Talking Points, April 14-28, 2010

Talking Points
April 14 - 28, 2010

Nearly 1,800 people died in the quake that hit Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture

Tibetan students from Southwest Minzu University seek donations for earthquake relief in Chengdu. Photo by treasuresthouhast (Creative Commons).

榆树藏族自治州 in China’s southern Qinghai province on April 14. Many thousands were injured and an estimated 100,000 are homeless. Our sympathies are with the people of Yushu and we cheer those working hard to assist them. Those interested in contributing to the effort can click here for a partial list of organizations sending funds to those on the ground in Yushu.

The death toll might have been greater but for the fact that the 7:49 am quake struck well before the start of the work or school day. Clocks in Qinghai, like those throughout China, are set to Beijing time, but since Yushu is 1,905 kilometers (1,190 miles) west of Beijing, sunrise was about 7:05 am. Qinghai is a relatively poor province and Yushu is an especially poor area. According to 2009 government statistics, Yushu’s per capita GDP was $1,455, about 39% of the $3,742 national average. Not surprisingly, many homes were built using unreinforced cement blocks or mud bricks. The quake reduced many of these to rubble. In one town, Jiegu, 85% of the homes are said to have been destroyed. Karamibu, a Tibetan plateau-based photographer visited Jiegu on April 17.

Creative Commons license, The Plateau Voice blog

Chinese authorities quickly dispatched large numbers of rescue and relief workers, machinery, and supplies. The challenges are many, including the altitude (Yushu is 4,000 meters (13,125 feet) above sea level), below freezing nighttime temperatures, and language problems. Almost all (97%) of Yushu’s roughly 300,000 residents are Tibetan. The government reported it was bringing in 500 translators to help.

Quickly and effectively responding to such emergencies has become a priority for China’s leaders. And conveying this to the masses has become a core mission of China’s state media. Premier Wen Jiabao visited the area right away, telling rescuers to push harder in their search for survivors. Standing on a pile of debris he told the people of Yushu “your suffering is our suffering.” Earlier today, Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao, having cut short a trip to Latin America, flew in to Yushu. Chinese television broadcast scenes from his visit, including a stop at a makeshift hospital, where he told an injured high school student that she had a bright future and that “Grandpa will be thinking of you.” Senior party leader Li Changchun hurried back from Turkey to meet with media chiefs in Beijing. Li began by offering an evaluation of their coverage. He said they’d done a good job of showing the progress of relief work, highlighting Hu Jintao’s leadership and the party’s policy of putting people first, and displaying the work of the army and others. Li stressed that the media needed to make solidarity across ethnic lines a central message as well.

Ethnic unrest broke out in Yushu and in many other places on the Tibetan plateau in 2008. There have been no reports of violence between Tibetans and others in the aftermath of the earthquake, but some foreign news organizations report that suspicions and tensions remain. The New York Times described an instance where an army crew, which had given up searching, pushed a group of monks aside so that the soldiers could be filmed rescuing a trapped girl. Monks have handled the cremation of the dead. People's Daily reported Friday the mobilization of religious and cultural affairs officials to address damage to temples and hardships imposed on monks and others. 700 year old Changde Temple in Jiegu was among the hardest hit by the quake. Some 31 monks perished when buildings there collapsed.

The official Xinhua news site for Yushu prefecture has not been updated since August 2009 (and includes helpful links to MSN and Google). It listed Jia Yingzhong, a Han who had been assigned to Yushu in 2000, as the prefecture’s party secretary. A Tibetan is the prefecture head, though the site only gives his Chinese name, Wang Yuhu 王玉虎. Yushu got a brand new government website earlier today. Many of the links don’t yet work, but the presence of top leaders and rescue teams is highlighted in the banner.

The South China Morning Post reported that China’s Central Publicity Office ordered local news organizations to use centrally-cleared reports and to recall reporters they may have dispatched to Yushu. A similar order was issued in 2008 when Sichuan was hit by an even more destructive quake. And as in 2008, local media organizations seem to have at least partially ignored the order. Some idea of the coverage can be seen by comparing the front pages of select newspapers.

Select frontpages, April 15-19

People's Daily, April 15 "Hu Jintao, Wen Jiabao: All efforts for earthquake relief and saving disaster victims"	Chongqing Times, April 16 "Wen Qiang death sentence" (from Chongqing's ongoing corruption trials, Wen Qiang had been police chief)	Dongguan Times, April 15 "400 killed, 10,000 injured"
Chengdu Evening News, April 16 "Yushu! Yushu!"	Wuhan Evening News, April 16 "Yushu earthquake pain moves the whole nation"	Global Times, April 16 "The world looks at Qinghai with sympathetic eyes"
People's Daily, April 19 "General Secretary together with the people of the disaster area"	Wuhan Evening News, April 19 "There will be a new school! There will be new homes!"	Wen Hui News, April 19 "There will be a new school! There will be new homes!"

