Gary reports on the China earthquake:

First---we are very lucky that the earthquake did not happen in our large city of 10 million people. Our 33 story buildings are not built for large catastrophes like a large earthquake and with the many 100s of skyscrapers in our city, we all have agreed this would be even more devastating.

My two partners who are from Sichuan (see the latest map on our blog for the relation to their cities and the epicenter) said today that they have had several phone calls from their friends but several they cannot connect with because the phones are down. They both have heard from their families but they all have several friends that are missing or have not been heard from. Within the past two days we have had several phone calls to our office from their friends and family that are in one of the hardest hit areas ( Wen Chuan city) they have talked about how bad the destruction is and how much help they need to quickly get more food and water and medical help there. And they continue to keep looking for survivors.

This is why we are so emotionally connected and have set up fundraising efforts with people in our city---people that we are connected to personally, like friends and family.

Two days ago the reports from the ground were that 20,000 people were dead and now today they have raised the estimates up to 50K because of so many people trapped or buried that the military and volunteers cannot get to.

There are many small towns in the area (about 60 cities) within 50km to 200km of the epicenter-- to gather all the information of people buried and dead is tough to manage the correct information. For example, there were 12 Americans out of contact or missing and today they were found. Also, the worst hit cities have 80% of the buildings destroyed. It looks like several Midwestern tornado ripped through the towns.

There has been a report of a group of Americans living in the area that have volunteered to help the victims. One was a doctor and he had given the media only his Chinese name. This tells me he has been in China for some time and knows the area well. Maybe he was in the area observing the Giant Pandas.

The most shocking thing to me is the graphic photos in the local newspapers. One photo shows the school kids that were crushed while taking an afternoon nap at school. There are many more schools that have fallen and volunteers and Military are trying diligently to get to the buried kids.
I can now understand why so many Chinese Nationals and westerners are coming together and donating time and money to the victims.


More tomorrow.

Gary on KTRS 550

Gary will on KTRS 50 AM this afternoon, discussing the recent earthquake.

Red Cross China and Earthquake Relief

Here is a map showing where my partners grew up and where their families are currently living.

You can see how I am effected by the earthquake 1,000 miles away from where I live.

My office has been raising money the last two days for the earthquake victims and then we will give the donation to the China Red Cross Division.

I will tell you tonight how much we have raised. It is amazing how many people here are giving money (and the amount of money) to the victims.

Hong Kong alone is giving 45 million USD to earthquake victims.

My step-daughter's school is also raising money today to give to the Red Cross.

Gasoline, Gas, Oil, Fuel, Cars: a quick email from Gary

Mike,

This all is taken from Shenzhen Daily on Tuesday May 13, 2008.

Vehicle sales in China rose 14% in April , the slowest pace in almost two years as a combination of inflationand a slumping stock market curbed demand for passenger cars.

Sales of passenger cars and commercial vehicles rose to 922,600 in April, reported by the China Assoc. of Automobiles Manufacturers. The growth rate was 21% the first three months.

At least 3/5ths of domestic stock market investors used their profits to buy new cars, the automakers group said. last year.

Vehicle production rose 20% to 981,300 units last month . In the first Four months, production rose 16% to 3.5 million vehicles while sales increased 19% to 3.5 million vehicles. (does this make sense?) I typed exactly how it read in the Shenzhen Daily.


more later.


gk

Gas Prices

There's a great deal of online discussion involving gas prices and oil companies' profits. China is often figured into the equation of elevated gas prices, and I've asked my co-author, Gary Kellmann, to investigate how locals are using gas, the growth of auto ownership, and how much the Chinese pay for gas.

Earthquake in China

Hello,

Thanks to all of you who were thinking of me while I am in China.

The Earthquake epicenter was approximately 1000 miles away from where I live. My friends and family are thankful that it did not happen in our large city of 10 million people. With everyone living in skyscrapers it would be devastating.

The earthquake took place outside of Chengdu, China a city of over 11 million people. I have several colleagues and friends from Sichuan province and cities close to the epicenter. We were even more fortunate as I was invited to travel with one of these friends to this province last weekend and come back on this Monday (the day of the earthquake) Because I was to travel by car for 10 hours and didn't feel like going we escaped from any harm again.

The earthquake was felt in Shanghai and Beijing and Vietnam and some say here in Shenzhen. I did not feel it as I was traveling to factories or in factories with big machinery that shake the buildings and could not distinguish between the earthquake and a big machine stamping out metal parts.

I will update you more on the earthquake and other stories from China soon.

On a more positive note. I was invited to my step daughters school last week by her teachers. What a wonderful experience. I took some video from her Chinese grade school. It shows how Chinese students learn and interact with their Teacher.

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China and Tibet - Lessons

Today I had some important history lessons from my Chinese Mentor regarding China and Tibet. After listening to the THREE PART raw video series of his important fact filled conversations you might change your thinking on the westerners perception of how China has treated Tibet.

After my long three hours of history lessons from Mr. Johnson (my Chinese Mentor) I have a different perspective on the history of Tibet, China and Buddhism. Which is refreshing as we only get filtered information on what the western media wants us to hear.

Take a look and hope you learn something too.

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PART ONE ON CHINA AND TIBET



PART TWO ON CHINA AND TIBET





PART THREE ON CHINA AND TIBET