China News: 2008 Sichuan Earthquake | China Digital Times (CDT)

China news tagged with: 2008 Sichuan earthquake (318)

RSS feed for this topic

Related tags

China Sentences Quake Activist to 5 Years’ Jail
Activist Tan Zuoren, who had been investigating the deaths of schoolchildren in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, has been sentenced to five years in prison after being tried in August. From AP:
Attorney Pu Zhiqiang said activist Tan Zuoren was convicted of the charge Tuesday by the Chengdu Intermediate Court. Tan’s trial in August had concluded with no ruling, while police detained and threatened the man’s supporters.
Tan’s supporters say they believe the authorities were trying to silence him for his investigation into the collapse of schools in the 7.9-magnitude earthquake that struck in Sichuan province in May 2008, leaving almost 90,000 dead or missing. Tan estimated at least 5,600 students were among the dead.
The charge of inciting subversion of state power is believed linked to his quake investigation as well as essays he wrote about the 1989 student-led demonstrations in Tiananmen Square that ended in a deadly military crackdown. Beijing routinely uses such broad and vaguely defined accusations to imprison dissidents, sometimes for years.
Pu said Tan would appeal the court’s decision.
See also a Reuters report. ChinaGeeks has translated selected tweets about the verdict.
» Read more
- February 8, 2010 9:30 PM
China Censors Oscar Nominations
The Chinese government is censoring news about the upcoming Oscars after China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province, an HBO documentary about the children killed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, was nominated (Watch the movie below). From The Telegraph:
The documentary follows several groups of parents as their grief turned into protest.
“It was tofu construction,” said one interviewee, while another held up a brick to show how easy it was to brush off the “mortar” on one side.
The 40-minute film shows how the parents are stonewalled and ignored by Communist party officials.
It was blocked from being aired in China, and the words “unnatural disaster” have been censored from the Chinese internet.
When the film garnered its Oscar nomination, Chinese media outlets either removed the film from their reports, or omitted the entire category.
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province:

» Read more
- February 4, 2010 12:29 AM
Video: Tan Zuoren’s Sichuan Earthquake Investigation
Documentary filmmaker Ai Xiaoming has posted a video (in Chinese) about activist Tan Zuoren’s investigation into schools that collapsed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Tan has since been imprisoned and charged with subversion. From the introduction:
In late August 2008, following the 100th day of the Sichuan Earthquake, rescue teams began to withdraw and the media ceased to report on the disasters at the schools. Chengdu environmentalist Tan Zuoren and local volunteers were still rushing from one collapsed school to the next, trying to find out why they had collapsed. Autumn went and winter came, Tan Zuoren and Xie Yihui had visited ten counties and cities and over eighty towns and townships in the main disaster region, covering a distance of about 3,000km. They managed to release an investigate report on the internet before the 1st anniversary of the May 12 Earthquake. This is the first investigative report conducted by independent citizens on the collapsed schools.
An Investigation by Citizens from SC King on Vimeo.
More information about the video is here.
» Read more
- December 13, 2009 2:58 PM
Liu Jiakun (刘家琨): Hu Huishan Memorial
Sichuan architect Liu Jiakun has constructed a memorial for Hu Huishan, a 15-year-old student who died in the May 12, 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Details on Liu’s decision to erect the memorial hall from China Daily:
Liu got to know about Hu three days after her death. He was then volunteering his services at the Juyuan Middle School, where parents claim shoddy construction was mainly to blame for the death of about 900 students. The school became a mass of debris, through which rescue machines plowed, as scores of miserable parents stood by clutching their child’s photo in their hands.
That’s when the architect saw Liu Li, Hu’s mother. The 40-year-old laid-off worker, dressed in black, was holding a plastic bag, in which she had preserved the girl’s umbilical cord and baby teeth. Incoherently, she recalled her daughter. “We love her deeply,” she said, choking on her tears. Her husband, Hu Ming, 43, wore no expression but kept mumbling, “so many kids have gone.”
Liu tried to comfort them by offering them money, but was turned down by the proud father, a taxi driver. They exchanged telephone numbers, and for a long time, the couple were haunted by Liu’s memories.
“I am a father of an 8 year old. I can hardly imagine what it would be like to see my son under that rubble. I really wanted to do something for the family,” he says.
He considered convincing them to take money so that Liu Li could have her asthma cured. Finally, he came up with the idea of building a memorial for Hu Huishan.
