Parents grief turns to fury in China

[Flashermac]

DUJIANGYAN, China - They came hugging framed photographs and dog-eared achievement awards, placing them on the spot where their sons and daughters died under heaps of broken concrete. The men set off fireworks to chase away evil spirits as wads of paper money smoldered amid the rubble.

 

Then the loudspeaker began playing a funereal dirge and all at once the women doubled over in agony, a chorus of 100 mothers wailing over the loss of an only child. The husbands wept in silence, paralyzed by the storm of emotion.

 

"We worked so hard to raise you and then you left us so suddenly," a woman screamed, pounding the ruins of the Juyuan Middle School with her fists. "How could you leave us to grow old alone?"

 

But what began Tuesday morning as an unofficial gathering of bereaved parents quickly gave way to unbridled fury. One of the fathers, a quarry worker named Liu Lifu, grabbed the microphone and began calling for justice. His 15-year-old daughter, Liu Li, had died along with her entire class during a biology lesson.

 

"We strongly demand that the government severely punish the killers who caused the collapse of the school building," he shouted. "Please, everyone sign the petition so we can find out the truth."

 

The crowd grew more agitated. Some parents talked about how local officials knew for years that the building was unsafe but refused to take action. Others recalled that two hours had passed before rescue workers showed up; even then, they stopped working at 10 p.m. the night of the earthquake and only resumed their search at 9 a.m. the next day. In the end, more than 200 bodies were recovered.

 

"The people responsible for this should be brought here and have a bullet put in their head," said Luo Guanmin, a farmer who was cradling a photo of her 16-year-old daughter, Luo Dan.

 

In recent days, such raw public outbursts have been taking place across northern Sichuan Province as grieving parents agitate for investigations into why so many school buildings fell during the May 12 earthquake, killing as many as 10,000 children.

 

On Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of parents whose children died at the Fuxin No. 2 Primary School in Mianzhu staged an impromptu rally, heaving insults on local officials. They surrounded one woman, screaming and yelling in her face until she fainted. Another official fell to his knees in an attempt to stop the parents as they began marching toward Chengdu, 75 kilometers, or 45 miles, away. Later, as the crowd surged into the hundreds, the protestors clashed with the police, leaving several parents bleeding and quaking with emotion.

 

As the official Chinese media continue to focus on the military's heroism and the nation's outpouring of generosity, a surge of anger is building among parents whose grief is overpowering the fear that often keeps ordinary citizens from challenging the government. In the first few days after the earthquake struck, the press freely reported on accusations of shoddy school construction. Within a week, however, the censors had gained the upper hand.

 

 

 

Link

[rogueyam]

Communism sucks.

[rchapstick]

Communism sucks.

 

Geez, that was insightful.

 

Now you can go back to reading "My Pet Goat".

 

[rogueyam]

Now you can go back to reading "My Pet Goat".

 

Geez, that was insightful.

 

[rchapstick]

Actually, it was a stretch to call it reading. You can go back to looking at the pictures again.

[drogon]

""I put all my hope in my one child," said Li, who been unable to work because of chronic liver disease. "They were supposed to support us in old age.""

 

Communism has not a lot do with that...corruption and Confucianism cultural background...

 

Communism just reinforce the "golden child" thing for low class or even low middle class Chinese families, with, when the child is gone, the results we see.

 

I am sad for all the children who were not given their chances in life.

 

 

[rchapstick]

Agreed ... little to do with communism and alot to do with corruption and apathy. Same same New Orleans and Katrina.

 

It is sad to see someone like RY either make jest, or make an obtuse political point (I cannot tell which, though both are deplorable), in the face of this very real, very human tragedy.

[rogueyam]

Agreed ... little to do with communism and alot to do with corruption and apathy.

 

Communism has quite a lot to do with shoddy construction, poor emergency services, unresponsive government officials, and draconian laws regarding family size.

[Mekong]

Agreed ... little to do with communism and alot to do with corruption and apathy.

 

Communism has quite a lot to do with shoddy construction' date=' poor emergency services, unresponsive government officials, and draconian laws regarding family size. [/quote']

 

I never realised that New Orleans was a Communist State ... is this why you call them Rednecks?

 

 

[Bangkoktraveler]

rogueyam holds the GOPs position on those people - they aren't people.