May Day Vaca Hainan Part II

I originally intended this post to be a lighthearted continuation of my visit to Hainan, but given the recent tragedy of the earthquake, I wanted to shift gears a bit. So enjoy the pictures which still hold that former mood, but I also hope you continuing reading and see my impressions of the last few days.

Part of the reason for putting up this last post (which also explains the haste and sloppiness of the entry, I apologize) is to simply let everyone know, friends and family, that I am 100% fine and unharmed after the quake. To give a few details in case you haven't seen it enough in the news lately, a catastrophic 7.8 earthquake struck southwest Sichuan Province. As of today the death toll has surpassed 20,000 people however Xinhua, China's governmental mouth piece media agency, estimates the figure could reach as many as 50,000.

The time of the quake, 2:28 Monday afternoon, was perfectly normal here in Dongying and the rest of Shandong Province for that matter. In fact, I learned of the news just as I'm sure many people back in the states did, via the internet. Although hearing of the disaster in this way made it a bit distant, seeing some of the students reactions, the constant news coverage of the devastation on CCTV and the fundraising activities made it very real very fast. Over the past year of teaching, I have made it a point to periodically bring up conversation topics that may be somewhat taboo, politically sensitive etc. because I know that the students will be much more likely to discuss these things with me rather than their Chinese professors and I pretty much always give a different perspective than they are accustomed to hearing on whatever the issue. Knowing that a significant portion of Petroleum University students call Sichuan Province home, I refrained from open discussion of the quake, not wanting to unintentionally poke at any open wounds.

Taking the "every cloud has a silver lining" approach, we may make a couple observations that are modest, yet positive nonetheless, in wake of the disaster. The first pertains to the upcoming Beijing Olympics which needs no further explanation of its importance to Chinese people. Over the past few months leading up to the games, it seems we have seen incident after incident that may jeopardize a smooth and successful 2008 Olympics and also destablize relations, to a certain extent, between China and a handful of developed western nations. Regardless as to who is "right" or "wrong" on these issues, they unequivocally create tension between China and the west, fueling Chinese nationalism that can be counterproductive if taken too far. With this being said, the quake has quite effectively put all of these controversial, divisive issues on the back burner for the time being and may actually improve both diplomatic relations and citizens' perceptions of the other nation's people. As many Americans can tell you, sometimes great tragedy can bring about incredible acts of kindness, in which people put aside differences and unify for the greater good. I have already seen this spirit here domestically with a great many Chinese giving donations and doing what they can to help and it is my hope that people from other countries will do the same. If you feel like making a contribution I've added a link with a host of options.
The link: http://china-earthquake-relief.com/node/3


The second observation concerns the government's response to the disaster. The west sometimes defines the government by its corruption scandals and its overall lack of transparency. Simply put, not only has the response been fast and diligent, but access to information has not been impeded in any way that I can tell. If we juxtapose the earthquake to the recent disaster in Myanmar (of course it is unfair to the Chinese to compare their government to a military junta, but humor me here), it is like night and day. While the junta has refused aid and suppressed any effort to inform the world of the facts, China has been open to the rest of the world as it tries to restore some semblance of normalcy. As China develops into a modern country, I think we need to recognize that little indications like these are signs that she is moving in the right direction. The New York Times ran a great article talking about this idea a little more throughly.
The link: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/14/world/asia/14response.html?scp=4&sq=china+earthquake+cyclone+myanmar&st=nyt

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