, death! The great Shenyang medicinal ant pyramid scheme of '07. (I wrote about it in more detail here.) February 15, 2007.
How to turn one terrible scandal into two: The China Railway 12th Bureau Group Company is caught trying to cover up a subway construction collapse in Beijing. April 2, 2007.
American IPR hawks, remember the little people: America threatens China with WTO action over piracy. I plead for mercy. April 10, 2007.
Melamine hogs: America agonizes over lethal Chinese pet food. Early harbinger of the melamine scandals of 2008. April 26, 2007.
Did the "Genocide Olympics" influence China? Mia Farrow fires a broadside against China's human rights record in the run-up to the Olympics. May 16, 2007.
I say "tomato", you say "massacre", let's call the whole thing off. Debating the nomenclature of whatever it was that happened in Tian'anmen Square twenty years ago. May 20, 2007.
Technology at work in Xiamen chemical plant protest: The Xiamen PX plant protests. June 1, 2007.
China's food crisis PR strategy: Blame everyone else: The monster Chinese food quality crisis scandal of 2007. June 4, 2007.
China launches successful anti-piracy campaign against movie pirate: Pirates of the Caribbean is yanked from planned distribution in China, for murky reasons. June 17, 2007.
Nobody said media whoring would be easy: The rise of Zuola, China's first celebrity "citizen journalist". June 23, 2007.
Lessons from the great cardboard bun hoax of '07: CCTV is caught airing a hoax story on bad steamed buns, reminding everyone why it is so widely loved and respected. July 19, 2007.
...and sometimes they blow up in the faces of PR risk-takers: The product quality scandals, continued. Mattel comes a cropper. August 2, 2007.
Bang! China shoots its own Olympic PR in the foot: Foreign correspondents covering a protest outside Olympic headquarters are arrested along with protesters. August 7, 2007.
Imagethief discusses "Incorruptible Warrior" on BBC radio: A videogame designed to teach proper, Chinese values to spotty youth. August 7, 2007.
China's new labor law won't just make work for lawyers: The new labor law comes into force. November 12, 2007.
China moon photos -- That's all the conspiracy theory you can manage? China orbits the moon. The Chinese don't quite believe it. December 6, 2007.
What to make of Edwin Maher? Foreign CCTV9 news anchor Edwin Maher runs headlong into the teeth of the Chinese expat blogosphere. December 10, 2007.
Gumby's love-child named Shanghai World Expo mascot. Introducing Haibao. Who here wants to see him impaled on a stick and roasted in a campfire? December 20, 2007.
Hijacking the Olympic agenda, big time and small time: TV personality Hu Ziwei accuses her husband of having an affair, in a live press conference. His press conference. His Olympic press conference. December 29, 2007
2008
Back to Beijing for the Olympic year. I actually wrote very little about the actual Olympics, despite attending. It was, to say the least, well covered elsewhere.
Let me tell ya about Edison Chen's dirty photos: The Edison Chen scandal. To this day, the most viewed post ever, thanks to people looking for the photos. I find that funny since, having seen the photos, I can report that the only way to get less erotic photos of naked people would be to sneak a camera into a nudist colony for octogenarians. February 13, 2008.
Steven Spielberg pulls out of the Olympics: Oh, man. This won't look good in the brochures. February 13, 2008.
Scandalous death of a propaganda image: A faked photo of Tibetan antelopes near the Qinghai-Tibet train is caught out. Not to be confused with a similar episode involving a tiger. February 24, 2008.
Tibet and the trouble with unassailable national myths: Analyzing the role of communication in the Tibet unrest. March 19, 2008.
Imagethief does Beijing's new Terminal 3: The Olympic airport opens. It's really, really big. Which is pretty much the most that can be said for it. April 8, 2008.
Jack Cafferty brews more trouble for CNN in China: It's official: CNN is the most hated foreign news organization in China. April 16, 2008.
Inside Carrefour's crisis management in China: Anti-French protests after trouble in Paris during the Olympic torch relay. April 30, 2008.
5/12, 9/11 and three minutes on Monday afternoon: The devastating Sichuan earthquake of 2008. I attend the memorial in Tian'anmen Square. May 21, 2008.
The mysterious outage of video sharing site 56.com: They never fully recovered. June 14, 2008.
An unfortunate glimpse into my Olympic stream of consciousness: Tweeting the opening ceremony. August 8, 2008.
Why I don't care about the opening ceremony's fraudulent footsteps: Olympic scandals, part 1: August 12, 2008.
Gymnasts, now and then: Olympic scandals, part 2: August 14, 2008.
iPhone girl: Brilliant Apple PR or lucky accident? Foxconn gives Apple good PR. For once. September 6, 2008.
Coke and Huaiyuan: Let the PR slanging begin: Coke's failed attempt to purchase Huiyan. September 11, 2008.
Melamine in Sanlu milk powder? Now that's a crisis! The great melamine food scandals of 2008. September 15, 2008.
Illegal baby part 2: I fought the law and the law won: Incidental to everything else in 2008, my son was born. And was almost immediately in trouble with the Chinese authorities. October 5th, 2008.
Pardon me, but who gives a damn about Gong Li anyway? Gong Li takes Singaporean citizenship. Chinese netizens have the entirely predictable reaction. November 16, 2008.
