Qinghai Earthquake

Background

On April 14, 2010, an earthquake of 7.1 magnitude struck Yushu city in Qinghai Province. Qinghai Province is a multi-national area where population loosely congregates compared to other provinces in China. The Tibetan component of the population made this area a sensitive region during the Tibetan riot in 2008. According to the statistics obtained before I publish this blog, 2038 were killed in the earthquake and 12135 were injured.

Selected microblogs

This morning, my journalist colleagues, Yang Song and Zhen Liu, recorded a video in which Jiegu Temple was hosting a crematorium ceremony for the earthquake dead. The abbot of the temple told us in an interview that two thousand people were cremated. Another monk said the number was eight hundred. A crowd of monks were singing prayers on a hill facing the crematorium to redeem the lost souls. According to the local religious practice, today is the third day after people died, which is the best time to redeem their souls and wish them rest in peace.

-- Zimo Zeng


In order to capture tears, some journalists tirelessly "helped" victims to remember the moment when they lost their beloved ones. When victims were saved from the ruins, they were forced to speak in front of cameras. Some teenager survivors were asked again and again how they felt to be alive. Some journalists asked, “Please hold on. Stay there. Let me take a picture first.” What professional we are!

-- Xiaoyang Nie


I believe when Shanghai Expo opens, people will forget the Qinghai earthquake. It’s the same as, when the Qinghai earthquake came, people forgot the mine disaster. When the mine disaster came, people forgot the imprisoned activists, forgot the polluted vaccination, forgot the severe drought in west China, forgot the Chinese prisoners who were tortured to death… Chinese people are becoming more and more forgetful in tragedies that befell one after another.

-- shadow in the dark


The State Council of China announced that tomorrow would be the National Grief Day for the entire state to mourn for the people who died in the Qinghai earthquake. According to law, everyone must have no entertainment activity tomorrow. As I see it, the biggest “entertainment activity” is that our government officials “entertain” themselves with taxpayers’ money. If the officials stopped their “entertainment activity” for even only one day, the money saved would be sufficient enough to aid the victims in the earthquake.

-- Yang HJ


My point of view

China seems to have become a popular place for earthquake in recent years. The Sichuan Earthquake in 2008 was a catastrophe that caused over 100,000 death. The Sichuan Earthquake, in another sense, also became an unprecedented opportunity that united the entire nation together to help victims of the disaster. The Chinese government skillfully took advantage of the rising nationalism resulted from the Sichuan Earthquake and successfully convert nationalism into public support for the Chinese government in cracking down on Tibetan riots, in supporting victims of Sichuan Earthquake, in hosting Beijing Olympics, etc. Two years from 2008, what is the current situation of Chinese nationalism? The Qinghai Earthquake was an excellent barometer. Almost as I expected, this time, people were no longer ultra-passionate in helping the Qinghai victims. Chinese became more rational and less nationalistic. As is reflected in the tone of the microblogs that I selected, people spent more time thinking, instead of rushing to the epicenter and hoping to save lives regardless of their own capability. People also tended to connect the this earthquake disaster with previous events, like in the comment by shadow in the dark. On the contrary, in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, people were made so distraught by the disaster and forgot to consider other social issues associated with the earthquake.

Apparently, Chinese people have become more mature over two years.