With strong evidence revealed by human genomics, it is now believed by many scientists that about 100,000 years back in history some of our distant ancestors began to leave the African continent. They never returned.
They left the cradle of Homo sapiens certainly not because they had in mind a Shangri-La or something like that. It could be a thousand reasons. They might be chased away by enemies, or they might be chasing animals, or just exploring for the sake of exploring.
They went further and further. In time some descendants of these early migrants had come to the Far East to settle. They developed cultures and civilizations. Some ended up in Sichuan. They just didn't know these were unstable lands on top of massive fault lines. Here the tectonic force had created one of the most beautiful mountainous landscapes on earth. In geological terms these lands are young and energetic. Rivers had been running everywhere with sweet water from snow mountains, and the lands were just green and fertile. People could easily grow crops and raise animals, and they flourished. They occupied every single corner of it. Later in history they called it the Heavenly Land of Abundance.
This might be the Land of Promise, yet this was no heavenly land of eternity. Every now and then a rupture of the land would occur somewhere and devastate all lives on top of it. In another time a flood would wash away villages and towns. As disasters didn't happen too frequently all the time, people just rebuilt their homes immediately after a devastation and stayed. Soon they simply forgot it as though it had never happened. They took their chances and prayed to the gods or Buddha for not seeing it happen again. They kept on flourishing. But it certainly would happen again, perhaps at another time and in another place not far away. Only it never told exactly where and when. Those who had survived a devastation might not encounter another one during their lifetime, but their children or grandchildren might do.
China is big, so big that even a magnitude 8.0 earthquake, which sent nearly a hundred thousand people to go perishing, affected only a tiny fraction of its population. And the badly stricken areas make up only a small part of the province of Sichuan, and the whole province's current contribution to the nation's GDP is merely about 4 percent.
China is big, so big that it has been able to develop a strong system of economy, so strong that many economists have optimistically predicted that the rehabilitation of the devastated areas could even boost the national economy, instead of dampening it.
China is big, so big that many backwaters of it proceed so slowly along their unique ways to modernization. The historic Tangshan earthquake that killed more than 240,000 people three decades ago has little inspiration in terms of getting prepared for an anticipated contender, in all parts of China that sit on the most risky zone. As the Yunnan-Sichuan area is situated well in the zone, large populous cities like Kunming, Chengdu, Chongqing, etc., without getting well prepared by the nation, are just like sitting ducks taking their chances. Most people living in these lands are not rich enough to deal with the risk on their own. The nation just has to do something about that.
2008/05/31
2008/05/22
Thoughtfulness
Mother Nature creates all lives on earth, yet She cuts lots of them short from time to time.
Now so many innocent people got punished just for their vulnerability, by being buried alive and left to die the most horrific and agonizing death.
I cannot tell how I envy all those who can courageously rush into the devastated lands and reach out their helping hands, rescuing those still narrowly holding on, and recovering those having gone!
Thanks to the sheer number of good people among the whole population, there is no shortage of volunteers. And there are still many ready to come from outside the country.
Though a pity I cannot be helpful to the unfortunate other than donating a bit of money, I think I still can be a little thoughtful for the sake of my own self.
I cannot tell why I just cannot stop comparing the splendid Bird's Nest for the coming Beijing Olympic Games, with a single school building reduced to debris, burying more than a thousand children alive in a split second.
The imagination of innocent people being buried alive by debris keeps making my generic beating heart sink deep into horror and sadness, followed by meditation and contemplation!
My sluggish heart would at last scream to itself, 'how on earth a nightmare like this can be true!'
A few days ago a TV news clip showed the PLA's first airborne rescue team, bringing with them a reporter, landing on a high ground in Wenchuan where the epicentre was located.
It was narrated that many survivors shouted to themselves, 'the birds of luck have come!'
They rushed to the site and knelt down before the helicopters. What they did first was worship, expressing their gratefulness. These are really simple and traditional people. They might not even take the right of being rescued from such a catastrophe for granted.
These poor people are used to surviving all kinds of hardship, misfortunes and natural disasters mainly on their own. If the PLA did not come, they would not even complain with a single word.
The republic will celebrate its 60th anniversary soon in next year, following the Beijing Olympic Games just round the corner, in which the republic's athletes will surely achieve good results. How good would it be if the ruling elite could have made it fast enough to get ahead of such ever anticipated devastation, to successfully save most of the very vulnerable people from perishing, after having engaged with such a major destructive enemy!