2009
Bring it on home.
It's official, China has eleventy-billion Internet users: China becomes the number-one Internet using nation on earth. A highly over-rated fact in Imagethief's opinion. January 14, 2009.
China to spend RMB 45 billion beefing up its international media: Imagethief dismisses China's ambitions to become an International news power. Again. And in more detail here. January 14, 2009.
So what are you getting mom for "Serf Liberation Day"? A really strange holiday. January 21, 2008.
Mandarin Oriental Beijing goes Irwin Allen: Part of the new CCTV compound burns down, unleashing a vast outpouring of sympathy for CCTV online. Oh, wait, that's not sympathy... February 9, 2009.
What the "grass mud horse" means and doesn't mean: Rise of a Chinese Internet meme. March 13, 2009.
Chinese cyberspies? Sheer lies and heinous fabrications: America agonizes about Chinese hackers. Again. April 9, 2009.
Oh, Jackie: Superstar Jackie Chan opens mouth and inserts his flying feet at the Boao Forum for Asia. April 21, 2009.
Hubei cigarette purchasing plan extinguished: Hubei officials had been ordered to smoke more cigarettes... May 7, 2009.
Consultants say hardened Chinese death-nerds are coming for your daughters: America agonizes about the Chinese linux. May 13, 2009.
Down the quarantine rabbit-hole in Shanghai: Swine-flu! Aaaaarrrrrgggh! May 19, 2009.
Why I'm not in a tizzy over China's new Internet filtering software: The Green Dam Youth Escort fiasco. June 8, 2009.
Rough for Expo with all those robot fights breaking out in that nameless city: Shanghai gets pissed at how it is depicted in a silly, American action movie. Again. June 29, 2009.
Riots in Xinjiang and the price of omission: Xinjiang explodes. July 7, 2009.
Annual best-of and most-popular collections
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[blog] Riots in Xinjiang and the price of omission
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To have one ethnic minority erupt in angry rioting looks like misfortune. To have two erupt in angry rioting suggests that a rethink of the overall approach might be a good idea. Urumqi has been in chaos for the last 72 hours, and reports suggest that at least for the moment things are not improving. Considering all the obsessive attention paid to ensuring that the 20th anniversary of TAM in Beijing went smoothly, it is perhaps not surprising that the latest terrible incident in China should once again flare up at the country's faraway margins.
Two divergent narratives now seem to be unfolding. The best place to see an evolving digest of Chinese and Western coverage in one place is at EastSouthWestNorth. However, to summarize, in the broad Western media narrative, Uighurs ground down by decades of colonial oppression and incited by racism have erupted in rebellion. In the one told by Chinese media, "splittists" let by the Uighur exile Rebiyah Kadeer have engineered an outbreak of groundless violence (中) directed largely at innocent ethnic Han.
Condensing as they must a long and complicated history from different political points of view, both narratives are hobbled. The Western narrative is hobbled by a reflexive sympathy for any group arrayed in opposition to a Chinese state that is well established in the role of bogeyman (although it's worth reading Adam Minter's post contrasting the New York Times' Tibetan "protestors" of 2008 with the Uighur "rioters" of 2009). The Chinese narrative is hobbled by a national myth-making apparatus that allows no room whatsoever for the acnowledgment of Uighur grievances.
In the Tibetan riots of 2008 and many of the other controversial events surrounding the Olympics, the gulf between the Chinese and Western narratives lead to a great deal of tension between Chinese people and the western media (largely represented by CNN, which received death threats at its bureau in Beijing). Perhaps in attempt to substantiate its own narrative on this occasion, the Chinese authorities were surprisingly quick to release casualty figures and to bring foreign media to the site of the unrest. However, with the presence of foreign media possibly having encouraged at least one mob, and with Han Chinese "revenge mobs" reportedly taking up arms, it remains to be seen whether Urumqi remains open for long. Chengdu was quite open following the earthquake of May, 2008, but bad habits were in evidence again during recent foreign media attempts to report on the first anniversary, so the trend is mixed at best. The Foreign Correspondents Club of China is already receiving reports of detention of foreign journalists in Urumqi.
The Chinese government's approach to communication in this case draws from a playbook that will be familiar to anyone who followed the Tibetan rioting last year. Evil external forces are directly indicted. Graphic images of rampaging minorities and bloody Han predominate. Horror is expressed by a mix of victimized Han and the ethnic group involved. There are elements of truth in this narrative that should be respected. Innocent Han who committed no crime other than living in Urumqi are being attacked. There are no doubt Uighurs who are completely horrified by the rioting, and who were injured in the riots. It's possible that Ms. Kadeer's World Uighur Congress encouraged at least a demonstration even if not actual rioting, especially considering the recent unfortunate attack on Uighur laborers in south China. There are almost certainly "terrorists" in Xinjiang.
But the missing from this official story, as it was missing from official reports on the Tibetan riots, is any acknowledgment that Uighurs in general might have legitimate grievances. Grievances about the influx of ethnic Han, the relative lack of economic opportunity, demolition of their traditional cities, limitations on their right to freely practice their religion, or whatever.
