This week in Shanghaiist
- The official death toll in the Sichuan earthquake has been revised upwards to 32,477. Deaths have also been recorded in Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Henan, Hubei and Yunnan. Within Sichuan, the Mianyang and Deyang regions suffered the most fatalities, with estimated deaths of 11,874 and 10,341 respectively. 209,900 people are reported injured, and the final death toll is expected to exceed 50,000
- Four foreign teams from Russia, Singapore, Japan and Korea have been allowed in to take part in rescue efforts. Teams have also been dispatched from the Greater China regions of Hong Kong and Taiwan.
- A lake with a volume of 1.6 million cubic metres formed after the quake in Pengzhou City burst yesterday and residents have been evacuated with no casualties reported. A similar lake in Beichuan is expected to burst very soon, causing thousands of residents to run to the hills while paramilitary officers, rescue workers, journalists and troops have been ordered to evacuate.
- Very strong aftershocks continue to rock the region on a frequent basis, triggering mudflows, and further hampering rescue efforts (see Al-Jazeera report on the right). It also did not help that a very powerful storm hit Chengdu yesterday. Editor of English-language magazine Chengdoo Joe tweets about the new long crack on the ceiling of his apartment.
- Shanghaiist's contacts in Chengdu say a lot more tents are popping up all over the city as many of the survivors have been moved from other quake-ravaged regions to the relative safety of the provincial capital. Some of these tents were blown away by yesterday's storm, and camping stores are said to be cashing in on the shortage of tents, selling small tents for as much as RMB500.
- English language bookstore Chengdu Bookworm has put together a list of urgently needed items including camp beds, tents, plastic/rubber gloves, medicines, etc.
- Three days of national mourning for victims of the earthquake starting this Monday and the Olympic torch relay has finally been suspended.
Earthquake Updates: 32,477 dead, foreign rescue teams, lakes burst, three days of national mourning and suspension of Olympic torch relay
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
post to facebookComments (16) [rss]
Post a comment (Comment Policy)
Tips
Latest Video
Contribute
Latest Tip:
Obama and America’s banker Hu-Jintao
November 17, 2009 by politicalsnapshots.wordpress.com
Obama
[more]
Nice definition for Greater China, Kenneth. Were you just trying to offend people or are you just showing your ignorance.
321: Actually why don't u just shut up if u have nuthin constructive to contribute to the conversation? i for one dont see anything wrong with that term.
321 - What the hell is the matter with you? You don't think that YOU are offending people with a highly innapropriate comment like that at this time?
From wikipedia:
Greater China (simplified Chinese: 大中华地区; traditional Chinese: 大中華地區; pinyin: Dà Zhōnghuá Dìqū) is a term referring collectively to both the territories administered by the People's Republic of China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and territories administered by the Republic of China (Taiwan and some neighbouring islands)[citation needed]. The term is most commonly used in the investment and economics community, referring to their growing economic interaction and integration
Kenneth 1 - 321 - 0
@ T, vladivostok, & xiaopanzi
This is so childish. If you will read on in the Wikipedia definition (read all the way to paragraph 3), you will read that both camps object to this politically charged term.
321 obviously has major comprehension problems and I quote from the Wikipedia article:
The Chinese are certainly NOT complaining of the use of the term. Lots of businesses operating within China as well as the media use this term. Does China kick them out?And whether YOU like it or not, this is a term that is widely used and will not disappear anytime soon. So just bugger off will ya?
Everybody please focus. And thanks for posting the list of urgent needed items.
China Earthquake Relief
http://chinaearthquake.wikidot.com/
Wikipedia is not a reliable source, Taiwan is Taiwan, HK is a victim and China is China.
look, who's talking, again?
I don't think Kenneth was trying to offend people at all, nor is he ignorant.
Kenneth, thanks for compiling these news.
As to the term "greater China", let's see how it was used in some occasions:
"Greater China
How leaders from the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are creating an integrated powerhouse"
(BusinessWeek)
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/02_49/b3811007.htm
"Greater China Careers"
(P&G)
http://pg.sitebase.net/global/greater_china/
"Definitions of region can vary — not just continents but trans-Atlantic, Greater China, trans-Indian Ocean, Eurasia — and Mr. Ghemawat examines a variety of regional hub strategies..."
(New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/business/02shelf.html?sq=greater%20china&st=nyt&adxnnl=1&scp=47&adxnnlx=1211137552-Bs+kRw78r7Wc21ol2KbBHg
anyway, it's not the most important thing to discuss at this point.
It's hard to imagine the extent of the damage. It will take months, maybe years to tally the full extent. The media always shows the collapsed buildings and the cracks in the dam, but that isn't a tenth of what's out there. This will be a huge, long-term recovery.Given the immensity of the task, China is really shining through.
Greater China is a commonly accepted term that incorporates China/HK/Taiwan. End of. If its offensive, then you're far too easily offended. Use of it is certainly not ignorant.
As for childish: pot. kettle. glass houses. stones.
Greater China is considered to be an objectionable term by two hotly opposed political camps, and some people do in fact find it offensive, in spite of your denials.
vadivostoKT, reread the wiki bit (carefully) and you will understand. I am sure there are some words that could be applied to you offensively but that others might find harmless. I am surprise that the readers here can't or won't grasp how anyone might rightfully be offended in spite of the clarification from wiki, but are more intent on shrilly protecting their position.
All this discussion and snippy little remarks over something so simple and clear is indeed childish and tiresome. I look forward to your next 10 responses, but I've nothing further to add.
"Greater China is considered to be an objectionable term by two hotly opposed political camps, and some people do in fact find it offensive, in spite of your denials."
Doesn't make it either right or wrong unfortunately. The fact is most people are middle of the road and couldn't give a flying leap.
But more seriously, lets get back to the actual topic shall we? You have an issue with his terminology, so send him a letter to the editor and I am sure they can address it, but for now, I can be a chink and you can be an asshole but lets get back to the topic which supercedes any our our needs to be "right".
and oh yeah, thanks Shanghaiist for staying on top of things so we can find an easy source for a summary of events.