Amid Grief, Beijing's Strong Hand With National Mourning

I. Citation:

Amid Grief, Beijing's Strong Hand With National Mourning
May 19, 2008
The Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121117970381103133.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

II. Summary:

At 2:28 today, a week after the 7.9 magnitude earthquake that have killed more than 30 thousand people in Sichuan province (and 20 thousand still not found), China froze as the people participated in a 3-minute mourning for the people sacrificed in the earthquake. This is part of the three day memorial to respect and mourn for the lives lost in this natural disaster. In this nationwide mourning period, the government has shut down all entertainment for the three days, including entertainment web sites, TV shows, online games, and ads. The only other time that this has happened was in 1976, when Mao Zedong died. They are doing this to help the nation to "have some sense of psychological closure", and help the people heal emotionally and move on with their lives after the 3 day period. Many people are trying to help with the rescuing going on in Sichuan, and there has been 10.8 billion yuan in donations so far.

III. Reactions:

a. This article relates to the theme changes in functions and structures of states and in attitudes toward states and political identities. Because of this earthquake, the government of China has come out, and actively participated in helping clear the damage and rescue the people, versus before the earthquake when they more or less governed China from behind the set and less publicly. This time, even government flew the front lines of the earthquake, and worked with their hands to rescue the people

b. On the afternoon of May 12, 2008, a 7.9 magnitude earthquake shook the Sichuan province of China. This earthquake, which was totally unexpected, brought down hundreds of buildings and was felt all the way in Japan. The most damage was found in schools, where the students were still in class. Since that day, many rescue teams have gone in to save the people, and is still going on now.

c. This article is written by Geoffrey A. Fowler and Loretta Chao, who are writers for the online newspaper.
d. This article is written from an outsiders’ point of view, and has very little bias, because it would be disrespectful if it was. However, I thought it was a really good article and shows the power of unity, so I wanted to share it.

e. It would be interesting to hear the view of the Tibetans. I have seen news of anti-Chinese groups that are happy about the earthquake and believe it was an act of god(s). So it would be interesting to see what the Tibetans, who had been rebelling against the Chinese government before, thinks about this disaster, and if they are willing to provide like the other Chinese provinces and many other foreign countries are.

f. I think that what happened was horrible, and it’s strange how they could have no idea that the earthquake was going to happen. But it’s nice that they are holding this national three day mourning period, because it is a good way to show respect and remembrance for all the people that died in the earthquake. I am also surprised that the Chinese government was able to enforce this mourning period so fast, and that they are powerful enough to stop the entertainment everywhere. I just hope that they can get this cleared up fast, and for nothing else bad to happen again, so that everyone can be safe and the 2008 Olympics can run smoothly.