That's a serious omission because, while it is made with an eye on propagating an official story of the spread of development and prosperity, it comes with a long-term price: it inflames the very tensions it attempts to paper over. And it, with marvelous efficiency, it inflames them on both sides. Uighurs are given the impression that their concerns are considered unworthy of acknowledgment by the State, a situation that is a classic recipe for convincing people to take extreme measures. Other Chinese, meanwhile, are deprived of any context for the riots, which feeds into a colonial attitude toward Uighurs that I have experienced firsthand. If you believe that you have given a people nothing but development and progress and economic opportunity, and they rise up against you, then you will come to see them as at best treacherous and untrustworthy and at worst as less than human, with predictable consequences. Legitimate grievances or not, the riots are almost certainly doing terrible damage to the Uighur cause in China.
Obviously, acknowledging Uighur grievances, especially during the rioting itself, isn't a recipe for immediate peace. It's only part of a long-term solution. But the omission, especially as part of a pattern of such omissions, is telling. And there will be a price to be paid for it, because if you can't acknowledge that there are problems and therefore take visible steps to address them, the only viable alternative is to clamp down ever tighter. And that, as history has shown, is a virtual guarantee of future troubles to come.
Previously on Imagethief:
Tibet and the trouble with unassailable national myths (March, 2008)
Further reading:
- New York Times: Toll rises to 156 in ethnic clashes in Western China
- Guardian: Riots in Urumqi, China (photographs)
- Danwei: Reporting in Xinjiang
- CNN: Ethnic unrest in China leads to mass arrests
- Reuters: Chinese go online to vent ire at Xinjiang unrest
- BBC: Chinese rampage against Uighurs
- Al Jazeera: Uighur unrest continues in Xinjiang (YouTube)
- Xinhua: Violence in Urumqi not a peaceful protest
- Anti-CNN: In coverage of Xinjiang CNN and other Western media show their shameless face again (中)
- Chinageeks: The Urumqi riots and media strategy
Urumqi, May 2006. Photograph by the author.
[blog] In Closing
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[blog] Placing Wishes on the Tree of Hope
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[blog] Brief Meihua Update
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[blog] Death Tolls and Press Controls on Quake's Anniversary
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[blog] Stone Chair Village Revisited
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[blog] A Welcome Reunion, One Year Later
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[blog] Join Us For A Live Chat
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[blog] The Billboard Has Risen
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[blog] Stiffen Your Unbowed Backs!
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[blog] Scenes From Beichuan, Old And New
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[blog] Mom and Dad's Story
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[blog] Stories Behind the Stories
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[blog] Preparing Stories for Broadcast
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[blog] May Day, May Day!
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[blog] Collecting History One Record at a Time
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[blog] Ready For May Day
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[blog] Italian Red Cross Sends Immediate Response to Area Affected by Quake in Italy
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The Italian Red Cross is seeking donations, which can be made by credit card on its website.
[blog] Continuing Coverage on Earthquake in Italy
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Continuing coverage of the Earthquake in Italy is available in English at the Rome Post. Coverage in Italian continues at RAI News 24, Corriere Della Serra and at Virgilio Notizie.
[blog] Early Video Coverage of the Earthquke in Italy
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[blog] 6.3 Magnitude Quake Rocks Central Italy
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[blog] Appeal: AID INDIA and Pratham (Bihar floods)
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Editor's note: 1 lakh = 100,000
Bihar has been hit by a terrible flood. It is one of the worst disasters to strike the country.
It is worse than the Tsunami, worse than the Gujarat Earthquake.
Several million people have been affected. Entire districts - villages and towns - have been washed away. The number of people dead is not even known. There are over 6 lakh people living in 200 relief camps. In Saharsa district alone there are 2 Lakh people in 68 relief camps. Similar numbers are living in camps in Madhepura, Supaul, Araria, Purnia and Katihar districts. And many more (those who are better off and have relatives and friends outside) have fled these districts.
This is NOT the usual Bihar flooding. Usually the Kosi river overflows its banks and floods the villages nearby. The people in these villages are prepared for it.
We are calling it "Flood" - because we don't know what else to call it. What's happening now is not a river overflowing - it is the result of a river suddenly changing course.
This year, the Kosi completely changed course - sweeping away several districts. Thousands of villages that had never experienced flooding before are now destroyed - submerged in water. The people living there were completely taken by surprise. Many have died. Others have lost everything - they are without clothes, food, homes, money.
The scale of the disaster is much bigger than the Tsunami. But because it is Bihar and people think this is like the usual annual flooding, there has been very little coverage of the flooding and very little support pouring in for relief. There is an urgent need to inform people about the nature of this disaster and to mobilize support.
For a week now, AID INDIA's Bihar team has been on the field organizing rescue and relief efforts in the affected districts. So far we have been able to organize some rescue operations and have provided food, milk for children, and medical support for children in several camps. But this is not enough - the scale of the disaster is very large and the need is a lot more. Pratham teams in Bihar have also started working with us and we will now be scaling up the relief efforts significantly.
After the initial shock, the government has been taking a lot of steps to organize rescue and relief operations. The army has rescued people from most of the places. The immediate focus needs to be on food, clothing and health needs of the people in relief camps. Some food is being provided at the camps - but there is a severe shortage and lot of rioting to get at the food. Children are the most affected.
Our immediate focus is on children - there are about 2 lakh children in all the camps. Milk, biscuits and food for children is the first priority now. We are trying to ensure that milk and food reaches all the children in all the relief camps.
