Day 10 May 21 2008, Wednesday

Death toll: 41, 353
Injury toll: 274, 683
Missing toll: 32, 666

Pandas in the Wolong Reserve are changing their diets to adapt to the crisis.

The diet of China's giant pandas are notoriously exclusive to bamboo shoots but it seems the earthquake has made them more malleable to trying other foods. On average a panda consumes 10 to 18 kg of bamboo shoots a day but with the shortage in the reserve, they have been fed and are eating rice porridge and apples as well.

Officials are taking care of the pandas which had been evacuated from other parts of the affected province, the country's main panda conservation sites. They say a lot of the cubs appear to have been traumatised by the quake. The keepers at the reserve have been holding them in their arms, talking to them, calling them by name and generally trying to calm them down. The cubs are said to be holding on tight, not willing to let go of their human guardians.

Photo


A 102-year-old lady Wang Wenxiu has miraculously survived, after being rescued on the 20th of May from the rubble. Her situation has stabilised after doctors treated her at the hospital but is still suffering from fractures. Together with her was Zhang Xueyun, herself 90 years old.

Live report


VIDEO OF THE DAY

There is a sentimentality among the Chinese beneath their stoic appearances that is rarely shown to outsiders and sometimes lost in translation. But it is there in their literature, their songs, their poetry, their hearts.

Also seldom seen, the individuals that make up the People's Liberation Army. Powerful in their numbers, usually expressionless, in the process of carrying out their current mission in Sichuan, they showed that they are more than just a faceless force.





20 seconds into the start of the video, a message reads,

“Every photo, every word, is a tear.
We will record all of this, to remember those who died,
to thank the people who used every way to show love and concern,
and most of all to tell those who survived,

'Your homes are gone, but you still have 1.3 billion loved ones.
At this moment,
we are all Sichuanese.'”

And the harp, the piano, the bagpipes play on, to images of a male TV commentator moved to tears, rescuers carrying those injured to safety, those trapped in crevices, those mourning, those surviving...

The lyrics

Wings in the dark

After the dark night, and the sun will rise
After the storm, there will be sunny weather
Let us move forward hand in hand
The rainbow is in our hearts.

The journey of life will see winds and rain
Use the tears to nurture the courage of life
Use hope, turn it into wings in the wind
Let dreams take away all sorrow.

You accompanied me through tall mountains and great seas
My heart sings only with you
I will give up all my stubbornness and pride
I believe in you, because I believe in love.

The journey of life will see winds and rain
Use the tears to nurture the courage of life
Use hope, turn it into wings in the wind
Let dreams take away all sorrow.

You accompanied me through tall mountains and great seas
My heart sings only with you
I will give up all my stubbornness and pride
I believe in you, because I believe in love.

You accompanied me through tall mountains and great seas
My heart sings only with you
I will give up all my stubbornness and pride
I believe in you, because I believe in love.

The journey of life will see winds and rain
Use the tears to nurture the courage of life
Use hope, turn it into wings in the wind
Let dreams take away all sorrow.

Generation Gap

It had been a common lament of China's older generation, that the young people of today have not been through hard times and enjoy a life of ease. But that one May day seems to have turned that thinking on its head.

The night the earthquake struck, a PhD student at Beijing's Communication University of China, got together with music producer Cao Yang. Overnight they came up with an original composition and together with 21 student representatives from the capital's six main universities, recorded it and produced this video to show that the tertiary students far away in Beijing cared for those suffering in Sichuan.

Collectively, they are known as the "after-80s" and the "after-90s". They are the teens and twenty-somethings of today. You could think of them as the Generation X-ers of China, well kind of. The general mentalities and beliefs of both are diverged from those of their parents. But while Gen X, as depicted and popularised by Douglas Coupland's Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, spoke mostly of a post-war bunch, somewhat dropping out of society to "find themselves", the "after-80s" and the "after-90s" seem ready to put on previously-cut identities, not unlike what Starbucks, MacDonalds and Gucci have sent to their shores, growing up as China opened its doors to economic liberalisation.

One of the latest crazes in China had been a drama series, syndicated to every provincial TV network affiliate in China from Beijing to Xinjiang, called 奋斗 or Struggle. It was like a seriousus version of US sitcom Friends, and Chinese audiences followed six new graduates through their careers, partner-swopping, turbulent love lives and various get rich(er) plots, orthodox and otherwise.

As parents watched with their children, many began to discover that their own offspring are now living in a world vastly different from theirs. Instead of a closed socialist state that emphasised the communal, now young people are finding themselves in an increasingly capitalistic society, focused on the individual. Chinese values of family and love have now given way to thoughts and behaviour they associated with the foreigners. Of course it didn't help that these products of China's One Child Policy were pretty much in their minds " spoilt rotten" by their parents.

The older generation lingered over the chasm that stood between them from their children but the Sichuan quake made them think that perhaps, the divide was not, and is not as great as they previously thought.

Of the many inspiring stories that emerged, many starred this individualistic generation of "after-80s" and "after-90s".

" If I got saved but didn't save anyone, I would have felt ashamed." That was the thinking that drove 12-year-old Chen Hao back into his own primary school to rescue others who were still trapped.

The tall boy had managed to get out but looked back and saw a fellow student he did not know close to a wall of a few metres. He went back to get her, pushing her to safety and ended up being stuck from his back down, when the wall collapsed for more than 20 hours. Almost delirious with a fever of 40 degrees Celsius, he muttered that he had got to her in time and that he was going to bear it and was not going to cry. Also holding back his tears was Chen Hao's father."He didn't have to do it but he did."