International news organizations have also sent reporters and camera crews to Yushu, though some have thus far elected to cover the tragedy and responses to it from Beijing. Resources are always constrained and news organizations must often make hard choices in deciding which stories to pursue and in how to go about covering them.

These choices and the hard work of carrying them out are an important part of the new

Photo by Jim Laurie, then of ABC News.

USC US-China Institute documentary Assignment: China. The documentary looks at how correspondents for American news organizations sought to bring China alive for print and broadcast audiences. We’re screening a rough cut of one segment of the documentary at USC this Wednesday and hope you will join us. This segment focuses on the period right after the US and China reestablished diplomatic relations in 1979. The segment features interviews with reporters who did much to shape our understanding of China as well as one of the Chinese officials charged with managing them and one individual eager to share an “unapproved” story. Click here to see a three minute trailer for the segment.

There are many China-focused events and exhibitions across North America this month. Details about them are below and in the calendar section of our website. The website also features our Talking Points archive (including a recent discussion of earthquakes in East Asia and the US), our collection of documents relating to US-China ties and contemporary China, information about fellowships and calls for papers, and many video resources. K-12 teachers are reminded that USCI is offering a special one-day workshop on May 1 on using Asian case studies to teach about human rights.

We always appreciate hearing from you. Please write to us at uschina@usc.edu.

Best wishes,
The USC US-China Institute
china.usc.edu

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Earthquake Relief
Support for Yushu relief has come from many organizations and government agencies. Here are three organizations accepting donations specifically for Yushu relief:

United States Fund for UNICEF

Red Cross Society of China

Direct Relief International

Events
USC | California | North America | Exhibitions

USC 

04/19/2010: Asia-Pacific Business Outlook Conference 2010
University of Southern California
Davidson Conference Center, 3415 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, California 90089-0871
Cost: $675 (early registration), $825
The Asia Pacific Business Outlook Conference will draw entrepreneurs, experts and U.S. officials to the USC campus to discuss business opportunities in the Asia-Pacific.

04/21/2010: Assignment China - new USCI documentary
USC Davidson Conference Center
3415 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90089
Intersection of Figueroa Street and Jefferson Boulevard
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
The USC US-China Institute screens a segment from its current documentary project on how China has been covered by journalists working for American news organizations.

04/26/2010: The Politics of Perception and Material Exchange on Kangxi`s Southern Tours
USC SOS 250
Los Angeles, CA 90089
Cost: Free
Time: 2:00PM - 4:00PM
The USC Department of History presents a talk by Michael Chang.

California

04/15/2010: "Lust, Caution" (2007): A film by Ang Lee
UC Berkeley
Townsend Center for the Humanities
Cost: Free
Time:  4:00PM
UC Berkeley`s Center for Chinese Studies presents a screening of Lust, Caution. 

04/16/2010: Signs from the Unseen Realm (Mingxiang ji): A Collection of Buddhist Miracle Tales from Early Medieval China
UCLA 243 Royce Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Time: 3:00PM - 4:30PM
The UCLA Center for Buddhist Studies presents a talk by Robert Campany on the Buddhist miracle tales. 

04/16/2010: Berkeley-Stanford Graduate Student Conference in Modern Chinese Humanities
UCLA
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Time: 3:00PM - 3:30PM
The conference features innovative research on any aspect of modern Chinese cultural production in any humanistic discipline. 

04/16/2010: Madame White, The Book of Change, and Eileen Chang: On A Poetics of Involution
UCLA
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Time: 5:30PM - 7:00PM
UC Berkeley`s Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk by David Wang on Eileen Chang`s two English Novels. 

04/17/2010: Interview: Along the Silk Road With Shen Wei
Bowers Museum
2002 N. Main Street, Santa Ana, CA 92706
Cost: Members $7 / General $10 / Students $5
Phone: (714) 567-3600
Time: 11:00AM
The Bowers Museum presents an interview with Shen Wei. 

04/19/2010: Master class on Jia Zhangke`s film `Still Life`
UC Berkeley
Address: IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
UC Berkeley`s Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk by Dai Jinhua on the film Still Life 

04/20/2010: Contemporary Chinese Migration to Central Asia: Trends, Challenges, and Responses (Case-study of Kazakhstan)
UCLA 10383 Bunche Hall
Cost: Free
Time: 12:00PM - 1:30PM
The UCLA Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk by Yelena Sadovskaya on Chinese migration. 

04/21/2010: China in the 21st Century: What Everyone Needs to Know
UC Berkeley
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
UC Berkeley`s Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk by Jeffrey Wasserstrom on his book, which provides an invaluable window onto China’s past, present, and future. 

04/22/2010: The Inscription of Death in Early Medieval China: The Caos of the Wei
UC Berkeley
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
UC Berkeley`s Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk on the study of literary responses to death in ancient China. 