The memorial hall has been complete for over 6 months, but due to intervention by authorities, it is not open to the public. A forwarded message from Liu Jiakun has been spreading on the Internet. The introduction has been translated by CDT, and the forwarded letter has been translated by Lin Fanyu and edited for clarity. Photos provided by Iwan Baan and Liu Jiakun’s studio:
Architectural piece: Hu Huishan Memorial
The small memorial hall designed and contributed by Liu Jiakun was not for the state, nor the nation, nor the regime, nor a great figure. Nor was it created as an educational site to uphold nationalism or heroism. It was erected to remember a life lost in the 5.12 earthquake, an ordinary but priceless life — that of Hu Huishan, a 3rd year student in class one at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township, Dujiangyan, Sichuan.
Its appeal to social meaning is very clear, but is not understood by current authorities. “Treasuring the value of ordinary lives will be the foundation of our nation’s revival.” Its design concepts are very direct and strong: a temporary shelter for disaster victims, a dwelling for the spirit of the deceased and a place to put belongings frozen “forever” in time. The atmosphere in this space is moving and profound. Located in a secluded nook, the home is greenish gray, simple. It’s a cold shell that protects a pink, vibrant, soft, and beautiful interior. In my opinion, this small building may be no Bird’s Nest or CCTV [tower], but its architect has given us this era’s most powerful question and response.
In reality, what’s most amazing is that this kind of small building is exceptionally low-key, having withstood a great and nameless “pressure.” It was quietly constructed and could not go public in order to avoid premature bad luck. The project finally finished on the 5.12 earthquake’s 1 year anniversary. Friends concerned with the memorial hall let out a sigh, and all wished to visit [Hu Huishan]. Suddenly, people received word of even more unbelievable news: the “relevant authorities” were informed about the memorial hall and would not allow it to open to the public!
Now, we must do our utmost, widely disseminate news of Hu Huishan’s Memorial to the public, seek approval from society’s enlightened people, get the media’s support, and fight for the early opening of this memorial.
Below is Liu Jiakun’s forwarded article. Feel free to pass this on to your friends:
Hu Huishan Memorial 胡慧姗纪念馆
Liu Jiakun 刘家琨
胡慧姗，女，四川省都江堰聚源镇聚源中学初三一班学生，生于1992年10月11日，埋于2008年5月12日下午2：28分汶川地震，卒时不详。享年15岁，火化时间2008年5月15日。生前喜欢文学，梦想成为作家。
Hu Huishan, female, grade 9, class one student at Juyuan Middle School, Juyuan Town, Dujiangyan city, Sichuan. She was born on October 11, 1992. On May 12, 2008 she was buried in the Wenchuan earthquake that occurred at 2:28 pm. Her exact time of death remains unclear. Her life spanned 15 years, and her cremation took place on May 15, 2008. She enjoyed literature, and dreamed of becoming a writer.
父亲：胡明，都江堰青城纸厂下岗工人，43岁。
Father: Hu Ming, laid-off worker of Qingcheng Paper mill, Dujiangyan, aged 43.
母亲：刘莉，都江堰青城纸厂下岗工人，40岁。
Mother: Liu Li, laid-off worker of Qingcheng Paper mill, Dujiangyan, aged 40.
女儿临终那天早七点留给我的临终遗言是:‘妈妈昨天是母亲节我忘了送花给你还有妈妈我忘了拿牛奶了你请大伯给我带来。’ 她去世在她爸爸过四十三岁生日后第三天临终前身上过敏在发红疹很痒女儿啊！妈妈对不起你啊！她去世在我和她爸爸的结婚纪念日第十一天母亲节的第二天
————-摘自刘莉手机纪事
My daughter’s last words to me at 7 o’clock in the morning were, “Mum, yesterday was Mother’s Day, but I forgot to send you flowers. Also, I forgot to take the milk. Could you ask my uncle to bring it to me?” My daughter left the world three days after her father’s birthday, two days after Mother’s Day, and 11 days after her father’s and my wedding anniversary. In her last days, she was suffering from allergies and itchy red measles. I am so sorry, daughter!