The second need is clothes. Most people left their homes with what they were wearing. We need children's clothes, saris for women, undergarments, lungis and lots of blankets. Disease outbreaks are becoming a serious threat and we need medicines.
After the immediate phase, the need will be to focus on health, education, shelter and livelihood needs. But at present, given the scale of the problem, getting past the immediate relief and survival needs are the most critical issues to address.
AID INDIA and Pratham field teams need a lot of support at this time. We need:
1. Funds:
You can donate online at http://www.eurekachild.org/biharflood
or you can send a check payable to AID INDIA (mention Bihar Flood Relief) to:
AID INDIA
Post Box No: 4903, Gopalapuram, Chennai - 600086, India.
Phone: +91-44-42106493 / 28350403
2. Collect Materials:
Food: Milk Powder and Biscuits
Clothes: Children's clothes, saris, lungis and blankets
Medicine: ORS Packets, Crocin/Paracetamol, Metronidazole, Folic acid tablets, Amoxycillin, Cough Syrup, Gentamycin, Cotrimaxazole, Cotton & Bandage.
3. Volunteer:
To raise awareness and mobilize support, help with collection and packaging.
We also need volunteers to work with our relief teams at the field (but for that you must spend at least 10 days in the affected areas and must be very healthy and ready to work in difficult circumstances.)
To keep everyone updated on what's happening at the field level, we have set up a separate website for the relief efforts: www.eurekachild.org/biharflood
Please direct your friends and others you know to this site. We will keep posting new updates, reports, photos and other information from the field at this site. It is important that people across the country (and the world) understand the scale of this disaster. The six districts submerged is almost one-fifth of Bihar under water!
For more information please contact: eurekachild@gmail.com or
Prabha: +91-98403-51132 (prabha.balaraman@gmail.com)
Gomathi: +91-94453-91090 (gomathiaid@gmail.com)
Tags: Asia / India / Bihar
Kosi, Floods, Disaster, Emergency, Humanitarian, Relief, Rescue,
[blog] It's time to hang up the stump, Hil'
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The best she can hope for, on the narrowest of outside chances, is that the Democratic Party flips its decision and allows the votes that were cast in Michigan and Florida to be added to the overall tally. This would still not give Clinton enough delegates to win the nomination outright. All this could potentially do is give her the lead in the popular vote, which her campaign hopes, would be enough to convince Superdelegates that she's the horse to bet on in the Presidential campaign against John McCain. This scenario has, in my estimation, about a 2 percent chance of actually succeeding. And if it did work, it would put the Democrats in a particular disadvantage. Here's why, as I see it: For this unrealistic outcome to work for Mrs. Clinton, Superdelegates would have to turn against Obama, a politician who has run a somewhat cordial campaign (though not without its mudslinging, of course) and has kept his nose clean politically (minus his yappy former preacher). As such, if Clinton wants to turn the SD's her way, she'll have to get particularly nasty and drudge up some sort of scandal against Obama and ride it all the way to Denver. 
I can just see the Republicans salivating at this prospect. As well, if the Democratic party reverses its original decision not to allow the Florida and Michigan votes to stand because they violated party rules, again it gives ammunition to the Republican Party, which would be well within its rights to begin pointing out that if the Democrats can't follow their own rules, how can they be trusted to keep their promises and play by the rules if they got into the Whitehouse. Basically, if the stars align for Hillary, the Democrats are essentially going to have to run a defensive Presidential campaign. And look how well that worked out for John Kerry in 2004. It's time for Mrs. Clinton to take a step back and face the reality of the situation. If she actually cared about the fortunes of her party, and not her own inflated sense of self-worth, she would gracefully bow out of the race now and allow the Democratic party time to get itself cohesive enough to take on the Republican machine, which, despite what you might think about the crap that has gone on the last 8 years under Bush, still has the power and support in the United States to snatch up what should have been a virtual cake walk for Democrats this go round. This is a post in a series focusing on the US Presidential race. As the 2008 campaign has global implications, the writers at Zhongnanhai will be occasionally posting on this topic. You can read more of our coverage by clicking here.[blog] Covering the Earthquake zone - a diary
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The county is nearly deserted except for parts where there are rescue efforts going on. Some buildings are barely affected while places like the school we filmed today is a hallowed out mess. The most haunting is the sound of parents wailing for their child when they recognize the body. Remember these people have only one child per family. And these kids were mostly of high school age, moving on to university next year. They're the hope of the family. Thankfully I have not experienced any aftershocks in this area. We're returning back to the hotel in the capital of Sichuan province every night. It's quite a stark contrast to be down in the dirt, inhaling rubble by day, and staying in a five star hotel the next. Anyhow these are just a random collection of thoughts since my boss said I should talk about what I saw today. I am feeling fine, but who knows if I'm repressing it. Gotta wash off this debris off myself and grab a few hours of sleep. Another early start tomorrow. Days 2&3 - Total devastation Today I experienced what mass panic was and ran for my life in Beichuan county. We were filming a rescue effort when I saw a group of rescue and aid workers, residents, everyone all running in our direction yelling "RUN!!!" My cameraman ran towards me and said, "Run! It's a flood!" We proceeded to run like hell, with rescue workers hollering that nobody should stop running. To my understanding Xinhua news agency came out with a report around 12:50pm about fears of the rising water levels and cracks in the dam. But my boss says the water levels have a few more metres to go before it spills over. Here I was expecting a wall of water going to wash over us like in the movies. My first