The Real Blizzards in China

The Real Blizzards in China
Looking back the blizzards occurred in China from late February to early March, all the Chinese are still shocking at the unbelievable disaster. The snowstorm which was claimed “the worst in past 50 years” caused 129 deaths and S$30 BILLION of losses and over 1.606million people were made homeless. Transport and electricity system were crippled.
However, victims could only get pain and cold physically from the snow, yet the social problems exposed during the blizzards brought the mental freeze to the citizens.
The friable infrastructure.
During the snowstorm, the electric pylons and cables all over China’s south were mangled by the ice encrusted on them, especially in country sides and villages. Some villagers had to survive against electricity and water cut for 40 days in ultimate frozen. On the other hand, the railway and roads were also disappointing. One of the most important highways which cross eastern China from north to south was deadly crippled due to the sleet cover. The factors for that was the way Chinese thought. Many times the whole world was impressed by the speed of development in China. It really was. But, it was only because the quantity of the new structures appeared on the land, not from the quality of them. In fact, people in China only focused on the word “rate” instead of “efficiency”. “We knew that the world was impressed by our speed, and then we can give them more surprise.”This kind of thought dominated Chinese’s mind. That‘s why the infrastructure were so delicate when meeting the snow.
Bureaucracy
The bureaucracy unwrapped during the storm was definitely the most powerful impact to the government, it even caused a shadow over the government’s grip, both Beijing and local’s.
When the weather report was sent to the government officials, they took it too lightly at first. Then they flustered at the situation. Thereafter, the people who didn’t suffer the snow were told how well the victims had been treated via a lot of mediums. The view they received the food and clothes were repeated again and again. Top leaders appeared in the screen and promised to try their best to help the victims. As a Chinese, I know it is the method that the Chinese government always used to maintain the respect and honor of government. Although many local governments did a lot job for victims, however, actually, there were still governments which are not sensitive enough. They only acted under the command from Beijing but not the complaining from the citizens.
Obviously, the factors should be the disadvantage in Chinese’s traditional thought. As one of the most unforgettable Chinese writers Lu Xun expressed, in the Chinese’s value system, to work as an official and earn a lot of money is their final purpose. Following this kinds of thought, it is hard to achieve integrity of the government in China, hard for the officials to really “serve the citizens”, which was said by Chairman Mao.

the sources is from THE STRAITS TIMES Monday, March 3 2008. 10th page of EAST ASIA