We all know that this cruelest faceless devastator has always been lurking around, waiting to strike all of a sudden. Living on these lands with so much tectonic potential momentum accumulating, one is very likely to encounter a devastating quake at his doorstep during his lifetime. The whole population in the area should thus be well prepared in everyday life in order to survive when a bad quake does happen. The People's Government should have done much more than already done, in order to address the threats of this formless unconquerable enemy. Yet they just have fallen very short of it indeed.
The loss of human life this time is astronomical, far too much for a 21st century China!
The People's Government has no doubt made a number of significant improvements during the past two decades, in terms of running the industrializing country. Now it has even for the very first time not imposed restrictions for the media, including those from Hong Kong, Taiwan and foreign countries, on covering the whole area of devastation.
Yet the improvements are still far from a much higher degree the great republic deserves. It needs to better itself much harder.
Now so many innocent people got punished just for their vulnerability, by being buried alive and left to die the most horrific and agonizing death.
I cannot tell how I envy all those who can courageously rush into the devastated lands and reach out their helping hands, rescuing those still narrowly holding on, and recovering those having gone!
Thanks to the sheer number of good people among the whole population, there is no shortage of volunteers. And there are still many ready to come from outside the country.
Though a pity I cannot be helpful to the unfortunate other than donating a bit of money, I think I still can be a little thoughtful for the sake of my own self.
I cannot tell why I just cannot stop comparing the splendid Bird's Nest for the coming Beijing Olympic Games, with a single school building reduced to debris, burying more than a thousand children alive in a split second.
The imagination of innocent people being buried alive by debris keeps making my generic beating heart sink deep into horror and sadness, followed by meditation and contemplation!
My sluggish heart would at last scream to itself, 'how on earth a nightmare like this can be true!'
A few days ago a TV news clip showed the PLA's first airborne rescue team, bringing with them a reporter, landing on a high ground in Wenchuan where the epicentre was located.
It was narrated that many survivors shouted to themselves, 'the birds of luck have come!'
They rushed to the site and knelt down before the helicopters. What they did first was worship, expressing their gratefulness. These are really simple and traditional people. They might not even take the right of being rescued from such a catastrophe for granted.
These poor people are used to surviving all kinds of hardship, misfortunes and natural disasters mainly on their own. If the PLA did not come, they would not even complain with a single word.
The republic will celebrate its 60th anniversary soon in next year, following the Beijing Olympic Games just round the corner, in which the republic's athletes will surely achieve good results. How good would it be if the ruling elite could have made it fast enough to get ahead of such ever anticipated devastation, to successfully save most of the very vulnerable people from perishing, after having engaged with such a major destructive enemy!
We all know that this cruelest faceless devastator has always been lurking around, waiting to strike all of a sudden. Living on these lands with so much tectonic potential momentum accumulating, one is very likely to encounter a devastating quake at his doorstep during his lifetime. The whole population in the area should thus be well prepared in everyday life in order to survive when a bad quake does happen. The People's Government should have done much more than already done, in order to address the threats of this formless unconquerable enemy. Yet they just have fallen very short of it indeed.
The loss of human life this time is astronomical, far too much for a 21st century China!
The People's Government has no doubt made a number of significant improvements during the past two decades, in terms of running the industrializing country. Now it has even for the very first time not imposed restrictions for the media, including those from Hong Kong, Taiwan and foreign countries, on covering the whole area of devastation.
Yet the improvements are still far from a much higher degree the great republic deserves. It needs to better itself much harder.
2008/05/17
Speechlessness
That was a major catastrophe. It killed, even on Buddha's Day. Mother Nature has no mercy! Many were stricken speechless.
Premier Wen Jiabao rushed into the debris to help direct the mass rescue. Wen is a good premier. He is kind and caring, he is hardworking, and he is competent.
Yet he might not have got the hang of it comforting a poor weeping schoolgirl devastated by such ultimate trauma and misfortune of losing her family to something she could not possibly understand. The country needs tens of thousands of well trained professionals to do the broken heart healing jobs for years to come.
Call me heartless if I don't have tears in my eyes seeing that schoolgirl weeping just on TV.
Wen is certainly not of the normal kinds of high rank leaders on our 9.6 million sq.km motherland with a population of 1.3 billion strong. We need at least a hundred million of this kind of good and capable men and women to build and rebuild a healthy, fair, strong and wealthy China.
The Premier says, "we can surely defeat the catastrophe!"
I would boldly assert that we cannot.
That Satanic catastrophe has come and got away with it after having buried alive, slaughtered and injured so many innocent people, devasted so many homes, taking advantage of the poor quality of residencial and school buildings, in just less than one single minute! We haven't even been able to touch the tip of the tail of His Satanic Majesty.
