For three days last month, China’s national flag flew at half-staff in Tiananmen Square to honor the victims of the devastating earthquake in Sichuan. It was the first time in memory that China has publicly commemorated the deaths of ordinary civilians.
Crowds were allowed to gather in the square to express sympathy for their compatriots. Despite a death toll that has risen to nearly 70,000, the earthquake has shaken the nation back to life. The Chinese people have rushed to donate blood and money and join the rescue efforts. They have rediscovered their civic responsibility and compassion.
Their grief, shock and confused solidarity recall the hours that followed the Tiananmen massacre 19 years ago today, when the Communist Party sent army tanks into Beijing to crush a pro-democracy movement organized by unarmed, peaceful students.… Seguir leyendo »
Cuando llegó la noticia del catastrófico terremoto en Sichuan, recordé a Zheng Sun Man, un ejecutivo especialista en seguridad que conocí en un viaje reciente a China. Zheng dirige Aebell Electrical Technology, una empresa con sede en Cantón que fabrica cámaras de vigilancia y las vende al Gobierno. Zheng, salido de una escuela de administración de empresas, de 28 años, quiso persuadirme de que sus cámaras y altavoces no eran usados contra los activistas pro democracia o los sindicalistas. Son para lidiar con desastres naturales, explicaba Zheng, como las monstruosas tormentas de nieve antes del Año Nuevo lunar. Durante la crisis, me aseguró, el Gobierno "pudo usar los datos de las cámaras del ferrocarril para organizar una evacuación".… Seguir leyendo »
From the moment we arrived at Beijing's spectacular new airport May 6, the pride of the Chinese people as they prepared to host the Summer Olympics was evident. Six days later, in the aftermath of the Chengdu earthquake, we witnessed an even more impressive face of China.
We were visiting the Panda Reserve Center in Wolong, about three hours from Chengdu, as part of a World Wildlife Fund tour when the 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck on May 12. The reserve is like a typical zoo but with 1,500-foot mountains towering on all sides. At 2:28 p.m., in a series of jolts that lasted about three minutes, boulders, trees and dirt came tumbling down.… Seguir leyendo »
As tragic as the Sichuan earthquake has been, perhaps it can do some good by helping dispel a widespread myth: that the new generation of Chinese students are materialistic and selfish.
I’ve been teaching political theory at Tsinghua University here since 2004 and I’ve found that almost all of my students are driven to do good for society. So I wasn’t surprised when, as word of the disaster came out, hundreds of Tsinghua students lined up overnight at a Red Cross station to donate blood and supplies. Others went to the earthquake zone, more than 1,000 miles away, to distribute aid.… Seguir leyendo »
Two dictators faced two disasters, one in China, the other in Burma. One was an earthquake, the other a flood. Tens of thousands are dead and millions at risk. Being dictatorial, both regimes responded in a manner heavy with the politics of sovereignty. In one case that helps people, in the other it kills them.
Natural disasters are the world's greatest murderers after war and disease. Nature does not do revenge (as far as we know), but it leaves human beings to do mercy and recuperation. How they performs that task is the test of civilisation.
China's response to the Sichuan earthquake contrasts so glaringly with previous responses that I am inclined to revise my view of the Olympics: perhaps they should always be held in dictatorships.… Seguir leyendo »
It is a cruel and poignant certainty that the children who died in the wreckage of their school during the earthquake this week in Dujiangyan, China, knew all too well that their country once led the world in the knowledge of the planet’s seismicity.
They would have been taught, and proudly, that almost 2,000 years ago an astronomer named Chang Heng invented the world’s first seismoscope. It was a bizarrely imagined creation, with its centerpiece a large bronze vessel surrounded by eight dragons, each holding a sphere in its mouth.
A complex system of internal levers ensured that if an earthquake ever disturbed the vessel, a ball would drop from a dragon’s care into the mouth of a bronze frog positioned underneath.… Seguir leyendo »
When news arrived of the earthquake in Sichuan, my mind turned to Zheng Sunman, a security executive I met on a recent trip to China. Zheng heads a Guangzhou-based company that makes surveillance cameras and PA systems for the government.
Zheng was determined to persuade me that his cameras are not being used against pro-democracy activists. They are for managing natural disasters, Zheng explained, pointing to the freak snowstorms before the lunar new year. During the crisis, the government "was able to use the feed from the railway cameras to communicate how to deal with the situation and organise an evacuation.… Seguir leyendo »
China's Year of the Earth Rat, which began in February, has produced more than its fair share of shocks for the modern-day mandarins of Beijing. The earthquake that ripped a hole in the heart of the country on Monday afternoon is but the latest rollercoaster crisis to rock the Communist leadership's vision of a smoothly advancing 21st century superpower. On this occasion, reports from the disaster zone suggest they have responded well so far.
This was always going to be a big year for China, with the Olympics taking pride of place. Its leaders insist sport and politics do not mix.… Seguir leyendo »
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