(Extracted from Liu Li’s mobile record)
5月15日第一次去聚源中学。我似乎看见过胡明刘莉，但我不确定，因为我自己处于震骇状态中。5月28日再去现场，还有父母在哭诉祭奠，其中甚至还有双胞胎女儿都埋在废墟里的母亲。现在回想起来，我觉得是刘莉珍藏的女儿的脐带乳牙那份细微具体和胡明的坚强骄傲紧紧抓住了我。我们谈了很久，准确地说是我听了很久，因为我实在没有什么可说的。在这次地震中，悲痛最深的是什么人？我想就是失去儿女的父母。临走时，我对刘莉说：“再生一个女儿，还是叫胡慧姗。” “对！”刘莉眼睛一亮，“我就是这样想的。”这句话成了我和他们两口子之间的一个默契。我决定要长期帮助他们，直到他们进入新的生活。我不晓得我能帮些什么，我记下了他们的联系方式，也记住了刘莉的哮喘不轻。
On the 15th of May, I paid my first visit to Juyuan Middle School. I think I met Hu Ming and Liu Li then; however, I am not certain, for at the time, I was in a state of shock. I returned on the 28th of May, still finding other parents mourning their losses, including a mother who had both of her twin daughters buried in the ruins. As I recall now, it was Liu Li’s detailed thoughtfulness in keeping her daughter’s umbilical cord and deciduous tooth, as well as Hu Ming’s toughness and pride that moved me. We talked for a long time — or to be more precise, I listened for a long time, because there was nothing else, as a matter of fact, that I could say. It makes me wonder, who are the ones that bear the deepest sorrow in this earthquake? I think it must be those parents who have lost their children. Upon departure, I spoke to Liu Li, “Give birth to another baby girl and name her Hu Huishan.” “Right!” her eyes suddenly sparkled with hope, “that is exactly what I was thinking.” Through these words, the couple and I arrived at a mutual understanding. I decided to offer them long-term help until they embarked on their new life. I didn’t know how I could help them, so I jotted down their contact information. I also noticed Liu Li had serious asthma.
第二天我给胡明打过电话，请他帮我收一下满地的学生书包。中间有好多天我没有联系，是因为看了心理干预的电视节目，我有点犹豫担心：是不是该去？会不会触碰伤口？
On the next day, I made a phone call to Hu Ming and asked him to help me collect the schoolbags scattered on the ground. After that, I stopped contacting them for a few days. It might be the effect from those psycho-interference programs on TV that led to my hesitation. I asked myself if my going would inflict wounds on their hearts.
6月21日，我再到聚源。一是想取书包，二是想商量带刘莉去看病的事。我赫然发现他们住在救灾帐篷里。不光是女儿，他们的房子也塌了，身边还有一个残疾老母亲。书包找不到了，帐篷区很乱。我原来想当然地认为是收在他家里的。胡明有点内疚，我赶紧岔开这个话题。东拉西扯中，我觉得先前的担心是多余的。他们痛失至爱，希望破灭，他们仍然迫切需要有人倾听。倾听即是安慰。
I went back to Juyuan on the 21st of June with a few things in mind. First, I wanted to collect the schoolbags, and besides that, I wanted to speak with them about getting Liu Li to see a doctor. To my astonishment, I found them living in a makeshift tent. In the disaster, they lost not only their daughter, but also their house. Together with them was their surviving but disabled old mother. The schoolbags were nowhere to be found, for the tent area was almost a mess. At the beginning, I took it for granted that he would have kept the collected schoolbags at his home. Hu Ming felt a bit guilty about this, so I quickly turned away from this topic. In our random conversations, I came to realize that my worries were totally useless. They have lost their precious child and their hope, but they were still in need of someone to listen to them deeply, as listening itself brings consolation.
我吞吞吐吐说出这些天来萦绕于心的想法：为他们的女儿建一个小小的纪念馆。接下来的事我始料未及。打算做一点力所能及的事就得到如此感激，足以使我重省人生意义。我一直自愧能力不足，做不成更多的实事，我一直有点怀疑我这个想法在目前的生存现实下也许太过诗情画意，也许对他们不是实际帮助，而胡明的话使我不再怀疑。那些实际的物质困难，“都是身外之物”，对心灵的安慰才是最深切的安慰。那么好吧，想到啥就做啥，做一点是一点。
I muttered the idea that had been lingering in my mind for days: to build a small memorial for their daughter. And what followed surpassed my expectations. Their sincere gratitude for my tiny effort made me reconsider the meaning of life. Up till then, I was ashamed of my lack of ability that does not allow me to achieve much that is practical. And until then, I suspected my idea might be too poetic given their current situation, and that it would not equate to any practical help for them. But Hu Ming’s words cleared my doubts. Physical sufferings are all “worldly possessions”, and the most heartfelt consolation must come from the healing of the soul. If so, then, we can only go with our heart, and give whatever we can provide.
