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The TV in the campus cafeteria was also broadcasting the earthquake rescue efforts, as was the TV in the bus I took downtown, as well as the radio in the taxi I took to get home tonight.
(In the end, the torch arrived ahead of schedule, and I only got to see crowds on their way home.)
Every Chinese person I express my interest and sympathy to about the earthquake, acquaintances as well as perfect strangers, seem genuinely touched, grateful, sometimes even surprised, that I should express that sympathy. Not in a skeptical or suspicious "Why would you, a foreigner, care about what happened to us?" sort of way, but rather a simple "Thank you for caring about us, even though it does not concern your own country/people." It's hard to put it into words, this subtle difference. I detect a new certain tenderness among Hangzhou people, who generally tend to be a bit brusque, at least in comparison to Shanghai people. This reaction of surprised and touched gratefulness at having a foreigner express sympathy, even solidarity, with their sorrow and shock, makes me feel much closer to them, and very sad, too, and yet somehow sad in a hopeful way, because I believe it is based on a mistaken outlook that can be corrected over time. The mistake, as I see it, is that they regard themselves as Zhongguoren (Chinese) first, and therefore as different from -- not necessarily better than, but distinct from -- the rest of the world. Despite rhetoric we hear on TV, they see the family of China as not living in the same neighborhood as the family of Humanity in general, and though they are too proud to admit it, there is still a sense of being the outsider, the newcomer, the provincial newly arrived in the big city, an inadequacy, not to be admitted to, but nevertheless secretly felt, which drives them forward with incredible intensity. It is a mistaken view that one can be hopeful about, because it is correctable. For as China has more and more contacts with the rest of the world, the Chinese, even as they preserve their Chinese heritage and identity, will gradually put Chineseness in the proper perspective, and more and more will feel themselves simply as people like everyone else on the planet.
At least, that is my hope, at the end of a somewhat heady day. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
Especially the focus on all the schools that were wrecked. Moments that have stoppd me in my tracks for a few minutes till my eyes stop being so misty.
I am reminded of the Aberfan disaster where a school was destroyed by a mining landslide. They talk of the loss of an entire generation from that village, but this is an an entire region that has lost its children. Just thinking about ..I can't imagine. keep to the Fen Causeway
Patriotism at the expense of another nation is as wicked as racism at the expense of another race...Let us resolve to be patriots always, nationalists never. - Rev. William Sloane Coffin
- Rev. William Sloane Coffin
I have a very dim view of both "nationalism" and "patriotism", philosophically as well as based on the aftermath of 9/11 when I saw "patriotic" grief transmogrify into a hideous nationalism.
Sascha takes up this issue in his last post, "Woe Unto the Enemies of the State":
Is it possible to have a benevolent, peaceful wave of patriotic love that could surge across China's borders? I think that entirely depends on how the world reacts to a nation bursting with pride and emotion, as China is now. Imagine if China, in a gesture born of brimming passion and goodwill, invited the Dalai Lama to the Olympics and sat with him as cousins should. Imagine if all of the western politicians who have threatened to boycott the Opening Ceremony quietly re-considered, and came anyway. ... In every place I visited, they called my "an international friend" and thanked me, spoke with me, offered me a seat and some water.
Imagine if China, in a gesture born of brimming passion and goodwill, invited the Dalai Lama to the Olympics and sat with him as cousins should. Imagine if all of the western politicians who have threatened to boycott the Opening Ceremony quietly re-considered, and came anyway. ...
In every place I visited, they called my "an international friend" and thanked me, spoke with me, offered me a seat and some water.
On the one hand, I perfectly understand his sentiment, and agree that if by some miracle China and the nations of the world took this moment as an opportunity for "reconciliation", or at least a truce, and put aside for the duration of the Olympics differences over Tibet, human rights, Darfur, and other issues, in the long run it could help China's "evolution" enormously, as well as its relationship with the rest of the world (I put "evolution" in scare-quotes because I know it reeks of the typical Western patronizing arrogance that so riles the Chinese).
Nevertheless, I remain very suspicious of and concerned about the use of "patriotic" and the "national" -- whether it is in China or wherever. What is the saying, there is a fine line between madness and genius? Well, there is a fine line between patriotism and madness.
