China to the rescue....

[Guest American Woman]

No kidding....would you live in a home made in China?

Interesting article about that very thing: China quake shows flaws in building boom

As the death toll soars from the powerful earthquake that ravaged central China's Sichuan province, the scale of the devastation is raising questions about the quality of China's recent construction boom.

"This building is just a piece of junk," one newly homeless resident of Dujiangyan yelled Wednesday, her body quivering with rage. Her family salvaged clothing and mementos from their wrecked apartment, built when their older home was razed 10 years ago.

"The government tricked us. It told us this building was well constructed. But look at the homes all around us, they're still standing," said the woman, who would give only her surname, Chen.

....the pell-mell pace [of China's growth] has led some builders to cut corners, especially in outlying areas largely populated by the very young and the very old.

Construction standards can be a sensitive issue in a country where millions have been forced out of their homes to make way for urban renewal projects. A professor of engineering at Shanghai's Tongji University refused to discuss the issue Wednesday, saying it was too "touchy."

At a high school in Juyuan, all but a handful of 900 upper class students were crushed when their school collapsed in a matter of seconds, though neighboring buildings appeared little affected.

But to those of you who have to make this all about how bad the U.S. is, and how much better China apparently is, don't let the facts get in the way; just carry on.

Edited May 15, 2008 by American Woman

[M.Dancer]

Interesting article about that very thing: China quake shows flaws in building boom

As the death toll soars from the powerful earthquake that ravaged central China's Sichuan province, the scale of the devastation is raising questions about the quality of China's recent construction boom.

"This building is just a piece of junk," one newly homeless resident of Dujiangyan yelled Wednesday, her body quivering with rage. Her family salvaged clothing and mementos from their wrecked apartment, built when their older home was razed 10 years ago.

"The government tricked us. It told us this building was well constructed. But look at the homes all around us, they're still standing," said the woman, who would give only her surname, Chen.

....the pell-mell pace [of China's growth] has led some builders to cut corners, especially in outlying areas largely populated by the very young and the very old.

Construction standards can be a sensitive issue in a country where millions have been forced out of their homes to make way for urban renewal projects. A professor of engineering at Shanghai's Tongji University refused to discuss the issue Wednesday, saying it was too "touchy."

At a high school in Juyuan, all but a handful of 900 upper class students were crushed when their school collapsed in a matter of seconds, though neighboring buildings appeared little affected.

But to those of you who have to make this all about how bad the U.S. is, and how much better China apparently is, don't let the facts get in the way; just carry on.

And they will deal with these issues in a typical chinese fashion. A few show trials, a kangaroo court...a doa=zen or so scapegoats construction bosses will be Convicted of cutting corners and executed...and crappy gov't mandated and designed buildings will continue to rise...

[Rue]

The very same things I personally find repugnant about the Chinese method of state control is what enables it in times of severe catastrophe to be able to do what it does.

The Chinese Armed Forces has considerable expertise in earthquake, flood, and other natural disaster relief. It's strength is not in sophisticated equipment but in sheer manpower and being able to use its manpower to set up basic logistic systems for immediate emergency response.

But long term, finding new homes for its people, building new schools, roads, facilities, finding the appropriate medical treatments and services, it struggles with because it has its limits and the more long term the problem is the more likely the excessive layers of its central organ corupt the process.

So there is good and bad. But I guess the point is, when we see people suffer like this, we all want to see them helped and all these political considerations become a moot point. We just want people being helped.

I am glad China has an ability to be able to mobilize its army to do what it does in these incidents. I just hope its people can find a way to figure out how to deal with any internal political problems with their government whether it be with Tibet or other issues. Hopefully they can find a way to figure out how you manage over a billion people efficiently (which necessarily requires far more centralization and government control then someone like me with political biases of a person coming from a society with far less people and far more space and resources could ever feel comfortable with) while balancing certain basic human rights.

