Sirens have just wailed eerily across Beijing for three minutes, and car horns sounded as people fell silent and only birds continued to sing. Exactly a week after the earthquake, China is officially entering three days of mourning. Flags are at half mast, cinemas, nightclubs and bars have been ordered to close down (and police are patrolling to make sure that they do). Even the controversial Olympic torch relay has been suspended.
My visiting brother, Steve, who was in Tiananmen Square during the 3-minute silence, said that thousands of people poured into the square, presumably to show their solidarity with the mourning of the victims.
And this just in, video here of what happened next in Tiananmen Square. http://video.sina.com.cn/news/c/bn/2008-05-19/145415957.shtml
This is perhaps the biggest chanting crowd to have gathered in Tiananmen Square since 1989 (perhaps with exception of happy crowds celebrating the Olympics hosting decision). So – what are we seeing? What they're chanting is, 'Jia You!' which is what you shout at a football match when you want your team to make extra effort to win. So, at least on the surface, they're chanting for China to make that extra effort to overcome the hardship of the earthquake. This is intriguing. I might have expected a silent gathering, heads bowed. So: are they making a noisy show of support for the world? Or is this an expression of the nationalism we saw gathering after Tibet and before the earthquake? Or do they want something else?
This year, with its combination of the biggest riots in Tibet since 1989, the biggest natural disaster since 1976, and the biggest international event to be hosted since 1949, is becoming a huge test for the Communist Party, and gatherings in Tiananmen Square are immensely politically significant.
The earthquake has now been upgraded to 8.0 on the Richter scale. 'They didn't dare tell the truth about how big it was,' was the analysis of one Beijing man, used to lies about everything from temperature to pollution.
There is little hope left now for those still buried under the rubble. There has been a huge outpouring of sympathy, both from inside China and outside. There are international rescue teams working in Sichuan, and aid delivered even from a US military plane.
Beyond the awful human tragedy, there is also, of course, political spin. I watched the English-language staterun station CCTV-9 this morning, and earthquake coverage was being heavily tilted to reflect adulation of President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, who have both visited the earthquake zone. They have been shown on TV cuddling distressed children, lecturing rescue teams on how to rescue people, and reassuring victims (their minders hushing the victims' sobs so that the words of wisdom from the leaders can be better heard.)
On this morning's television shows, the leaders were described as 'popular heroes,' even as 'counsellor in chief'. Of course, they are fulfilling the role that leaders always fill when they visit disaster zones, whether they are George Bush or Tony Blair. They carry the message with them that the thoughts of the nation are with the afflicted area.
The CCTV-9 anchor praised Wen and Hu because they had shown a very different attitude to the 'Gang of Four' during the Tangshan Earthquake of 1976. To be honest, it's pretty faint praise to compare them to extreme leftist leaders of more than thirty years ago. But the point is actually well made. This is the same regime, the same Communist Party, that has led China through disasters natural and party-made.
James will go to Sichuan tomorrow. It's the first time that foreign journalists have been allowed fairly free access to a disaster zone in China. Meanwhile, a huge amount of information is emerging on the internet, and for anyone who wants to access some of that, I wholeheartedly recommend this link to global voices online.
http://www.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/05/16/china-time-to-pray/