The sentence I snipped out of the previous excerpt offers evidence of this, muted though it be:
In a refugee camp in Mianzhu, a couple guys were passing out leaflets to all the refugees. The leaflets were from the Police Bureau letting everyone know that rumors of Tibetans roaming the camps stealing stuff was false and inflammatory.
And although the two situations have many significant differences, news and Nomad's comments about anti-foreigner violence that has broken out in South Africa drove that home again:
- "Since Zuma won the ANC presidency, they think they own South Africa. If they meet someone in the street and that person can't answer questions in isiZulu, they insult them and beat them," she says. - Immigrants from neighbouring African countries were set upon by men with guns and iron bars chanting "kick the foreigners out".
- Immigrants from neighbouring African countries were set upon by men with guns and iron bars chanting "kick the foreigners out".
reminds us of what lies at the bottom of the slippery slope -- or at least near the bottom -- no matter which way we roll down there. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
it occurs to me that china needs to be pressuring burma to get over itself as they have recently done.
what 'tragic consequences' i wonder, occur when humans show fellow humans comfort and sustenance when in such appalling distress?
they better be pretty effing tragic...to be more tragic than stopping them.
signed, probably naive.... There are no blank spots on the map any more, anywhere on earth. You want a blank spot on the map, you gotta leave the map behind. Jon Krakauer
01.25 The Chinese New Year snow storm begins
03.14 Tibetan riots in Lhasa
05.12 Sichuan earthquake
Not to mention the Qingdao train accident, the outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease, the international Olympic torch relay demonstrations, etc.
And of course the upcoming Olympic Games have yet to start.
In the last two days, I have heard more and more Chinese make a point of this, going so far as to say: "It is not even June, and we are already so tired. What still awaits us in the second half of the year?"
Then yesterday, a friend of mine said that her 15-year old Chinese host sister told her that friends at school are talking about how the numbers of the dates of all these disasters add up to 8 (aside from being the current year, 8 is also closely associated with the Olympics, which start on 2008/8/8 -- a date chosen precisely because 8 is a supremely auspicious number in Chinese culture).
I won't insult anyone's intelligence by explaining why reading supernatural meaning in such numerical coincidences is ridiculous for various reasons. But numbers and dates play a far greater role in Chinese society than they do in Western countries: people regularly consult numerologists to choose phone numbers, plan weddings, business openings, and other important events and numbers, and in Chinese class we are often reminded that 4 is a very unlucky number, because it sounds like the word for "death".
But it made me ponder: Could such numerological irrationality about the dates of this year's disasters be the expression of a deeper unease? This general "bad news and disaster" fatigue has certain elements of gloom, resignation, even contrition (as of a child who has been severely disciplined by their parent, although they may not know why). Could the intensity of solidarity and effort to overcome the earthquake tragedy in part be due to a desperate desire to deny or reject the fatalistic pessimism that would result from reading these events at face value? I seem to recall that the fortunes of the dynasties that ruled over the country were presumed to be an indication of the favor or disfavor of Heaven, or at least that the "Will of Heaven" was invoked to judge or justify what happens or does not happen to the emperors and the people they rule.
I have very little sense of how much such traditional thinking about "Heaven's Will" plays in the minds of contemporary Chinese. Under normal circumstances (whatever that means in modern China), I would guess very little if any. But the Chinese are a pretty historically minded people. And in light of people's attitudes I see recently, I can't help but wonder: are they starting to contemplate Heaven's Will again, even if subconsciously, behind the events of this singularly momentous year for their country? A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
You mean Zibo train incident. To which the first reaction was:
Beijing - Qingdao T195 Train Crash | Qingdao China Guide
Chen Gong 陈功, head of the railway bureau in Jinan, Shandong's capital, and Jinan's Party Secretary, Chai TieMin 柴铁民, were fired and are being investigated in connection with the accident.
Which seems a rather nervous "we are doing something" move. The responsibility of the two local officials (or even that of any of their underlings) is not at all certain before one knows the cause. Indeed the local CYA was:
AFP: China blames high speed for train disaster
A local official at the scene of Monday's pre-dawn crash near Zibo city in eastern China's Shandong province also sought to blame the driver of the train from Beijing, believed to have been carrying more than 1,000 people."It's human error. The train was going way too fast," Zibo city spokesman Li Chenggang told AFP.
