Michael Zhao’s Video Compilation

posted with vodpod

Beichuan: a vision of hell

China has, cautiously, welcomed some foreign input. When Mr Wen first visited the town he spotted an American doctor, Brian Robinson of the Heart to Heart aid outfit, walking with other volunteers along the road and he ordered the car to stop. He embraced the doctor, thanked him and told him to go to Beichuan and help. An unprecedented action.

Silent suffering of quake victims – CNN.com

Perhaps the most poignant experience came while we were talking to the local party secretary in Che Jia Va, who gave us directions and pointed out various landmarks — all the while keeping a stoic face. The town was once home to 13,000 people, and 3,000 are still missing, he says.

China’s Holistic Censorship Regime

In fact, conflating the interests of the Chinese Communist Party with the interests of businesses operating in China is what makes China Inc. work. For the last 30 years, China has been building a social system that establishes an identity between business and broader political or social interests.
Does this work well in promoting the kind of stability so cherished by the Party leadership? It may be that, in China’s diverse social system, forcing companies to act like cabinet ministers—and cabinet ministers to act like company executives—is a necessary cost of social harmony. Or, it may only be a necessary cost of prolonging the political life of the Chinese Communist Party. As we know from our political catechism, continuing one-party rule and maintaining social stability are really exactly the same thing.

Sichuan Earthquake

A school in Chengdu

from www.drumsnwhistles.c posted with vodpod

“We Are Not Free”

“It’s as if they want to change the way we are,” said a lama about the Chinese authorities. Monks in Tibet are struggling to continue practicing their faith in the face of huge political pressure.