Senior high student An Peng was rescued after more than 40 hours. One of his legs had been so badly crushed it it had to be amputated before they could get him out. While he was being stretched to be treated, he just kept shouting repeatedly, "There are still many many others inside!"

That was why he ended up limp. He had already left the building when the quake shook but he realised that his school mates were still inside and he went back in to help.

CCTV reported the story of an 18-year-old soldier in the Chinese army, part of a mission to evacuate those trapped on top of a mountain to safe ground. On the first day, his side began to hurt but he did not know why. Ignoring the pain, he carried on. At one point when he was carrying a weight of almost 200 kg with five other soldiers along a narrow mountain path just two metres, he almost slipped and fell down the ravine, had he had held on to a tree.

Finally on the third day, he could no longer bear the pain and asked the medics for some anti-inflammatory medication. They told him he had to go to the hospital and it was there that they found out his small intestine had ruptured and become disconnected. Three hours more and his condition would have been critical.

Reporters asked him if it was worth it, risking his life for so many who would not even remember his face. He replied that one day he would be old and he would remember that he had helped save many lives. For that it was worth the hardship.

Popular blogger Hanhan, himself an "after-80" wrote that he was going to show his concern not through donations but actually going there to help. He came back and wrote about his experience and urged his readers to give what was most needed.

In the main universities in Beijing, the day after the quake struck, blood donation drives were initiated by the student bodies. The lines of people waiting to give blood measured hundreds of metres. They could choose to give 200 ml or 400 ml. Most chose the latter.

Beijing's downtown districts like Wangfujing and Xidan were so congested with people looking to donate blood that vehicles had trouble passing, a majority of those who gave were also the "after-80s" and "after-90s".

The daughter of the teacher who sacrificed his life by placing his body above four students expressed incredible sensibility in her moment of loss.

"如今，我对爸爸的情感不仅仅是尊敬、思念，还有悔恨。”“我悔恨的是, 因为贪玩
很晚回家；悔恨的是，在大学念书时没能天天都往家里挂个电话……”

"每个人都能明白，家人健在就是最大的幸福。而对于我的爸爸，我要代替他撑起这个家，照顾好阿姨和妹妹。”

"Now, what I feel towards my father is not only respect, longing but also regret. I regret going home late because I was playful, I regret not calling home everyday when I was away at university.

Everyone can understand, having their families intact is the greatest happiness. For my father I will support this family on his behalf, taking good care of Aunt and little sister."

A local fund brought three high school student survivors to Beijing, where many waited to help sponsor them and settle them in the capital. At a press conference, one of them declined.

“如果在平时，能到北京来上学是我做梦都想的事情。现在，我不可能留在北京，我一定要回家乡。”

"我们要去做志愿者。要回去告诉同学们，别害怕，别放弃，大家没有

忘记我们，都在关心我们。”

"Normally, one of the things I always dreamt about coming to university in Beijing. But now, I cannot stay here. I have to return to my hometown."

"We want to be volunteers, to go back and tell our classmates not to be afraid, not to give up, everyone has not forgotten about us, they do care for us."

At an academy in Shandong province its staff and students created a mass human formation of the word 川 or Chuan encompassed in a heart, signifying Love Sichuan at a memorial for the quake victims. (See photo here.)

The massive scale of this disaster is matched and perhaps exceeded by the sense of comraderie it fired up among China's young people for the victims, while at the same time fuelling the flames of nationalism, ignited already by indignation over what they perceived as unfairly hostile international reception of the Olympic torch relay.

The Chinese web community and blogosphere erupted with discussions about the quake, as young people still closely watching the situation in Sichuan, tried to express their emotions the best way they knew how, like editing images of the tragedy to song and posting them on youtube.

They show it differently but in their own manner, they perhaps showed that deep down, the ties that bind them to their parents, to their culture have not completely vanished.

This is just one of the many videos posted on youtube, put to 牵手 or Holding Hands, a song by a veteran Chinese singer which has become very popular among young people today. Appropriately, it has also been given an old-school feel by the producer of the video.




The lyrics are as follows, with English translation after.

因为爱着你的爱
因为梦着你的梦
所以悲伤着你的悲伤
幸福着你的幸福
因为路过你的路
因为苦过你的苦
所以快乐着你的快乐
追逐着你的追逐
因为誓言不敢听
因为承诺不敢信
所以放心着你的沉默
去说服明天的命运
没有风雨躲的过
没有坎坷不必走
所以安心的牵你的手

不去想该不该回头
也许牵了手的手
前生不一定好走
也许有了伴的路
今生还要更忙碌
所以牵了手得手
来生还要一起走
所以有了伴的路
没有岁月可回头

Because I am loving your love,
because I am dreaming your dream,
I am mourning your sorrow,
enjoying your happiness.
Because I walked your path,
I endured your pain,
I am basking in your joy.
I followed what you followed,
because I don't dare hear vows,
because I don't' dare believe promises,
I rest in your silent pledge
to assauge tomorrow's fate.
There's no storm that can be avoided
no difficulty that need not be endured
So I assuredly hold your hand
and not think if I should look back.
Perhaps holding a hand,
it was not easy in a previous life.
Maybe with a companion on the road,
this life will be more hectic.
So holding a hand,
still together in the next
because with a companion on the road,
there is not time to look back on.

Holding hands (From Xinhua Pictoral)


*Stories from this post have been collated from a Xinhua report