Watching CCTV coverage of the massive Chinese quake aftermath (as best I can, considering the language gap) one can’t help but notice how “sanitary” the images are.
While there’s plenty of footage showing collapsed buildings and roadways, crushed cars and landslides, the “rescued” quake victims dragged from the rubble before Chinese television cameras are uniformly limp, dazed, and amazingly clean. If one were of a suspicious nature, one might suspect there was some staging going on.
There also seems to be a lot of footage of soldiers moving supplies around in an orderly, efficient manner.
It seems all very reassuring, as I’m sure was intended. There is no question that the death toll will be both staggering and under-reported.
In Beijing, life was going on as usual, as it does everywhere during such times. In addition to flea market shopping, we toured the Forbidden City, complete with private guide and the privilege of skipping the tourist lineup to enter directly through a side gate reserved for staff.
Friends in high places, as they say.
Better go – the pizza and wings just got here. I’ll be home late on Wednesday, and hope to have photos up shortly afterwards. Thanks for your patience during my short holiday, and thanks to the guest bloggers who’ve so generously helped out.
Thanks for the report Kate.
Stay well.
Watch out for the pepperoni on that pizza Kate…They might try to pass you hot ‘dog’.
About the earthquake, tragic as it is, I tried to post on CTV.ca yesterday but of course it must of been deemed too offensive by the moderators. Anything but typical bleeding heart platitudes like “…My thoughts go to the victims…” or “…I hope the neocons in Ottawa send help…” was not to be accepted.
This is what I wanted to post which was dry humour intended to provoke reaction from the many leftoids that usually post really stupid moonbat comments there:
“I have a feeling that this earthquake is a direct cause of man made ‘Global shock’ which is the result of accumulation of ground tremours caused by increasing rocket launches, explosions from bombs in Iraq, Afghanistan and other war thorn areas, Keith Richards morning after shakes, jackhammers and Al Gore walking.
We must act now to save the planet from Anthropological Global Shock (AGS) as it will eventually lead to the planet coming out of it’s orbit. According to my giant billboard size graph called the “sledge hammer graph”, this could occur within the next 50 years.
So it is urgent we start a massive awareness campaign to stem and control AGS. Eventually, UN controlled earth tremour credit offsets could be develloped along with other measures like tax increases.
Please send me your cheques or money orders and I will send you a complementary copy of my new pseudo science documentary “An Uncontrolable Shake” which will soon be in wide circulation in every school.”
Insensitive AND hilarious 🙂
But it’s not just earthquakes. Don’t forget that Chaiten volcano had been considered inactive since at least 1970. Clearly some human influence there.
I see that the EU foreign policy chief is now advocating invading Burma for their own good. As soon as they realise the socialist theme to the burmese government.
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gotta love the burmese junta keeping out all the foreign devils
and controlling the flow and distribution of emergency aid…
so they can take all the credit themselves.
funny how little exposure that sort of thing gets in the leftosphere.
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I suspect the heavy rain takes the usual dust of the victims . But for sure they arent going to show the really ugly shots.
I was not surprised last night that the MSM reported it as being only just before the Olympics, like the earth is on some sort of news clock.
I’ve already seen a couple of pictures that looked posed, e.g. a group of medical workers lifting a victim onto a stretcher, and it wouldn’t surprise me a bit.
I was watching CNN International in my Beijing hotel room a few years back and all of a sudden the censors blanked the screen for nearly a minute. I can’t even remember what the particular piece was about other than it was about China.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget in the middle of Beijing, let alone Shanghai, that one is visiting a Third World communist dictatorship.
This is especially true if one dines only on western delicacies such as Buffalo Wings and pizza. Heh…
As someone who is in southern China I get my pics from HK TV and believe me you idiots it isn’t posed or clean so just go back to sleep. Dozens of children have been killed as many schools collapsed on them. I just hope it never happens to you smart asses.
If this is the stupidity the blog a decended to then stuff you
By the way Kate you seem to know so much about China after your short visit how come you don’t know about CCTV CH9. The international channel presented in ENGLISH.
Years ago, when undergound tests were being conducted in France, within a few days there was a minor/major earthquake somewhere. Same with above ground tests,or space shots, major storms somewhere.
Toss a pebble in a pond and watch the ripples go until they reach the edge. All that energy has to go somewhere and possible cause disasters.
Earth shock possibly has more truth than algore/suzuki and their scams.
I do know that every time France exploded a bomb, we got a 3-4 inch rain within a few days.
Mssr. P’d On.
Maybe you could drag your sorry a$$ away from the English TV and volunteer to help if your so close to the action.