胡慧姗纪念馆以灾区最为常见的坡顶救灾帐篷作为原型，采用框架结构及再生砖建造，表面施以乡村最常见的抹灰，像灾区常见的一样，室内外均采用红砖铺地。单纯，朴素，普通。一个田边林间的小小的纯粹空间。虽然小，但足以勾起人们对地震的集体记忆；虽然小，但却是我设计生涯中最有意义的事情。
The Hu Huishan memorial takes its model from the pitched roof makeshift tents frequently used in quake-stricken areas. It was built with column and beam framed construction and rebirth bricks. The surfaces are plastered in a way similar to that in local countryside houses. The floor in the exterior and interior is paved with red bricks, just as those commonly seen in the houses at quake-stricken areas. The goal is to achieve a sense of simplicity, austerity and universality. A pure space placed among the trees and the open field. Though small, it is enough to remind people of the collective memory of the earthquake. Though small, it is the most meaningful work I have done in my whole architectural career.
室内两侧墙上陈列胡慧姗短促一生中留下的少许纪念品：照片，书包，笔记本，乳牙，脐带……她的一生没来得及给社会留下多少痕迹，她不是名人，她是个普通女孩，是父母的心肝。
Inside the memorial, the sidewalls display a few remembrances which record Hu Huishan’s short life: photos, schoolbag, notebooks, deciduous tooth, umbilical cord… Her life didn’t leave many traces in society. She is not a celebrity, only a normal girl – a pearl in her parents’ eyes.
尽端墙上有一面屏幕，放映我在聚源结识她父母后拍下的一系列视频。这小小的空间可以供几个人坐下观看，因此它实际上有点像一个家庭放映厅。这里的内容没有悲壮热烈和宏大喧嚣，只是关于一个花季少女的追忆，以及一个悲伤绝望的家庭如何奋力继续生活。
A screen is set on the wall of the far end, displaying a series of videos recorded in Juyuan after I met her parents. This small space can accommodate a few people to sit and view the screen, thus functioning much like a small family projection room. It displays nothing solemn or loud, but something in memory of a flowery age maiden, and something about how a despaired family strives to live on.
我不知道我想出资修建的这个小小纪念馆是不是世界上最小的纪念馆。这个纪念馆，是为他们的女儿，也是为所有的普通生命——-对普通生命的珍视是民族复兴的基础。
I don’t know whether this memorial, which I donated and built, is the smallest one in the world. But this memorial is built for their daughter, and is also built for all the ordinary lives. Treasuring the value of ordinary lives will be the foundation of our nation’s revival.
2008-6-30
地点（Location）：中国四川大邑安仁 Dayi town,Dayi county, Sichuan Province, P.R.C
项目团队（Project Team）：
建筑师（Architects）：刘家琨、罗明，孙恩，张瞳/ Liu Jiakun,Luo Ming,Sun En,Zhang Tong
结构工程（Structural Engineering）：刘速 Liu Su
建造时间（Construction Period）：2009.3~2009.5
基地面积（Site Area）： 58m²
建筑面积（Building area）：19 m²
业主（Owner）：家琨建筑工作室捐建 donated and constructed by Jiakun Architects
用途（Use）：纪念馆 Memorial
项目概念和描述（Project Concept and description）
胡慧珊纪念馆位于安仁建川博物馆聚落“512地震馆”旁的一片小树林中，是为在512地震中死难的都江堰聚源中学普通女生胡慧珊而建。纪念馆采用救灾帐篷为原型，面积，体量，形态均近似于帐篷，外部红砖铺地，墙面采用民间最常用的抹灰砂浆，内部为女孩生前喜欢的粉红色，墙上布满女孩短促一生的遗物。从一个圆形天窗撒进的光线，使这个小小空间纯洁而娇艳——–这个纪念馆，是为一个普通的女孩，也是为所有的普通生命——-对普通生命的珍视是民族复兴的基础。
Hu Huishan Memorial House located in a piece of forest next to the “512 Exhibition Hall” of Jianchuan Museum Cluster, Anren. This memorial is built for Hu Huishan, an ordinary female student from Juyuan Middle School who was buried in the Wenchuan earthquake. The memorial takes its model from makeshift tents. The floor in the exterior is paved with red bricks, and the surfaces is plastered in a way that is done in the local countryside houses. The interior wall is painted into pink which is the girl’s favorite color and full of remembrances , which recorded her short life. A ray of light from a round clerestory, makes this small space pure and charming —— this memorial is built for an ordinary girl, and is also built for all the ordinary lives —— Treasuring the value of ordinary lives will be the foundation of our nation’s revival….(林凡榆翻译)
(图片1,3-9摄影者为Iwan Baan，其余为家琨工作室提供)
» Read more
- December 10, 2009 11:44 PM
China Quake Dissident Jailed for 3 Years
Huang Qi, an activist who investigated shoddy school construction after the 5.12 Sichuan earthquake in 2008, has been sentenced to three years in jail. From Washington Post:
Chinese dissident Huang Qi was sentenced to three years’ jail on Monday on charges of illegally possessing state secrets, his wife said, decrying the verdict as revenge for his activism after last year’s huge earthquake.