thought was: I should really get some medical insurance. Luckily my boss has told me tonight that I am indeed covered despite having not taken the hostile environment training course. I did feel bad for the poor man still 6-7 metres down the rubble. We thought we'd stay there and film his rescue for the rest of the day. This father is not only alive after six days without water and food, but was UNHARMED. He happened to be under a stairwell which saved him. They were just feeding a string to him and dripping water down when there was mass panic. As he thought he was closer to being saved everyone left him. His 13-year-old daughter stayed with him though I'm told. I don't blame anyone for being over cautious. After the complete destruction of this county after the earthquake, people are worried about more deaths. The county is reduced to rubble. In the old part of town 80 per cent of all the buildings are gone. The site was extraordinary considering most of the bodies in obvious areas were removed. It was eerie and haunting on a different level than seeing dead bodies. I saw cars flattened like a tin can, bikes fallen into the cracks of the road, buildings fallen on top of buildings creating a mountain of rubble. You can't help but imagine the fear that must've ran through the place when the earthquake hit and the number of people who died in the most awful of ways. This flood warning was a serious setback for the rescue effort continuing for those still found alive. Yesterday we interviewed a 22-year-old still trapped in between slabs of concrete. His one leg appeared to be twisted and completely broken. He was still very alert and chitchatting with his relatives, who were outside and took turns going in to see him. I was outside the building and chatting with a fireman about the survivor. A young man in the army uniform passed by and was very excited to hear about a survivor. He said, "What's his condition? Just cut off his legs! Come on! We saved two people like that yesterday! What are you waiting for!?!?!" As gruesome as it sounds, at this point in the rescue effort, life, at any cost is still worthwhile. The survivor's relatives were all very calm and rational considering the circumstances. They didn't blame rescue workers for working too slow, nor were they impatient. Like the young rescue worker, they are just grateful to hear that he's alive. Of course at this point, the survivor has not been told that his mother died in the earthquake and so, still had good strength. We ran into his doctor today and heard he was rescued at 20:00 last night, with a good chance of having BOTH legs healing! Earlier in the day we climbed up a mountain of rubble. We heard the kindergarten was somewhere in there with parents still lining around trying to find their kids' bodies. An aid worker told my colleague a very sad story about the kindergarten. When the earthquake happened the teacher tried to keep the kids calm by getting them to sing a song. As the building collapsed the singing petered out. Among the wreckage I saw this one guy laying out photos he found. He sucked in his breath and said, "My god." His friend said, "I know, but it happened. What can you do?" None of the people who stood around flipping through the pictures knew anyone in them. But they all cried silently. -thumb-350x262.jpg)
Then there was a mother standing on top of what use to be her home. She kept yelling out her son's name. At first she sounded like she genuinely believed her son would respond. But much like the middle school in Hanwang county, I think parents and relatives are still looking, even if it's just the body. At least they know. Filming that scene made me feel just how intrusive and exploitive the media is. We film, then leave. But what can we do? People at the emergency shelter further south in Mianyang try to send out hope. There is a tent sent up for people to register their missing loved ones. Me: "How likely are these people going to find their loved ones?" Volunteer: "You cannot give up hope. Many people just lost communication." This elderly lady turned to me at the tent and asked me tearfully if I could help her find her 30-year-old son and her 3-year-old grandson. She came straight to the centre after the earthquake and hasn't been in touch with them since. People are holding up signs everywhere and hoping to talk to fellow villagers to see if they've seen or heard from their loved ones. I know people say the rescue effort is winding down, but there are still places, in the mountain area, where rescue crews have yet to reach because the aftershocks made the roads inaccessible. I heard though that certain villages are still doing well enough but are running out of time without food and water. The epicentre, Wenchuan, is still inaccessible to cars. Though my colleague, who took two days to get in on foot, assures me Beichuan, about 80km away from the epicentre, is by far the worst hit place. Likely because the county is surrounded by mountains on all four sides and the houses are built on the lowest level. It's getting hotter by the day now and the stench of bodies is going to be a big concern. I often hear pieces of mountains rolling down of in the distance in Beichuan. I personally haven't felt much of the aftershocks. As for the cracked dam, I wonder if the army is just going to let it wash out the county eventually. Looking at the damages I have no idea how long, and whether it's possible to even clean up that mess. I want to thank everyone for caring about my safety. You have to believe me that we are the most taken care of. We always have water supplies and we get to stay in a five star hotel every night back in the city. And I am always careful. My body is aching a bit from running so hard, and my throat is a bit sore from inhaling so much dust and debris (yes even with a face mask) but otherwise I am fine. Sichuan Earthquake coverage: Day 4 No survivors were found alive by the time I left Beichuan county today at 16:00 local time. The chances are getting slimmer. All I saw were body bags being carried around. We found a rescue effort where a father sat waiting to see if his son is still alive under a slab of concrete. It used to be a three story building. Now it stands only waist high. He doesn't live in the county but arrived two days ago and had been continuously calling his son's mobile until it got through last night and was picked up. He heard breathing sounds and immediately notified rescue crews. They didn't start the digging until 11am today. Two hours later they got a glimpse of the top floor of what use to be a motel. Inside were four bodies. Rescue crews gave up digging. There's no way anyone underneath would survive. The father thinks his son is still on the first floor. He speaks in Sichuanese to me, gesturing behind him, his son's unintended grave. I could only understand 70% of what he's saying, but I'm guessing he's complaining that the rescue crews didn't come fast enough. It still hasn't sunken in that it's now day 6 after the earthquake. Just across the rescue site was a couple taking great pains to collect their belongings scattered on the street. They put everything in their store. They fidgeted with the lock for a long time, as if they'd return some day. My coworker told me he saw reports today that officials do not plan on rebuilding the county after the cleanup. -thumb-350x262.jpg)