A local official at the scene of Monday's pre-dawn crash near Zibo city in eastern China's Shandong province also sought to blame the driver of the train from Beijing, believed to have been carrying more than 1,000 people.
"It's human error. The train was going way too fast," Zibo city spokesman Li Chenggang told AFP.
As for the reason for the nervousness, it appears to be quite explicit:
Another reason for the haste appeared to be China's determination to show the accident had caused no major disruption ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August, especially with Qingdao serving as a venue."The country has responded very quickly to this. The government has wanted to make sure all the injured are taken care of well and to get the line running as quickly as possible," Zibo spokesman Li said."The Olympics are coming."
Another reason for the haste appeared to be China's determination to show the accident had caused no major disruption ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August, especially with Qingdao serving as a venue.
"The country has responded very quickly to this. The government has wanted to make sure all the injured are taken care of well and to get the line running as quickly as possible," Zibo spokesman Li said.
"The Olympics are coming."
Not to mention the Qingdao train accident You mean Zibo train incident. To which the first reaction was:
Right. The train was on the way from Beijing to Qingdao and derailed at Zibo.
Yes, it is standard operating procedure, in China as everywhere, to put the blame on human error when billions of dollars of investment stand to be lost if true causes turn out to be more damning, especially when national honor is at stake. Investigators will even go so far as to tamper with evidence.
See the Airbus A320 disaster in Muhouse, France, for instance: Pilot Error Is Blamed in Airbus Crash - New York Times A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
(Incidentally, from a Japanese perspective, firing higher-up's for the egregious failures of those they are responsible for is completely logical and a matter of course. And ultimately I believe this view of responsibility comes from Confucianism. Although I did not think that this notion of responsibility was still active in China today, perhaps it in fact is, and if so, would be another reason why firing the head of the local railway bureau chief and the local Party Secretary would make perfect sense in this situation.) A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
Whole thing worth reading. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
On the other hand, I can't suppress a residue of scepticism. The pictures are coming out via a government filter, so TV viewers may only see the parts where the rescue effort worked well. Still, if that's the propaganda, maybe it inspires people to do the right thing come next disaster.
One final issue is whether China, practically all of which is heavily earthquake-threatened, will institute (and enforce) strong building codes. Has there been any talk of this in the local media? *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
i have heard the head of the Wall Street Journal Shanghai office say on an American radio show that many of his correspondents at the earthquake site saw lots of soldiers arriving to do rescue work, but just standing around not knowing what to do.
also, a few articles in the New York Times and reports on NPR were critical about some aspects of the relief work. for example:
Tiny Bodies in a Morgue, and Grief in China - New York Times
"I am Grandpa Wen Jiabao," the prime minister said as he watched two children being pulled from the rubble, according to Xinhua, the official state news agency. "Hold on, kids! You'll definitely be rescued." But enraged parents interviewed at the morgue on Wednesday afternoon and early Thursday morning say local officials lied to the prime minister to hide the true toll at Xinjian, which they estimate at more than 400 dead children. Several parents blamed local officials for a slow initial rescue response and questioned the structural safety of the school building. They were also furious that officials forbade them to search for their children for two days and then allowed access to the bodies only after the parents formed an ad hoc committee to complain. "Before Wen Jiabao came, the whole school was filled with children's bodies," said one mother who sat outdoors at the morgue with her husband in the early morning darkness beside the covered body of their 8-year-old daughter. "Her father and I had stood outside the school since the earthquake. We pleaded with the government: `If she is dead, I want to see the body. If she is alive, I want to see her.' " Her husband, a thin man, leaned forward into the yellow light of two candles. "We're telling you the truth," he said. "Get the truth out."
"I am Grandpa Wen Jiabao," the prime minister said as he watched two children being pulled from the rubble, according to Xinhua, the official state news agency. "Hold on, kids! You'll definitely be rescued."
But enraged parents interviewed at the morgue on Wednesday afternoon and early Thursday morning say local officials lied to the prime minister to hide the true toll at Xinjian, which they estimate at more than 400 dead children. Several parents blamed local officials for a slow initial rescue response and questioned the structural safety of the school building. They were also furious that officials forbade them to search for their children for two days and then allowed access to the bodies only after the parents formed an ad hoc committee to complain.