Huang was sentenced in a court in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province where the earthquake on May 12 last year killed at least 80,000 people, including children crushed in schools that collapsed.
The verdict was another sign that China’s ruling Communist Party is in no mood to relax political controls following last week’s visit by U.S. President Barack Obama, who pressed the government on human rights.
Huang, a veteran human rights campaigner, was detained in June last year after offering help to parents protesting that schools felled by the quake were made vulnerable by shoddy and corrupt building practices.
» Read more
- November 22, 2009 9:48 PM
Bricks That Fall Apart in Your Hands
Charles Custer from ChinaGeeks has reposted some photos of the Sichuan rebuilding effort, via journalist Wang Keqin’s blog:
Wang Keqin’s blog has a very long accounting (based on this original story) of how the rebuilding is going in earthquake-affected areas like Mianyang. Unfortunately, it seems some of the new building materials are just as shoddy, or even worse, then the ones destroyed in the 5/12 earthquake.
» Read more
- November 7, 2009 12:05 PM
Ai Weiwei Earthquake Project: “Muyu Diary”
ChinaGeeks translates a post from Ai Weiwei’s blog by a volunteer in his Numbers project about his encounter with local police while researching the Sichuan earthquake:
Originally, I didn’t want to call, I was just going to walk over there, but the number signs on the street were gone, so I had to make the call instead. I said I’d be at the wharf, and then went there, asking directions along the way. I waited there for a half an hour. Perhaps it was this half hour that gave the police the time to burst out run hurriedly over before the person I was waiting for showed up.
The one in front was a commander, and when he said he’d seen me before I guessed he had seen me during Tan Zuoren’s case. He was experienced; he showed me as badge as soon as he was in front of me. The dialogue [between us] was as boring as always, both sides just beating around the bush. He asked where was I from, what was I doing in Qingchuan, and used the 60th anniversary-mandated “checks” on outsiders and the concept of safeguarding river crab society [i.e., harmonious society] as excuses to arrest me.
First we went to the Muyu police substation, where I calmly and somewhat honestly wrote a record. Now, it looks like I was thinking about things too simply. I thought when I got out of the Muyu [station] I could just leave but they took me to the Qingchuan county station. It seems like they thought I was important.
ChinaGeeks also posts photos of Ai Weiwei’s brain, which was recently operated on to repair a subdural hematoma he received while being beaten by police in Chongqing.
» Read more
- November 2, 2009 9:24 PM
Sichuan Earthquake Survivors ‘Poisoned by Pollution’
Many victims of the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan have not yet been able to return home or rebuild, and are now suffering from pollution due to the expansion of a nearby aluminum plant, the Guardian reports:
Villagers near the factory in Wenchuan county – the area worst hit by the disaster – have told the Guardian their health and crops have been damaged by airborne “white flake” pollution that falls and then covers the soil.
Though more than a year has passed since the quake killed 68,000 people and destroyed millions of homes on 12 May 2008, many residents still live in tents.
The local government has put a priority on rebuilding the economy, partly through the more than five-fold expansion of the Aba Aluminium production line owned by Bosai Corporation – one of Sichuan’s biggest exporters. This provides much-needed jobs in the disaster area, but they come at a heavy environmental price, according to nearby residents who complain their harvests have collapsed because of contamination.
“The expansion of the aluminium factory has really affected our lives. I used to grow vegetables and walnuts, but the pollution has ruined the plants and trees,” a local woman told the Guardian by telephone. “The powder from the plant floats in the air, and leaves a coating of white sediment on the ground.”
» Read more
- October 26, 2009 10:47 PM
Ai Weiwei Presents New Works Specifically Made for Haus der Kunst in Munich
Art Knowledge News reports on Ai Weiwei’s exhibit “So Sorry” currently being held in Munich at the Haus der Kunst:
“How is it possible that such technical refinement and craftsmanship were able to develop and unfold in China under imperial tyranny? For me the Haus der Kunst, which was commissioned by Hitler for exhibitions of German art, provides the contextual and formal framework in which to examine this question.” Ai Weiwei.
