I first learnt about the quake in China's Sichuan province when I received messages from friends asking if I was fine. I was miles away and, being unable to follow Chinese media, I was totally unaware about what had happened. Learning of the earthquake answered many of the questions I had had. I had seen crowds of people staring at public TV's and wondered why everyone was so still so concerned about the tropical storm in Myanmar that had taken place almost 2 weeks earlier.
Whilst taking the train out to Jixian county, a week after the quake, I sat opposite a young Chinese girl reading the newspapers. As she read story after story of tragedy and heroism in the days that followed the quake, she sat with tears streaming down her face. For a nation that is portrayed by the West as lacking emotion, I have been had cause to challenge my preconceptions about China and the Chinese. I have watched an entire nation of 1.4 billion people pour out their emotions and mourn the victims of this quake. The bright neon lights that normally light up the night time cityscape of Shanghai were switched off upon my arrival, people everywhere have donated generously, the media has remained absolutely captivated by this story, train schedules have been interrupted as resources have been redirected towards post disaster recovery, and I have already seen advertisements in English for Expressions of Interests for international contractors that would like to tender for the reconstruction of many of the devastated areas.
China is not a country with one homogenous culture. Many of those injured in this quake were in fact Tibetan. Nonetheless, I have only witnessed blanket concern for all Chinese injured in this quake. Against the backdrop of this, I was absolutely horrified to see Sharon Stone's interview at the Cannes film festival. Given the advantage that her life has afforded her, I am blown away by her lack of compassion for the innocent victims of this quake and her ill informed opinion. I wish there were harsher consequences for her than simply being pulled from the Dior campaign in China. Likewise I was disturbed by the coverage that CNN gave of this incident. Rather than dwelling on the fact that the Chinese government's official that commented on Sharon Stone's slur, mispronunciation of her name, I think the content of what he was saying is most important. If mainstream foreign press decides that a tongue tied government official is newsworthy, I would expect we would have a sound bite a day from president Bush. Although subtle, I think such reporting is what paints such horrible and inaccurate portrayals of China and the Chinese.
Back to Sharon Stone who is friends with the Dalai Lama... Sharon, I have a few messages for you: Firstly your knowledge of Buddhism is seriously lacking. As the close friend of the Dalai Lama that you purport to be, make the effort to understand his religion a little better. You, like most of the western world are captivated by a vague and somewhat appealing notion of instant Karma. Karma, if you are to believe in it, doesn't work like that. Karma revisits one's soul in a subsequent lifetime. Think before you open your mouth. Secondly, many of the effected where Tibetan. You should make an effort to be better informed when you decide to make political statements. Lastly, ignoring all of this, you should at least know that China is not a democracy, the people have not voted in the government, and just like I wouldn't blame you for the many evil's of your government, I can't understand how you can hold a belief that it is good for innocent people to suffer and lose their lives on an horrendously grand scale, because of the violence purportedly carried out by their government. Have a little compassion for the people of the world!
Perhaps when real Karma plays out in your next lifetime, should you be enlightened enough to be reincarnated as a human which, in my personal opinion, I doubt, you too might have the experience of being on the receiving end of such insensitive comments whilst you mourn lost loved ones and the death of what looks like may amount to 85'000+ people.
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