Remember the staged photos from Lebanon. Yes, people were killed, many of them children, but the pictures I have seen on tv show very clean people, no scratches, torn clothes etc. And considering this shake happened a few days ago, and bodies have been out in the open, they do not look too bloated or disfigured.
Remember the air crash a few years ago, with supposed deaths, pic of floating bodies etc. Eventually it come out the govt had emptied the morgue and dumped them. No way the bodies of said crash would be so bloated within hours of crash.
Come on Kate, you don’t have to constantly work at burnishing your reputation as a cynical hard-ass. Loosen up a little and remind yourself that no TV network – Chinese or otherwise is going to show gory close-ups of victims squashed like bugs.
As far as efficiency goes, why wouldn’t well trained and highly regimented rescue workers do a good job? Even the IRC has been complimentary.
I wonder if our vaunted dart team, which has never arrived anywhere until well after a disaster has peaked, will be redirected from where it is sitting on its butt in Thailand (while the Burmese junta plays its nasty games), to nearby China where it could arrive on time and really do some good.
Unfortunately children bear the brunt of these disasters. Here’s a first class organization that directly aids some of the most vulnerable in China…the orphans:
http://www.halfthesky.org/journal/?p=88
mary t- there is absolutely no scientific way that you can causally link a French test to rain 3-4 days later. Or were you saying that ‘tongue in cheek’?
Certainly, energy spreads – and dissipates as it spreads, but a line of energy is met and broken up by other energy moving in the opposite direction elsewhere.
And no TV is going to show the ‘ugly shots’; that includes media in the US and Canada. It simply isn’t ‘done’. It would be alarming for the viewers and also, deeply insulting to the victims and their families.
Cal2 @ 12:48PM, ditto, good shot.
I see no sign that Kate is projecting she has just learned a lot about China after her short visit there, she probably knows as much as the arrogant Pissedoff who is projecting as a total Asshole.
Probably Pissedoff works for some of the China trekies or underlings thereof and is suffering from China syndrome. All that pollution has to have an effect.
When it comes to doing business with China, money overtakes Human Rights and even the great cry of the Left, Global Warming, CONVENIENTLY renamed Climate Change.
Betcha Green-Helmet-Guy is there, “looking after things” as per China’s desired International image.
Gotta have “coordination” in these situations…..
Kate
order in some take out chinese food:-))
Kate, I really hope that upon your return, that you will post something about your impressions of China, based on your trip. As a 20-odd year China watcher, I am curious to learn more about the nation, based on your experience!
Have a good flight home Kate.
I don’t know about “planting” people to be rescued, but I felt the other shots I’ve seen on Canadian news were staged pieces by China. One particular one caught me:
The camera is on the ramp of a transport plane and 2 columns of 4 soldiers are racing up the ramp in lockstep with each other, their search canine’s on a tight leash beside them. Their clothes ooked like it still had the creases from being in the box, and there were tons of military vehicles on the airstrip, with tons of troops just standing at attention….it looked like a dress parade….to go rescue victims of a massive natural disaster?
/shrug, it just seemed odd to my why any military group would allow camera’s onto their premises when they’re rushing to help people in an emergency? I can see the camera people watching from a distance of troops loading onto planes and the plane taking off, but not this.
Here’s part of an email I received from Jenny Bowen from “Half-the-Sky” regarding the earthquake situation:
“…We are still unable to reach these institutions: Deyang CWI (78 children), Abazhou CWI (52 children), Guangyuan SWI, Mianzhu SWI
One of our HTS Beijing staff, Ma Lang, is a native of Mianyang, Sichuan, close to the epicenter. HTS’ Director of Child Development, Ma Lang is both a pediatrician and a child development specialist. She is on her way home right now to make use of her skills both medically and to help children traumatized by this disaster…”
The breadth and depth of this disaster is incomprehensible. So many families ripped apart and destroyed. The suffering will continue for a very long time. The one bright note is that many want to help and that will make a huge difference in getting the survivors back on their feet.
http://www.halfthesky.org/journal/?p=90
I, for one am glad that the news program I watch has choosen not to show me chinese gory bits. I mean sure, who doesn’t enjoy a good snuff film, but at 6pm(The time I watch news)? I much prefer my graphic depictions of dead and dying children after dinner, once the food has settled somewhat.
And has anyone noticed that the gas prices have gone down right before the holiday weekend? …strange. I wondered if china getting pummeled has somehow shaken a few taxes loose. Perhaps the gov’t is lulling us into buying more gas so they can send our money pinko-side. From what I hear Canada’s just waiting by the phone like a lonely schoolgirl for china to call.
First Myanmar, now China. Next year’s income tax is gonna be killer.