…”Remembering” is designed for the Haus der Kunst’s façade consisting of 9,000 backpacks made specifically for this purpose. With this installation Ai Weiwei recalls the earthquake in Sichuan since many backpacks of the buried children were found under the collapsed schools. The backpacks on the façade are in one of five colors and arranged to spell out the sentence “She lived happily for seven years in this world” in Chinese characters. These words stem from the mother of one of the earthquake victims commemorating her daughter. The pixel-like effect of the large image stretches across the entire façade. It is 100 meters long and ten meters high, and attached to the columns in front of the building with a steel structure.
Also created especially for the exhibition is the woolen carpet “Soft Ground”, which will cover a surface of 380 square meters in the largest exhibition space. The pattern of “Soft Ground” is a faithful reproduction of the 969 stone floor tiles on which the carpet lies. In order to reconstruct the floor tiles exactly – including the traces left by 70 years of exhibition activity – each tile was first photographed and its position recorded. Handmade in a weaving mill in Hebei province, “Soft Ground” serves as a kind of buffer protecting the floor and also creating an acoustic effect.
See also past CDT posts on Ai Weiwei.
» Read more
- October 24, 2009 10:35 AM
Ai Weiwei: A Phone Call to the PSB
ChinaGeeks translates a blog post Ai Weiwei wrote last week, before undergoing surgery in Germany. From their introduction:
On the afternoon of Sept 9th, Liu Yanping saw she had a missed call from a number she didn’t recognize and returned the call. On the other end was a local PSB bureau head named Qiu Yong. His initial stated purpose in calling her was “to ask what age [her] daughter is” and confirm that she didn’t have another daughter who died in the Sichuan earthquake, but things quickly turned ugly. Unprompted he comments that she seems smart but “this fuss you’re causing over nothing on the internet, and these human flesh search engines who beat people, aiya!” She tells him everything they’ve said is fact, and that they’ve made a documentary. A quasi-debate ensues over the veracity of the documentary and whether or not they have specialized agents making trouble on the internet.
Qiu Yong eventually calls the documentary “masturbatory” and says “I don’t care what trouble you’re making on the internet, I only dare to say that any challenge from you!”
The “trouble making on the internet” refers to Ai Weiwei’s project to chronicle the names of the children who died in the earthquake and his insistence on posting information and accounts of official harassment on the internet.
Then, presumably, Liu called Ai Weiwei and told him about this phone call. Ai called Qiu at the PSB, and the following conversation resulted.
Ai is currently recovering from his surgery, and has posted numerous photos of his hospital stay on his blog.

» Read more
- September 15, 2009 9:09 PM
Filmmakers Barred From Chinese Festival
From the New York Times:
When the American filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill traveled around Sichuan Province last year to document the anger of parents whose children had died in school collapses during the earthquake in May, they ran into a chilly reception from officials… Now, the Chinese government has denied both of them visas, blocking them from presenting their documentary, “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province,” at the Beijing Independent Film Festival this week. The two men, who made the film for HBO with the co-producer Peter Kwong, said their visa applications were rejected late last week.
“We are extremely disappointed that the Chinese government denied our request for visas and that we will not be permitted to discuss this film with a Chinese audience in Beijing,” Mr. Alpert and Mr. O’Neill said in a joint e-mail message. “The denial of our visas fits in with a pattern of what seems to be a complete commitment on the part of this Chinese government to crush any inquiry into the possibility of wrongful deaths during the earthquake in Sichuan.”
…The Chinese government has gone to great lengths to silence any mention of the collapsed schools and, according to an official count, the 5,335 children who died or remain missing. In the weeks after the earthquake, which left nearly 87,000 people dead or missing, parents took to the streets to demand official investigations into why so many school buildings had collapsed even though other buildings around them remained standing. The parents said shoddy construction and corruption were the obvious causesWhen the American filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill traveled around Sichuan Province last year to document the anger of parents whose children had died in school collapses during the earthquake in May, they ran into a chilly reception from officials… Now, the Chinese government has denied both of them visas, blocking them from presenting their documentary, “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province,” at the Beijing Independent Film Festival this week. The two men, who made the film for HBO with the co-producer Peter Kwong, said their visa applications were rejected late last week.
When the American filmmakers Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill traveled around Sichuan Province last year to document the anger of parents whose children had died in school collapses during the earthquake in May, they ran into a chilly reception from officials… Now, the Chinese government has denied both of them visas, blocking them from presenting their documentary, “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province,” at the Beijing Independent Film Festival this week. The two men, who made the film for HBO with the co-producer Peter Kwong, said their visa applications were rejected late last week.
