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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.