Further down some residents are back to dig through the rubble for their belongings. One man found his photo album and his army badge. The ex-army soldier beams and holds up a mobile phone. "I found it! And it still works!" He's among the lucky ones. None of his family members died in the earthquake. The town is almost empty except for rescue and aid workers. Even they are slowly pulling out. An hour drive south to Mianyang Emergency Shelter shows a bustling place. Inside people have made beds on top of treadmills, hanging laundry off the bench press, and boxing rings have become a big comfy bed for dozens. There were weird giant sized posters of Arnold Schwarzenegger and other body builders hanging on the wall. The earthquake victims leaned against them, slurping instant noodles or eating congee. The right side of the stadium grounds was a big queue. They were registering their kids into a temporary school that will be built shortly near the site. The NBC correspondent told me that this was very well coordinated and unseen during Hurricane Katrina. So far the stadium is quite sanitary. It's been home to survivors for almost a week, and now houses over 10,000, most from the Beichuan area. Those with their kids running around can still manage a smile or two. I saw one baby screaming at the top of his lungs and kicking his grandma. Perhaps he's traumatized from the events of the past week. She graciously tried to hold him upright for me to take a picture of him, but he wouldn't have it. He continued to cry. Tomorrow is another day spent in Beichuan. We felt an aftershock today while filming the rescue but it was very small. We all ran away from buildings or anything that can topple over us. But it's kind of hard. How does one go on day in and day out not trusting nature? Not trusting the roof over your head? My coworker's friends live in Chengdu. A newlywed was home alone when the earthquake struck. Her first thought was: What's the most precious thing we've got? She ripped her 52" plasma screen off the wall and proceeded to wrap it up with three blankets. Then she thought: "That freezer is really new and very good." I don't know whether she managed to carry that stuff herself. But now she and her husband take shifts sleeping. One sleeps until 3am and the other takes over into the morning. They have set two glass bottles one on top of the other. They figured if the earthquake was big enough they will wake up. Not sure that will save them. But I can only imagine how horrible it must be to not feel safe in your own home. I realize I'm very privileged. Today I was hiking back to the car when I let out a big sigh "Whew! Finally done work, now I can go home!" Just then I was passing by a couple of local residents. I felt so awful. These people don't have a place to call home and will likely either sleep on the floor or in a tent made of three plastic sheets in Mianyang. My mother called me frantically this morning, telling me to get out. She said, "Why are you doing this? It's not like they pay you a lot. You don't need to prove anything!" I really had no good answer for her. I had to ask myself long and hard why I wanted to be here. It's not for fame; I'm not even doing on-camera stuff. It's not for the adrenaline, because I can think of a million other things more exciting than running for my life from a possible flood. It's not because of some altruistic reason that I think I'm "serving the people" or that it gives me great satisfaction to tell people about their pain. The only answer I can come up with is that this opportunity opened up for me to experience what people have to endure through natural disasters. And keep me humble. I've heard horror stories about trying to get a flight out of Chengdu airport. Some people waited for 24 hours or more. Our driver then piped up: 'Yeah but you guys have money so it's no problem.' And that cinched it for me right there. We do have the resources. I'm sure I'd get out faster if I got first class tickets. I can live in my cushy five star hotel every night, or get out of here anytime I want. They can't. Sichuan Earthquake coverage: Day 5 The mourning of the dead in Beichuan took place all over the county, just like the rest of the country at 14:28, the exact time the earthquake hit a week ago. I went to the one that was held on the highest pile of rubble in the area, with only rescue workers from the army and media there. About 10 minutes before the moment, the cameraman turned to me and asked, "Did you feel it?" I didn't, but it was an aftershock. Shortly afterwards someone pointed to the mountain behind us. At the peak were clouds of dust kicking up. I looked long and hard and finally saw huge boulders rolling down the mountain. I didn't know if it was going to be bad, but at that time, I felt pretty safe standing on top of the rubble. At least nothing can fall over me. We never saw boulders reaching the bottom of the mountain. But it's enough of a reminder that Beichuan is still under threat. 14:28 rolled around and the soldiers all took off their hats and bowed in unison towards the Chinese flag, lowered at half mast. Car horns wailed for three minutes. It was touching. Across the river, a rescue crew is still busy digging out a possible survivor. They do not stop during the moment. -thumb-350x262.jpg)