“We are extremely disappointed that the Chinese government denied our request for visas and that we will not be permitted to discuss this film with a Chinese audience in Beijing,” Mr. Alpert and Mr. O’Neill said in a joint e-mail message. “The denial of our visas fits in with a pattern of what seems to be a complete commitment on the part of this Chinese government to crush any inquiry into the possibility of wrongful deaths during the earthquake in Sichuan.”
…The Chinese government has gone to great lengths to silence any mention of the collapsed schools and, according to an official count, the 5,335 children who died or remain missing. In the weeks after the earthquake, which left nearly 87,000 people dead or missing, parents took to the streets to demand official investigations into why so many school buildings had collapsed even though other buildings around them remained standing. The parents said shoddy construction and corruption were the obvious causes.
An interview with the filmmakers on Democracy Now from May 2009:

See also this synopsis of the documentary on the HBO website.
» Read more
- September 1, 2009 9:11 PM
Beijing Art Show Excludes Earthquake Pieces
The Beijing Biennale is now on, though some of the more controversial exhibits have been canceled. From CBC:
Under the joint artistic direction of Zhu Qi and Marc Hungerbühler, the giant show focuses on emerging and mid-career artists.
Zhu Qi revealed on Monday that some controversial works had been removed from the program over the weekend.
Those works include performance pieces which used some contentious figures such as Runner Fan — about a teacher who posted an article on the internet admitting he fled the crumbling school during the quake ahead of his students — and another one concerning popular blogger and lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan.
Other exhibits including a documentary about the May 2008 earthquake in Sichuan, in which 90,000 people were killed, and memorial to a 12-year-old who died in the catastrophe have disappeared from the official show.
The Wall Street Journal blog has more about the exhibit involving Runner Fan:
Among the Chinese artists slated to participate was high school teacher Fan Meizhong, who is perhaps better known, infamously, for having run out of his classroom during last year’s Sichuan earthquake, leaving the students behind.
Mr. Fan defended his actions on his blog, describing himself as someone “with a very strong sense of self-protection.”
“Whenever there is danger, I react quickly and run fast,” he wrote. The comments made him the target of fierce criticism, with angry Chinese Web users nicknaming him “Fan Paopao” (“Running Fan”). At a time when the whole country was searching for heroes following the devastating earthquake, Fan became such a controversial figure that he was soon fired from his job teaching Chinese language and literature. (In December, he finally found a new job with a language training center in Beijing.)
At the 798 Biennale, Mr. Fan was slated to be part of a performance art exhibition titled “the Soulful Society VS the Net Spirit” (社会魂vs网络魄). In addition to Mr. Fan, other well-known participants included Wu Ping, a Chongqing woman who held out against developers seeking to knock her home down, and subsequently became known as “the toughest nail house owner in history” and noted blogger/lawyer Liu Xiaoyuan. The performance piece was described as involving “writers who have garnered attention through individual efforts given the technological advances of today’s society.”
Early last month, when the news first came out that Running Fan had been invited to participate in the performance art segment of the 798 Biennale, it made headlines all over the Chinese-language media.
See also the official Biennale site and an article from ArtDaily.org.
» Read more
- August 19, 2009 1:34 PM
China Urged to Cancel Quake Trials
The New York Times reports on the prosecution of two men, Huang Qi and Tan Zuoren, who were detained while investigating the collapsed schools in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake:
The trial of one man, Huang Qi, began Wednesday but adjourned without a verdict. Mr. Huang, a well-known blogger and civil rights campaigner, is accused of possessing state secrets, which carries a sentence of five years to life. The second defendant, Tan Zuoren, a writer and also a prominent rights advocate, faces a potential five-year sentence for subversion and is to go on trial Aug. 12. The charges are broad ones the Chinese government often uses to silence people who publicly challenge the government.
“These trials are not about a reasonable application of the law, but about silencing government critics whose work has considerable public benefit and sympathy,” Sophie Richardson, the Asia advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, an advocacy group based in New York, said in a written statement released Tuesday. “The government is likely seeking to squelch those who cause it embarrassment, but in the process it is undermining domestic and international confidence in its ability to cope in a transparent way with natural disasters.”
» Read more
- August 5, 2009 8:16 PM
Indictment Against Activist Tan Zuoren
Activist Tan Zuoren has been indicted by the Chengdu People’s Procuratorate on charges of subversion. Tan is an environmental activist and writer who was detained last year while investigating the cause of the multiple school collapses in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. He was detained on March 28, 2009 and will be brought to trial on August 12. The following translation of the indictment against Tan was provided to CDT by someone who wishes to remain anonymous.