As for Burma and I will not call it, the other imposed military Junta name, the pigs that control it are a disgrace. Millions will die because of this military junta which is nothing more then a gang of thugs who rule by the gun and threat of death and torture.

Man I wish there was some way to go in there and take the entire military and disarm them and force them to work completely naked and as relief workers.

Edited May 15, 2008 by Rue

[eyeball]

Comparing Canada to China is at best absurd.

Why? Millions of Canadians including Prime Ministers are compared to communists and worse all the time.

[eyeball]

Mark my words - within the next decade we will be seeing a china that is on the march for more ground.

I agree, but you can also mark that day as the beginning of the end for China. They'll be on the march because they've destroyed their environment and they have a huge population of males who are too restless to contain at home.

Either way, China is screwed.

[Oleg Bach]

I agree, but you can also mark that day as the beginning of the end for China. They'll be on the march because they've destroyed their environment and they have a huge population of males who are too restless to contain at home.

Either way, China is screwed.

If you have vision and wisdom you would have realized 30 years ago that they are on the march for more ground including north america - being a target within their long term agenda..WHEN a "Canadian" buisness man is jailed in China because he insists that the company that he established here is HIS..well that is a no no to the China crowd...The gov in China actually believe that the buisness is property of China...so they jail the guy and will probably kill him..as our stupid government fails to protect a Canadian citizen..as far as land..in the Orangeville area..China has incrimentally bought up thousands of acres of land..all for future use...they think long term..also when you sell a mining company to China - you are actually selling them vast tracks of Canadian land..maybe it's time to jail the jerks that sell out our nation and future? We as liberalistic remnants of a Christian society fail to relize that they do not think like we do and are not as loving as we are...it's family first with China..and my what a huge family! We in the west dismantle our family and our nation . we are fools..and in time they will displace us and eventually genocide what is left of the former white Christian race.

[sharkman]

Yeah, I hate to say it but the Chinese have mobilised far better than the Americans did for Katrina - which says alot.

But then again the Chinese aren't waging war on innocents on two fronts, with a third coming up - while homeless vets sleep on the street and the infrastructure crumbles all around...

So bloody sad that the US government(And OUR OWN - see Harpercrit's comments) has been hijacked - oh how easy it was to dumb down the masses.

(And people still wonder how Hitler could have been elected to power!)

This simple post has now been shot down in so many ways you almost feel sorry for Buffy. Look, she even manage a "Hitler" reference.

[Regulus de Leo]

Glad you mentioned that, I didn't think anyone was going to.

Comparing Canada to China is at best absurd. In Canada for instance we don't starve our baby girls to death because we want male children.

For those who dispute this practice I recommend a documentary called "The Killing Rooms". It's terrible what they do to baby girls and simply reinforces the fact that Human life is the cheapest and most worthless commodity in China.

Actually things have changed a lot in China since 'the killing rooms" and the one child policy may soon be coming to an end. It's been a disaster.

[sharkman]

But China recognizing one of their many errors does not reduce the impact it's had. I'm betting the chances are nil that they ever offer an apology for this state sanctioned disaster, while countries like Canada are not above doing so.

[HisSelf]

Personally, I am happy that there is now this wedge to shove between China and Burma.

Aung San Sui Kyi. You go, girl.

[Guest fanq]

China: Like Tibet riots, like Xinjiang riots

haw-haw, looks like american secret services applied austerity measures. this is all crisis that forces pentagon cut down expenses at the cost of planning new operations in asia. this time they re-use project of yesteryear tibet riots to organize riots in xinjiang! indeed, tibet riots took place almost a year ago while involvement of american secret services is a fact! you ought to know that a period of time between these two riot events is just enough to organize a new riot wave - starting with planning through leaving the money to realization of a plan. now the most important part - why american secret services need to do it? actually that’s simple. china seems to be the only country in the world that hasn’t been affected by the crisis seriously. chinese economics has rather not come to harm but got new valuable opportunities. so american secret services aim at preventing china from turning into a new world superpower, as when it happens america won’t be able to stand against it.