Journals from the Earthquake
Joshua Foust on May 20 2008 at 7:43 am | Filed under: Foreign affairs
My China correspondent, Chris Bartlett, happens to live near where the earthquake in central China struck. He sent me an account of what happened there. He also reports now that, thanks to an “earthquake warning” from the government, tens of thousands of people are camped out in sports fields and in parks. His story is below.
I was walking when the quake occurred here in this Chinese metropolis. I saw people storming out of the buildings. I didn’t think it was an earthquake though. Earlier in the week the neighborhood I was going through had been “chai’d.” A “chai” is a Chinese character that basically means “condemned.” Things get “chai’d” and then torn down a week later. The denizens and residents have that long to find new places to live (with some financial assistance from the government.) I’d seen the ominous black character go up in that neighborhood a few days before. As police carried people out of the buildings I assumed that the government had decided to tear down the block a few days early and with no notice. As I was walking I felt the ground change positions under my feet but it made more sense that I was being effected by fumes from the buildings that were probably being demolished in front of me. As I walked away from the neighborhood I was composing a blog about the cruelties of the provincial government but soon realized that people everywhere, from every building, even the university, were streaming into the roads.
I asked a few people why they were coming outside and they answered with a Chinese word I would later discover meant “Earthquake.” At the time it was incomprehensible to me but I soon found a friend who could speak English. He told me that the Earth had moved. I had to admit that the thought never even crossed my mind; I was too busy being convinced that people’s homes were being demolished early and without warning. Everything was closed for the rest of the day and phone service went out for the next six hours. Despite that there are only a few local places frequented by my foreign friends and it didn’t take long before we ran into each other. Having no work and no phones and no way to tell if another quake was coming we did what made the most sense: we went to play pool at an underground hall. If there was another quake the balls would be the first ones to tell us.
The next day I was woken up by the phone. A conscientious student was letting me know that class was canceled for that morning. A week before I’d complained to him that my department in the university doesn’t tell me anything- about expectations or class schedules- and he took to heart and got up to call me and let me know about the change. I was grateful until he called back about six hours later to let me know that I did have class in the afternoon. Bollocks.
In class we discussed the earthquake and the government response and whether it was adequate. We talked about how much money has been spent on revamping Beijing for the Olympics while thousands were dying in villages because the roads linking them to major cities were always treacherous. Some students voiced anger that the government cared more about looking good for international cameras than modernizing the rural areas and ensuring good services. A few days later I asked another class about it and they stone walled me and said “Beijing is the priority.” The second class and I have a less cordial relationship so they’re unlikely to criticize their government in front of me.
People are largely praising the earthquake relief and that’s perhaps valid. China has let in teams from Taiwan and Japan to aid in search and rescue. The momentousness of this occasion should not be downplayed. The last time Japanese or Taiwanese government forces were on mainland China it was during World War II and the Chinese civil war respectively. Despite all of that the rumors coming out of Sichuan may prove to be a great embarrassment. It seems that schools and residential buildings were collapsing all over the place but government buildings were still standing in almost every damaged village. That’s just a rumor and even if it is true I doubt that we’ll ever get independent confirmation of it- so for now we can treat it with skepticism.
Natural disasters have proven to be very dangerous for governments in the past. President Bush’s poll numbers have never recovered from Hurricane Katrina, more than one Chinese government lost power due to an earthquake or, according to legend, a lightening strike that symbolized a god’s displeasure, and Cyclone Nargis may yet have grave consequences for the sociopaths in charge of Burma (Myanmar.) So for now China is doing all it can to address the problem and that is a very hopeful sign. Time will tell if some heads need to roll over the response or the disaster preparations but in a one party government that is a discussion that can be shelved until the innocent are out of harm’s way.
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Thanks, Josh (and Chris). Good report.
I was very surprised by this:
Good to know that open criticism is possible at a state university.
Chris is fond of telling me anecdotes like that that help him “keep warm some nights.” I agree. He said that some have even said of their native teachers, who express wide-eyed enthusiasm for the Party, that such thinking is naive and unintelligent. There is hope for China. And such small examples are why I don’t ultimately worry about it turning into an evil juggernaut.
Yeah, that was a good example of what Chris talked about in the last bit you posted from him Josh, about the differences in our societies and how we take criticism. very illuminating.