04/22/2010: Death and the Afterlife in the Wei-Jin Nanbeichao
UC Berkeley
IEAS Conference Room, 2223 Fulton Street, 6th Floor
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
UC Berkeley`s Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk by Robert Joe Cutter on China in the period after the death of the ruler Cao Cao and beliefs about Wei-Jin notions of death and the afterlife. 
 

04/22/2010: Nestorians and Manichaeans on the South China Coast in the time of Marco Polo
UCLA 243 Royce Hall
Los Angeles, CA
Cost: Free
Time: 4:00PM - 6:00PM
The UCLA Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk by Sam Lieu on material finds of Christian and Manichaean remains found in Quanzhou. 

04/23/2010: Screening of "Tibet in Song" (2008, Tibet)
James Bridges Theater
1409 Melnitz , Los Angeles, CA 90095
Cost: Free
Time: 7:30PM - 9:30PM

04/24/2010: Concert: Music of China Ensemble
Hammer Museum at UCLA,
Los Angeles 90095
Time: 2:00PM - 5:00PM
The Music of China Ensemble will perform traditional Jiangnan silk and bamboo music 

North America 

 04/15/2010: Teatime in Geordie-land: Consumption of Chinese Exports in Eighteenth Century Northeast England
202 Jones Hall
Princeton University , Princeton, NJ 08544
Cost: Free
Time: 4:30PM - 6:00PM
Princeton University`s East Asia Studies Program presents a talk by Jessica Hanser. 

04/15/2010: The Holy Silent Stones
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Cost: Free admission. Limit 2 tickets per person.
Phone: 212-288-6400
Time: 6:45PM - 8:45PM
Part of the Soul-Searching in Tibet: Films by Pema Tseden (Wanma Caidan) series 

04/16/2010: Coping with Uncertainty: Individual Challenges and Institutional Change Twenty Years after the Introduction of Market Economies
IMU Oak Room
Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, Indiana 47405-6615
Time: 9:00AM - 4:00PM
Indiana University Bloomington presents a public roundtable on the challenges of countries in the post-communist era.  
 
04/16/2010: 2009 Triangle East Asia Colloquium: Animals in East Asian History and Culture
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Cost: $7 members; $9 students/seniors; $11 nonmembers
Phone: 212-288-6400
Time: 6:45PM - 8:45PM
The annual Triangle East Asia Colloquium will explore the topic of animals in East Asian history and culture. 

04/16/2010: Fujian Blue
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Cost: $7 members; $9 students/seniors; $11 nonmembers
Phone: 212-288-6400
Time: 6:45PM - 8:45PM
Part of the "China`s Past, Present, Future on Film" series

04/21/2010: Navigating Cross-Strait Relations: Taiwan`s Domestic and International Imperatives
Lindner Family Commons, The Elliott School of International Affairs
George Washington University 1957 E Street, NW, 6th Floor, Washington DC 20052
Cost: RSVP required by April 19, 2010
Time: 10:00AM - 3:30PM
George Washington University`s Sigur Center for Asian Studies presents a conference focusing on Taiwan`s current sources of foreign policy.

04/22/2010: What is a Hinayana Fundamentalist Doing in Fifth-Century China?
Princeton University
1879 Hall, Room 137
Cost: Free
Time: 4:30PM - 6:00PM
Princeton University`s East Asian Studies Program presents a talk by Daniel Boucher. 

04/23/2010: Literary Lunchtime with Anchee Min (Pearl of China) in conversation with Emily Parker
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10021
Cost: Free for Asia Society and AAWW members; $5 students/seniors; $10 nonmembers
Phone: 212-288-6400
Time: 12:30PM - 2:00PM
The Asia Society presents the first of a new series of lunch time author programs. 

04/23/2010: Mirrors: Understanding China through Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese Writings
202 Jones Hall
Princeton University , Princeton, NJ 08544
Cost: Free
Time: 1:30PM - 4:30PM
Princeton University`s East Asia Studies Program presents a talk by Ben Elman and Ge Zhaoguang. 

Exhibitions  

09/22/2009 - 06/30/2010: China`s Great Wall: The Forgotten Story
NYC offices of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, New York, NY
The Forgotten Story is a series of historically-based photographs of the Great Wall of China. It is a collaboration between Jonathan Ball, a California based photographer, and David Spindler, one of the world`s foremost experts on Great Wall history.

03/28/2010 - 07/25/2010: Secrets of the Silk Road
Bowers Museum
Address: 2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana, California 92706
Cost: Adults/$18 Weekdays; $20 Weekends/ Students & Seniors/$16 Weekdays, $18 Weekends; Children (under six) Free
The Bowers Museum presents an historic exhibition of over 150 objects drawn from the rich collections of the Urumqi Museum and the Institute of Archaeology of Xinjiang reveals surprising details about the people who lived along the ancient Silk Road.

01/01/2010 - 12/31/2010: Ancient Arts of China: A 5000 Year Legacy
Bowers Museum
2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana, California 92706
Bowers Museum presents a collection that portrays the evolution of Chinese technology, art and culture.

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