A 67-year-old woman was found alive earlier this morning. They were hoping for one more miracle. As we waited for the "moment" to happen, ie. see them pull out a survivor, a cameraman and I wandered off to the back part of town. I've been back in this county for the last four days. Everyday the roads look different, boulders moved, rubble pushed aside. I'm unsure whether that car really rammed into that railing or whether it was pushed there to clear off the roads. But this back end of town, looks about as eerie as the first day I went there. Few residents are allowed in as of 8am today. The rescue workers say it's for their own safety. I find only a handful of them trying to collect their belongings. One couple I ran into stood on the empty street staring at an apartment building. She points to the window with a curtain billowing in the wind. "I thought I was just going on a day trip for work and would come back that night, so I didn't even bother closing my window." "Which floor do you live on?" "The fourth." I counted. "You mean the third." "No, the bottom floor is crushed under, now the second floor is the first floor." None of her family died. But she lost her housecleaner and many friends. "My initial thought was that my family was alive so I'm one of the luckier ones. But now coming back ... I'm not sure what to do." She came back to collect some things. But it's not safe to enter. All she has left is her purse and the clothes she wore out of the house that day. The stories of these residents don't stop here, but the life has certainly left Beichuan county. Only a handful of residents and mostly people from the surrounding mountain areas are seen weaving between all the rescue workers who are tired and don't have much else to do other than body retrieval. There's nothing "new" to report other than the rising body count. The international news is slowly moving back to the cyclone in Burma and to other news. I'm heading back to Beijing tomorrow. I hear the airport is a nightmare so I'm prepared for extreme delay. I don't feel like leaving because I know the stories aren't done. But such is the news lifecycle. My colleague said he interviewed a father who dug with his bare hands at a school for his son yesterday. It took him 10 hours to save him. He said, "My first thought was: It only took 10 hours? That's quick!" Think that's a sign to get out before you get too jaded.[blog] Emotions from abroad
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We managed to contact a Chinese Ph.D student at Harvard Medical School by the name of Li Gang who spearheaded a donation drive to help the Sichuan victims. Ostensibly the point of the interview was to discuss what overseas Chinese people were doing to help out the victims here in China. But what was striking about the interview was the emotion that flowed forward during our discussion. In relating how he had organized the Chinese community on campus to get together, I started to hear a slight change in his voice. And in a follow-up question about what the reaction of the Chinese community at Harvard was, Mr. Li essentially began sobbing as he told us about how he and his fellow overseas Chinese students all gathered around computers and viewed images of the devastation in Wenchuan County. Afterward it got me thinking about the mental stress that people can face when they're detached from their comfort zone. I have a number of Chinese friends and colleagues here in China who have lived for an extended period of time overseas. Though virtually all of them say they enjoyed their experience overall, many of them will freely admit that they often times found it difficult. Many reasons are generally given, including the difference in the food, the struggles with the language, the financial strain of living in generally more expensive countries, etc. The list is generally quite extensive and varied from person to person. But most of my friends and colleagues, if pressed on the matter, will admit that one of the biggest things they struggled with was a detachment from Chinese people and the Chinese culture. It, in my estimation, seems to be an emotional attachment to the 'motherland' that a lot of non-Chinese can't completely get their heads around. I've always sort of lived by the theory that home is where you make it. That's why I now consider China home. Sure, this isn't my country and technically I'm a guest here. But still, I've made China my home. But for reasons that are likely numerous, most Chinese, in my estimation, don't really think like this. Even if they were born and raised in other countries, there seems to be some kind of homing-beacon like drive buried within the Chinese soul that makes them long for the Middle Kingdom. So when disaster strikes the 'motherland,' I suspect the drive to want to help their kinsmen is amplified among Chinese people. This is why I think my interviewee this morning had difficulty containing his emotions. Living abroad can be tough on anyone at times. As an example, this past week my elderly mother slipped and fractured her hip. Upon hearing this news from my family members, I was somewhat torn as to what to do. Being on the other side of the planet and working where I do during this time here in China would make a return flight home to visit here in the hospital logistically difficult. Still, I was stricken by a sense of 'I need to do something,' even though I know there's nothing I can do physically for her. Thankfully, she's receiving high-quality medical care and, according to my family members who are there with her, responding very well to treatment. And not to remotely even try to compare the earthquake disaster here in China with my mother's accident, but, from an emotional standpoint, it did give me a better insight into how handcuffed overseas Chinese must feel right now. You're half a world away, and you want to help, but your options are limited. That said, though I'm not normally in the habit of soliciting comments from our readers (especially angry ones!), I would like to hear from overseas Chinese and ask them what's going on in their heads right now when it comes to the disaster in Sichuan.[blog] Three minutes at Jishuitan
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[blog] China's national mourning period
