Quake hits schools hard

[IllinoisDave]

Long, sad article that raises serious questions/issues I doubt we'll see on CCTV.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/world/as...ref=todayspaper

[H.Woodside]

Horible, unfortunatly the ones who die are the ones that least deserve to do so.

It is a terrible tragedy, one that was unavoidable (I use that term loosely).

My flag out front, fly's at half mast in honor of the earthquake victims, and our own Memorial day.

Personally, I have donated what I can, and I hope it makes a difference.

 

Have a good weekend.

 

Hamp

[Randy W]

Long, sad article that raises serious questions/issues I doubt we'll see on CCTV.

 

 

An interesting article about the change - China propaganda machine in quake damage control

[IllinoisDave]

Long, sad article that raises serious questions/issues I doubt we'll see on CCTV.

 

 

An interesting article about the change - China propaganda machine in quake damage control

I guess it was just a matter of time before things got back to "normal." I do think we and Chinese citizens can take heart in the fact that the reporting was allowed to go somewhat unchecked for as long as it did. I see it as real progress on the part of the central gov't and hope their "experiment" in "free press" went well enough to let them consider returning to it again in the future.

 

After all, the unusually open access that led to so much real-time reporting by domestic and international media actually did more for their cause than any amount of controlled propaganda could have done. Aid,assistance and empathy poured in from every province domestically and nearly every country internationally.

 

The question going forward will be if all that attention leads to real reforms as far as the systemic corruption and inattention to building codes that seems to have led to so much needless loss of life in those schools.

[tonado]

Along with students, many teachers probably also died. Very sad.

[rogerluli]

Evidently the government decided that just paying off the parents of children killed in TOFU SCHOOLS is the best alternative...

 

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/23/new...ke.4-307273.php

[Guest Mike and Lily]

Long, sad article that raises serious questions/issues I doubt we'll see on CCTV.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/world/as...ref=todayspaper

 

This is really a travesty. Whether we see it on CCTV is hardly the point. The big weakness in China's government is and is likely to remain local government corruption. This is likely just another case of someone getting their palm greased so that a substandard school could be built on the cheap, resulting in the deaths of thousands of students. The Chinese government absolutely needs to deal effectively with the issue of local government corruption. This is the Chinese government's greatest issues IMO. Whether it's reported in the press is immaterial. It's results that count.

Edited July 24, 2008 by Mike and Lily (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Whether it's reported in the press is immaterial. It's results that count.

 

And whether it can be reported by a free press is usually VERY material in getting those results.

[Guest Mike and Lily]

Whether it's reported in the press is immaterial. It's results that count.

 

And whether it can be reported by a free press is usually VERY material in getting those results.

 

In the USA that is true. China has made many positive changes over the last few decades without a free press. In a perfect world, I would like to see China have a free press. My only point is that China has made and will continue to make many changes without a free press. IMO this is the most important one they should make, free press or no free press.

[IllinoisDave]

Long, sad article that raises serious questions/issues I doubt we'll see on CCTV.

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/world/as...ref=todayspaper

 

This is really a travesty. Whether we see it on CCTV is hardly the point. The big weakness in China's government is and is likely to remain local government corruption. This is likely just another case of someone getting their palm greased so that a substandard school could be built on the cheap, resulting in the deaths of thousands of students. The Chinese government absolutely needs to deal effectively with the issue of local government corruption. This is the Chinese government's greatest issues IMO. Whether it's reported in the press is immaterial. It's results that count.

 

By "we" I mean everyone, including the Chinese. And my point was that I think the Chinese people would be better served to have this kind of information so that some effort may be made to prevent something similar in the future. The more people aware of this kind of thing, the better IMHO. If you think they'd be better served being kept in the dark, that's your prerogative.

 

It may be immaterial to you, being 7000 miles away and all. But I think it's VERY material to every Chinese citizen who sends their child to a school or even enters a building that may have been built under such shoddy conditions due to the corruption of contractors and officials.

 

Rather than harboring constant, irrational hostility towards the media, some people prefer to be as informed as possible.

[rogerluli]

Poem: Among the Ruins of a School

by Jami Proctor-Xu

 

 

A hand covered in gray concrete dust

with three scratches of dried blood

A fist curled around a red and white pen

 

Concrete conceals a face, a body

A photograph won¡¯t let me past

cragged gray concrete pieces of crumbled buildings

 

I see your hand, your pen, ink drying

I pick up my pen, digging to reach you

before the ink runs dry

 

The only words I can find are my own

The only face I imagine is not yours

It has eyes from a boy at a desk

 

It has black pigtails from a girl

sitting next to a man I imagine is her father

She is crying He is wiping her tears

 

You lived once

Your hand created sentences with pen strokes

Ink touched paper

 

I cannot find your words

Concrete is too heavy

Photographs almost weightless

 

All I have are questions

Questions I will carry in my body

and return to the trees of Dujiangyan

 

We¡¯ve both walked past:

What were you already saying

What were you going to say