"Before Wen Jiabao came, the whole school was filled with children's bodies," said one mother who sat outdoors at the morgue with her husband in the early morning darkness beside the covered body of their 8-year-old daughter. "Her father and I had stood outside the school since the earthquake. We pleaded with the government: `If she is dead, I want to see the body. If she is alive, I want to see her.' "
Her husband, a thin man, leaned forward into the yellow light of two candles. "We're telling you the truth," he said. "Get the truth out."
on the other hand, maybe the amount of incompetence and inefficiency that no doubt is happening, while very regrettable, may not be as high as we might expect.
for one thing, when you put fire under Chinese people's asses, shit gets done, and fast, and pretty well at that. and i think people are genuinely extremely motivated.
also, the coverage has been unprecedently open, so there are more chances for reporters to expose problems in the relief effort.
even foreign reporters, and this blogger Sascha, an American who does not hesitate to criticize China, seems to have been impressed.
my guess is that reporters -- both Chinese reporters, who have more freedom than they have ever had and are probably more motivated than ever to report the best stories, as well as foreign reporters -- are observing lots of less than flattering things amidst the rescue and recovery effort.
but sensing the trauma of the whole country, they, or their editors, are choosing not to focus on those aspects, "out of good will", to allow the Chinese more time and space to get through this immediate extremely difficult period without introducing painful and divisive questions, such as...
Building code enforcement
there have been murmurs about the terrible quality of the buildings. you don't hear about it much. but everyone knows that's the big issue on the backburner, and on the one hand i think people are really pissed about it and absolutely want to address it eventually, but on the other hand know that when it comes out, it's going to stir up a huge amount of anger and pain that will destroy the current mood of solidarity, mourning, and united effort.
i also have my own issues with the delay in getting helicopters bringing rescuers into the inaccessible areas, as well as getting foreign rescue specialists from Japan, Taiwan and other countries.
i hope with some more time, these issues will be addressed. as i wrote before,
秋後算賬 Qiū hòu suàn zhàng: "After the harvest, we'll get the numbers straight."
but the Olympics are almost here. will people, the media, want to bring up these painful issues before then? but if we wait till after the Olympics, will people still remember? will they care as much? will other issues sweep in to take their place?
that is probably what government officials are praying for, thus explaining the extraordinary media press in China about the earthquake: stoke, cultivate and ride this national wave of unity and goodwill until the more disturbing aspects of earthquake can be blotted away with the Olympics.
but I think the western press will not wait. i just hope they can find subtle, diplomatic ways to get the message across constructively without shooting themselves in the foot by pricking the dragon of Chinese nationalism.
here is one recent effort:
local officials lied to the prime minister to hide the true toll at Xinjian
Ah, the Standard Operating Procedure in strongly hierarchic systems. There is no way to root this out, except with democratic feedback from the bottom up.
Also, we can expect the USAmerican MSM to do the opposite to what the Chinese media might do: select out the worst. (Then again, the other NYT quote in your next comment speaks of anecdotal evidence of majority satisfaction with the rescue effort.) *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
Also, we can expect the USAmerican MSM to do the opposite to what the Chinese media might do: select out the worst. (Then again, the other NYT quote in your next comment speaks of anecdotal evidence of majority satisfaction with the rescue effort.)
Yes, as I said in the comment above, while they do occasionaly point them out, I get the impression that the foreign press are not dwelling on negative aspects of the rescue effort as much as they could be at the moment, out of a sort of consideration for the state of shock that the country is in.