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BEIJING - At 2:28 this afternoon, China crossed a new threshold in national unity. Here in the capital and elsewhere across this vast nation, horns blared and sirens wailed for three minutes to mark exactly one week since the massive (now 8.0 by official Chinese calculations) earthquake rocked Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province, taking the lives of close to 33,000 people so far. Of course, the Xinhua news agency, the official news agency here in China, has reported that the number is expected to reach as many as 50,000 dead. On top of that, well over 200,000 people have been injured, many of them seriously. The number of homeless, though uncalculated at this point, will eclipse both those figures in multiples that are very hard to fathom. The scale of human tragedy in Southwestern China is immense. Probably much more than the average person can comprehend. But what has been evident over the past week here in China is just how much the average person has rallied around this disaster. Watching the television news coverage of the mass rally in Tian'anmen Square following the official three minutes of mourning, it was readily apparent that this disaster has unified people in a way that other things, such as the Olympics and other historical political campaigns (see: Cultural Revolution), have not. Compared to things like, for example, the Torch Relay, which rallied mainly frustrated youth behind a nationalistic cause, the earthquake has brought everyone together. Young and old, affluent and poor, could all be seen in the pictures from Tian'anmen Square, chanting 中国加油 (Zhongguo Jiayou, or 'Power to China') in unison. And while, at times, pundits have been critical of perceived nationalism here in China, this time around, the unity of the Chinese people is being directed at the most altruistic cause; Chinese people helping each other. Further to this, the government has sanctioned three days of official national mourning. This is the first time this has happened to honor average Chinese citizens. (In the past, the deaths of national leaders like Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping have been marked by official mourning, but nothing on this scale) And to coincide with the mourning period, the media here has suspended basically anything that smacks of entertainment. It's being reported that newspapers will only use black font on their front pages during this period. Music programs on radio stations have been suspended and replaced by news and analysis of the quake and television stations are running continual coverage of the relief efforts. It's a very unique time here in China right now. But the question that is starting to be asked within media circles is just how long this will remain the focus of the nation's full attention? I remember vividly in North America following 9/11 that we started asking ourselves as journalists and media organizations just how long it would be before we could, or should, start talking about other things about a week-and-a-half after the terrorist attacks. Of course, news of the event and the subsequent fallout remained the top story for weeks after the two towers crumbled to the ground. But it remains a delicate point for the media every time a massive catastrophe like this takes place. How much time do you dedicate exclusively to this before life moves on and other issues begin to be discussed again? I don't think there is any hard and fast answer to this question. Generally the theory is to gauge the mood of the public. That in itself can be a difficult thing to do, because people's emotions range widely when disasters like this take place. 
No one in their right mind could diminish the scope of this disaster and the outpouring of grief that the Chinese people have been expressing for their countrymen. But just how long this will last is a somewhat unprecedented question here in China, and something that I suspect will be debated more and more as the days press forward.[blog] UPDATED: New MSN campaign draws anger in China
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In the morning, I logged in to MSN as usual. More than 10 friends of mine sent me this "bad news" and wanted me spread it to as many people as possible:
广东惠州三中领导捐款秀.先用摄象机拍摄了领导捐钱的画面,最后又把钱全部拿出来.甚至给每个学生发点钱叫他们去捐录影,录影完后领导又去把钱拿出来.大家多转发.好把这种人渣败类领导给找出来处罚.弄虚做假.误人子女.师德败坏.看见的请多多转发,依靠网络监督这种有损公共道德的做假行为！本校学生偷拍
The leader of No.3 Middle school in Huizhou, Guangdong Province has "directed" a show of donation. He asked staff to video tape him and some other leaders of the school donating money. After the video had been taken, he and his co-workers took back all the money they donated. Not only that, they gave some money to each student and asked them to donate it on tape. Afterwards, the money was returned.
My friends said, let's spread this ugly image of this school leader! Use the internet as media supervision tool, to criticize this behaviour!You can watch the video shot by the students here. UPDATE (1:48pm Beijing Time): Thanks to cat for filling us in on the story in the comments section. We learned how quickly rumors can spread when people began predicting an earthquake between 10pm and midnight on the day of the Sichuan quake. Looks like this story may just be a rumor, as well.
[blog] Google LatLong: Imagery for Sichuan, China Earthquake
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[blog] More Ways to Help Earthquake Victims
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Dear friends, As you all know, the 7.9 magnitude tremor, which was focused in China's Sichuan Province, is estimated to have killed at least 14,800 people -- and that toll is expected to rise dramatically as rescue teams reach the most affected areas. In cities near the earthquake's epicenter, over 26,000 people are buried under the rubble of collapsed buildings.CNReviews offers an excellent list of other ways to donate. You can find the information here. Also a reminder that the Bookworms in Beijing, Suzhou and Chengdu are coordinating donation efforts. They are looking for tents, dried food, practical clothes, quilts and emergency blankets as well as money for water and medicine. You can find more information here. All donations should be dropped off before 4pm on SATURDAY in Beijing and Suzhou and 1pm SATURDAY in Chengdu.Thus, the urgent help to earthquake-affected areas are badly needed. Though donations from home and abroad has been collected very effectively these days, I am sure that still some people may not have time to do it personally or still look for proper ways to help. I and some friends are organizing an event to gather donations (cash is preferred) together and send it right away. We have one experienced person from China Youth Care Foundation who can guarantee the donations to use efficiently. Our charity dinner group has donated blankets for a Qinghai school successfully that this person coordinated. We will have a banner showing our real care to those survivors, which you can express something on it too. We'll send it to the disaster region afterwards. Please see details as below: Sunday, 18th May 3pm onwards Location -MEA Education Centre and Kultur Kafe in the Blue Castle Complex, Building F,S-116A / NO.3,West Dang Wang Road Chaoyang District / near Dawang Lu subway stop Tel: 0108599 7735 Please pass this message on to your friends as well.