Sichuan Province Chengdu People’s Procuratorate Indictment
Chengdu Procuratorate — Indictment [2009]183
The indicted, Tan Zuoren, male, born May 15, 1954, PRC ID card no. 5101021954051611X, Han nationality, vocational school education, resides at No. 29 Wangjiang Road, Taolin Village, Building 6, No. 6. On March 28, 2009 he was placed under criminal detention according to the law. On April 24, 2009 because he was involved in the crime of inciting subversion of state power, he was, with the permission of the Chengdu Procuratorate, arrested according to law by Chengdu Public Security.
An investigation carried out according to law has determined that:
The indicted Tan Zuoren is dissatisfied with the methods and verdict of the Party Central Committee concerning the “June Fourth Incident” and for many years by various methods has been involved in “June Fourth” activities. On May 27, 2007, Tan Zuoren concocted an article entitled “1989: A Witness to the Last Beauty: An Eyewitness’ Tiananmen Square Diary” and using the Internet put it on the website “Torch of Liberty” and other websites outside of China mainland. The main points of that article distorted the handling of the “June 4th Incident” by the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party and libeled it.
Shortly after that article was posted, the enemy element outside mainland China Wang Dan contacted him by email and on several occasions
sent him propaganda materials about “June Fourth”.
On June 4, 2008, the indicted Tan Zuoren and others on Chengdu’s Tianfu Square commemorated “June 4th” by making voluntary blood donations and at that time agreed to a telephone interview request by the enemy radio station outside China mainland “Voice of Hope”. Since November 2008, Wang Dan on many occasions sent him materials on commemorating the twentieth anniversary of “June 4th”. On February 10, 2009, the indicted Tan Zuoren sent Wang Dan an email entitled “My Suggestions for Commemorating the Twentieth Anniversary of June 4th”, suggesting that during this year’s “June 4th” period that a “June 4th Global Chinese Blood Drive” be held to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of June 4th.
After the “May 12th earthquake” of 2008, the indicted Tan Zuoren was interviewed many times by media from outside mainland China. On these occasions he said many things that severely harmed the image of our Party and government. On March 27th, the indicted Tan Zuoren was brought to justice by Public Security.
Evidence proving the facts above are as follows:
notes on identification of the indicted, notes on the taking into custody of the indicted, appraisals by experts, testimony of witnesses, deposition of the indicted.
The Procuratorate believes that the indicted Tan Zuoren, in order to achieve his goal of subverting state power and overthrowing the
socialist system fabricated things out of whole cloth, distorted news, and spread speech that is injurious to state power and the socialist
system in order to damage the image of state power and the socialist system in the eyes of the people. This constitutes a crime under
article 105 of the Criminal Code of the People’s Republic of China. The crime is clear, the evidence is certain and abundant. Tan Zuoren should be prosecuted and convicted of the crime of inciting subversion of state power. As stipulated by Article 141 “Code of Criminal Procedure of the People’s Republic of China”, Tan Zuoren is indicted and it is hereby requested that he be prosecuted according to law.
Hereby submitted to the Chengdu Intermediate People’s Court
Prosecutor Chen Shiti
Assistant Prosecutor Wang Yihong
July 17, 2009
Secretary Li Zhenzhen
Notes:
1.The indicted Tan Zuoren is now confined in the Wenjiang District House of Detention
2.The list of evidence, photocopies of principal evidence are in one bound book.
Read more about Tan Zuoren’s case and about the schools that collapsed in the earthquake via CDT.
» Read more
- August 4, 2009 10:22 AM
New Panda Preserves Suggested
A new study using satellite imagery examines the impact of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake on the panda reserves in the region. The New York Times reports:
In one of the hardest hit areas, the southern part of the Minshan Mountains, about one-quarter of the panda habitat, or 135 square miles, was destroyed by mudflows and landslides. The flows also had the effect of fragmenting much of the remaining habitat into smaller patches.
In a paper in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, Weihua Xu and colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences detail the destruction in South Minshan, which is home to about 35 pandas and contains four reserves. They suggest that several new protected areas be created in the region, and that new corridors between fragmented areas be established “to ensure the long-term sustainability of the giant panda population and habitat.”
Dr. Xu and his colleagues used satellite images from before the quake, supplemented by fieldwork, to identify areas of suitable panda habitat — forested, not-too-steep mountain land at elevations between 3,300 and 12,500 feet, with plenty of pandas’ staple food, bamboo. Then they compared post-quake satellite images to determine where mud- and landslides had obliterated the habitat. They found that habitat in the region was reduced from about 590 square miles to 455.
» Read more
- July 29, 2009 10:28 PM