Mourning

I experienced a remarkable feeling today on how this culture is mourning the Earthquake victims.

Starting at 2:28 today all of China stopped.
It was an eerie halt of the masses of people, traffic jams and industry. Air horns and sirens and automobile horns blasted for three minutes. I was on the 19th story of my skyscraper office looking down at the masses of people that stood outside and payed their respect. The madness of everyday traffic stopped and at that moment blared their horns for three minutes while the horns echoed, bouncing off of the large skyscrapers like an echo bouncing through a valley in the farmlands of the Midwest. As the horns screamed I viewed the faces of my Chinese friends, our neighbors and their friends. I could see the deep thoughts and prayers they were sending to the victims and workers in the devastated areas of their Sichuan Province. It was a sobering moment for myself as well. I didn't think I would be touched by this planned moment of mourning but, in that very moment at 2:28 I felt connected to all of China and the Nationalism and the hurt that the victims were going through. What a powerful experience to be with people of a different culture and feel what they were feeling.

Also heard and read in local papers---the Government has called THREE DAYS OF NATIONAL MOURNING and for a halt to all entertainment for three days. Including sports, Theme parks, Karaoke Bars, all TV programming--except for stories (good and bad) being aired on all the China TV channels. What I see when I turn on the TV is blank screens and live video of Fundraising and positive stories of finding survivors. What a great idea to give their people time to reflect and mourn. (Why didn't the US do this while we were mourning during our tragedies? Were we too busy to mourn?

It is also reported that over 130,000 military and police are helping find buried people and helping aid the injured and another 70,000 civilian workers. I was very disappointed that the China Government has not invited American Emergency workers (only the US relief supplies) but instead invited four other countries(Japan, Taiwan, Singapore and S. Korea). I am sure it is a political issue and they don't want to "give face" to the US. As the US has not tried to "give face" to the Chinese (make them look good).


Nearly 7,000 schools have been destroyed (some of the buildings as new as two years) and the Government is going after these construction companies and corrupted officials. Shenzhen Daily even reported three emergency managers being "sacked" because of mishandling relief efforts during the days after the earthquake happened.

Newspapers in China reported today that up to 10 billion Yuan have been raised from Chinese people and support from other countries. The city I live in has raised over 120 million Yuan. This shows the power of Nationalism and the power of the Chinese economy. People have money and want to give their support.

Companies and individuals alike are quickly joining adoption programs and adopting children that have lost parents. They are supporting them through school scholarships and actually bringing them to our city in Shenzhen to take care of them.

This has been both an amazing and a sad experience. I get to see how other cultures react in times of crises. The Chinese seem organized, willing to give and they care about their people. They have come together stronger than what I expected which is wonderful to see.