Heroes Of The Sichuan Earthquake
July 11th, 2008 by Stephen Cronin [Shortlink]
Image Source: china_earthquake_2 by openDemocracyLicense
I wrote this quite a while ago, but didn’t have time to post it. I’m a little hesitant to post it now, as it doesn’t add much value, but seeing it’s written (and I want to use the header image), I figure I may as well go ahead:
Much has been written about the 5.12 Earthquake in Sichuan and it’s aftermath. There are many stories of heroes and people helping out. I’ve highlighted just a few below.
Teachers Who Became Heroes
There are many stories of heroes and I can’t link to them all, but Teachers’ ultimate sacrifice from the China People’s Daily provides a great roundup.
It carries several stories of teachers who died saving the lives of their students. I’m sure there are many such incidents of bravery.
It also details the stories of other teacher’s efforts to look after students during the aftermath, including that of an Australian teacher called Dane.
Getting Personally Involved
In my previous post on the rise of nationalism in the wake of the earthquake, I mentioned a student who travelled to the quake affected area and volunteered to help.
I’ve read quite a few stories of people, especially students, doing just this. The China People’s Daily carries the story of a young businessman and his friends, who personally delivered food, clothes and medicine to those in the quake affected areas.
This group only stayed three days, but that’s a still big commitment to make. For those volunteers who stay even longer, all I can do is salute the sacrifice they’re making.
Beggars Give Generously
The China People’s Daily also carries a story about a beggar who has been donating money.
“The victims are in a more difficult situation than me; and I would like to help them however I can,” is his standard reply.
The story also mentions a ‘shoe shine woman’ who also donated what little she had, and at the other end of the spectrum, a businessman who donated 150,000 yuan.
Although this article focuses on those stories which make good headlines, there is no doubt that millions of ordinary Chinese people have made donations, along with many others around the world.
A Sichuan Earthquake Movie
In the West, when tragedy strikes, you can be sure that at least a couple of movies will be made about it. It seems China is not so different.
Jackie Chan plans to make a movie about the earthquake. He says:
I want to make the movie about the earthquake because there’s so many touching stories
He also says:
“I want through the movie to show the whole world, I really want to salute the whole army of China, really.”
The increase in nationalism seems to have affected Jackie too. And he’s really put his money where his mouth is:
Chan has donated 1.5 million U.S. dollars to help earthquake victims and vowed to help rebuild schools affected by the disaster.
I’ve always had a lot of time for Jackie and this just reinforces what a great guy he is. It will be interesting to see how the movie turns out. I’ve also heard of a separate project to make a documentary.
Great Pictures
Lastly, I want to link to a great post showing pictures by a wedding photographer in Sichuan, who captured the before and after moments of the earthquake.
Fantastic photos and great presence of mind by the photographer, to keep shooting.
Final Thoughts
I chose a photo of doctors working in the earthquake aftermath as the header image for this post. The medical profession in China has done a lot of great work during this disaster.
There are probably many other people who have given generously of their time or money, or have made other sacrifices. I salute all the heroes who emerged from this tragedy.
Tags: earthquake, nationalism, people, photos