What we must defeat is not any catastrophe we can never engage with, but the elements that breed poverty of our badly off population, and their vulnerability to all kinds of adversities including man-made ones.
Many of our poor fellow countrymen on rural lands are still living in utter poverty, sheltering in adobe huts or brick houses extremely vulnerable when exposed to all kinds of harsh elements and castastrophes that could strike all of a sudden in many parts of the country!
A friend of mine has mentioned the Myanmar typhoon and the New Orleans hurricane to dispute against some who sneered at the People's Liberation Army, accusing them of sluggish action. I found my friend a bit too sentimental doing so, and the argument is simply pointless.
We don't make comparisons with Myanmar or New Orleans. Myanmar is under the complete military rule of a regime quite so imcomprehensible. New Orleans had been a victim of racial discrimination, thus indifference. They are examples of unjustness with no room for doubt.
If we do want to compare, we'd better do with the Osaka-Kobe experience that we actually can hardly do!
According to the news, the People's Liberation Army has been doing a good job. It is just doing its job. This should be every single ordinary people's expectation. They are the army after all. That's what an army is meant to be. The people thank them, and may even praise them a bit. Yet there are some extremely patriotic people who worship them, they would find it offensive hearing someone critizing or sneering at them. Such behavior might have contained unnecessarily too much sentiments.
My friend also mentioned that the PLA Airborne Force had lost 4 of their men with 10 still missing. If this did happen, it only implies that they might not be well prepared for the rescue mission. These well trained and most valuable men are supposed to keep themselves alive till the end in order to rescue as many helpless people as they can, and not to sacrifice so soon. A rescue team must have a collective cool mind. They should never do the job as if they are fighting in a battle as martyrs facing a well equipped enemy!
Premier Wen Jiabao rushed into the debris to help direct the mass rescue. Wen is a good premier. He is kind and caring, he is hardworking, and he is competent.
Yet he might not have got the hang of it comforting a poor weeping schoolgirl devastated by such ultimate trauma and misfortune of losing her family to something she could not possibly understand. The country needs tens of thousands of well trained professionals to do the broken heart healing jobs for years to come.
Call me heartless if I don't have tears in my eyes seeing that schoolgirl weeping just on TV.
Wen is certainly not of the normal kinds of high rank leaders on our 9.6 million sq.km motherland with a population of 1.3 billion strong. We need at least a hundred million of this kind of good and capable men and women to build and rebuild a healthy, fair, strong and wealthy China.
The Premier says, "we can surely defeat the catastrophe!"
I would boldly assert that we cannot.
That Satanic catastrophe has come and got away with it after having buried alive, slaughtered and injured so many innocent people, devasted so many homes, taking advantage of the poor quality of residencial and school buildings, in just less than one single minute! We haven't even been able to touch the tip of the tail of His Satanic Majesty.
What we must defeat is not any catastrophe we can never engage with, but the elements that breed poverty of our badly off population, and their vulnerability to all kinds of adversities including man-made ones.
Many of our poor fellow countrymen on rural lands are still living in utter poverty, sheltering in adobe huts or brick houses extremely vulnerable when exposed to all kinds of harsh elements and castastrophes that could strike all of a sudden in many parts of the country!
A friend of mine has mentioned the Myanmar typhoon and the New Orleans hurricane to dispute against some who sneered at the People's Liberation Army, accusing them of sluggish action. I found my friend a bit too sentimental doing so, and the argument is simply pointless.
We don't make comparisons with Myanmar or New Orleans. Myanmar is under the complete military rule of a regime quite so imcomprehensible. New Orleans had been a victim of racial discrimination, thus indifference. They are examples of unjustness with no room for doubt.
If we do want to compare, we'd better do with the Osaka-Kobe experience that we actually can hardly do!
According to the news, the People's Liberation Army has been doing a good job. It is just doing its job. This should be every single ordinary people's expectation. They are the army after all. That's what an army is meant to be. The people thank them, and may even praise them a bit. Yet there are some extremely patriotic people who worship them, they would find it offensive hearing someone critizing or sneering at them. Such behavior might have contained unnecessarily too much sentiments.
My friend also mentioned that the PLA Airborne Force had lost 4 of their men with 10 still missing. If this did happen, it only implies that they might not be well prepared for the rescue mission. These well trained and most valuable men are supposed to keep themselves alive till the end in order to rescue as many helpless people as they can, and not to sacrifice so soon. A rescue team must have a collective cool mind. They should never do the job as if they are fighting in a battle as martyrs facing a well equipped enemy!
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