However, this honeymoon period is probably winding down, and we may be seeing a higher proportion of more aggressive critical reporting, as well as louder complaints from victims of the quake. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
Also, on the government's handling of the crisis as well as other issues, see this "Q&A" with New York Times reporters for some interesting remarks:
Q&A: The Earthquake in China - Questions/Answers - Reader's Questions - New York Times Blog
In talking to people here in Sichuan Province, I've gotten a range of reactions to the government's handling of the earthquake. I don't have a scientific sampling, but up until now, most people I've met seem fairly satisfied. For example, when I visited the largest camp for displaced people that had been set up so far, in a stadium in Mianyang, many people there told me they believed the government was providing adequate food, water and shelter. The positive opinions are bolstered by a patriotic rallying cry in the face of such tremendous horror, similar to the passions that swept the United States after 9/11. But I've also heard from people who are angry at what they call the slow reaction of government officials to coping with the disaster. The first morning after the earthquake, I met a woman in Dujiangyan, where many buildings had collapsed, who blamed local officials for not coming to help rescue some of her relatives even though she said she had called the officials at least 10 times. My colleague Jim Yardley spoke to parents whose children were killed in a school collapse just outside Dujiangyan and heard a lot of anger directed toward local officials. -- Edward Wong
In talking to people here in Sichuan Province, I've gotten a range of reactions to the government's handling of the earthquake. I don't have a scientific sampling, but up until now, most people I've met seem fairly satisfied. For example, when I visited the largest camp for displaced people that had been set up so far, in a stadium in Mianyang, many people there told me they believed the government was providing adequate food, water and shelter. The positive opinions are bolstered by a patriotic rallying cry in the face of such tremendous horror, similar to the passions that swept the United States after 9/11.
But I've also heard from people who are angry at what they call the slow reaction of government officials to coping with the disaster. The first morning after the earthquake, I met a woman in Dujiangyan, where many buildings had collapsed, who blamed local officials for not coming to help rescue some of her relatives even though she said she had called the officials at least 10 times. My colleague Jim Yardley spoke to parents whose children were killed in a school collapse just outside Dujiangyan and heard a lot of anger directed toward local officials. -- Edward Wong
All entertainment establishments -- bars, clubs, karaokes, etc. -- were closed for three periods.
Newspapers and magazines, even websites, removed color from their print.
Even Google China went black:
Unfortunately, I was in a park Monday afternoon and was not aware at all of the moment of remembrance. But fellow students said that it was quite impressive: buses and other vehicles stopped in the middle of the street, all blaring their horns; people stood up in class; students even wept (non-Chinese, of course).
Some Chinese went to an unreasonable extreme: one German friend was yelled at by her Chinese friend for proposing that they go to dinner last night (the friend thought that was disrespectful to the memory of the victims during this period of mourning.)
On the other hand, other Chinese were totally the opposite: some teachers did not even bother to stop class for the moment of remembrance, or just did so perfunctorily and then continued on with class afterwards without more commentary.
Overall, however, from talking with friends, most (albeit not all) said it was pretty impressive and moving. ... all progress depends on the unreasonable mensch.(apologies to G.B. Shaw)
Still, I would point again that the government is just playing the hand that it was dealt: as Sascha puts it, the Chinese "are still searching for a God to replace the Emperor, Communism and now Cash-Money", but just because you no longer have a God, it doesn't mean you stop having the spiritual and emotional needs that religion/spiritual practices usually fill.
The emotion these people are feeling is intense: my teacher broke down in tears in class last week, bowing formally and deeply to all the students, saying thank you to those whose countries contributed funds and rescue resources to China. (I was stunned: I had never noticed Chinese people bow before, except maybe a waitress or doorman at some posh restaurant or hotel. Maybe it is something they do only on the most solemn occasions.)
In times of profound sorrow, people often have the need to express that sorrow collectively and through ritual, as much as that may make some of us (myself included) uncomfortable. In many, if not most, societies, some form of religion provides a culturally approved framework to do that in. But in China there is no religion that can do that.
If you're a godless autocratic government, better apply your own opiate to the psychological wounds of the masses, rather than let them find their own -- or go mad for lack of one. ... all progress depends on the unreasonable mensch.(apologies to G.B. Shaw)
I wasn't expressing moral judgement, just analysing/describing :-)
As I indicated, there are minutes of silence in the West, too, they were there before they were in China. Instrumenting them may not be (but may be) about the survival of a government, but "playing the hand that it was dealt" as you put is at work here, too. *Traitor*, n. A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
especially when a lot of those families had just one child, and the shoddily built childrens' schools crumbled when better built structures didn't.
i guess a theocracy can always blame it on 'god's will'... There are no blank spots on the map any more, anywhere on earth. You want a blank spot on the map, you gotta leave the map behind. Jon Krakauer
