Response to Quake Prompts Burst of Acclaim for Leaders
By Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, May 24, 2008; A17
BEIJING, May 23 -- The official New China News Agency reported the other day that people around the world are suggesting that President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao deserve a Nobel Prize for their handling of the Sichuan earthquake.
The idea, based on what the agency said was a flood of Internet messages, might have seemed premature outside the Communist Party's Central Propaganda Bureau, which controls what the agency reports. But it reflected official enthusiasm over an unmistakable burst of popularity for China's top leaders and widespread applause for their on-the-scene encouragement to quake victims and rescue teams digging through the rubble.
The party's propaganda mandarins have done their part, ordering television and newspaper editors to focus on rescue efforts and the mobilization of solidarity. But many of the country's 1.3 billion people also have seemed genuinely moved to respond to the crisis, coming together behind the government and volunteering money, goods and time.
"Patriotism has risen to its highest level in the face of the earthquake," said Kang Xiaoguang, a sociologist at Renmin University in Beijing who monitors public opinion. "Chinese people are of one heart in combating the disaster."
Xie Liping, 28, a saleswoman in Beijing, said she and her family have discussed the government's performance nightly over the past week and concluded that things have improved markedly from past crises. "They really did a great job," she said.
For the moment, at least, the May 12 quake also has relieved pressure from abroad. Before the disaster, governments and human rights groups were criticizing China's record in Tibet, its response to humanitarian concerns in Sudan's Darfur region and its unwillingness to push the military junta in Burma to accept foreign aid workers following Tropical Cyclone Nargis. But the foreign complaints, which seemed to be building in advance of the Beijing Olympics, have been drowned out by condolences and offers of help to earthquake victims.
The question now has become whether Hu and his lieutenants can make the glow last. The heroic rescue operations documented by photographers have largely halted, giving way to the long, thankless business of burying bodies and bulldozing ruins. With millions of peasants living in tents -- and no prospect of them returning home anytime soon -- the challenge for the party has only begun.
As a result, it is too early to assess the impact of the initial response on China's political evolution, according to Zhang Ming, a political scientist at People's University in Beijing.
"There are two kinds of possibilities, long-term and short-term, that determine whether the earthquake will be a turning point in the Chinese government's reform efforts," Zhang said. "Will the government only focus on the disaster temporarily, and then return to normal for everything else? Or will the government make some reforms as a result of the earthquake?"
When a devastating earthquake struck Mexico in 1985, the government's poor performance played an important role in loosening the Institutional Revolutionary Party's long grip on power. Mexicans were particularly outraged that the army stood by, guarding against looting, while victims died in the ruins.
In China, however, the Communist Party has so far been seen reacting swiftly and decisively. The People's Liberation Army has been particularly visible in rescue and relief operations, flying in supplies by helicopter and marching up mountain trails where roads were cut off by landslides.
The soldiers' role, following a widely reported relief operation during severe ice storms last winter, may soften the resentment still felt by some Chinese over the army's bloody suppression of the 1989 student protests in Tiananmen Square. But it was the Communist Party's role in deploying vast government resources and mobilizing official and unofficial volunteer groups for quake relief that left the most vivid impression among the public.
If that impression lasts, it could help validate the party's argument that it must retain a monopoly on power because no other organization can guarantee China's stability, efficient governance and economic growth. But if the mood sours as the crisis drags on, the party might have trouble sustaining that argument.
Already complaints are coming in. Some villagers have denounced the government for failing to reach their damaged homes and farms in time. Others have suggested that corrupt officials were behind the shoddy construction blamed for school collapses that killed hundreds of children. Similar accusations concern the hundreds of dams that stretch across Sichuan's rivers, some of which developed cracks during the earthquake.
"I don't think the governing ability of the Chinese government will improve because of the earthquake," said a chemical engineer who identified himself only as Jiang for fear of retribution. "When I saw those fat officials making their long, empty speeches, I felt it is still hopeless."
Apparently aware that the battle is far from won, Wen announced Wednesday that the government had set aside $10 billion for reconstruction. He repeated pledges that the party will continue an all-out effort in the disaster zone -- ordering tent factories, for instance, to work around the clock to provide shelter for the millions gathered in centers for the displaced.
Wen received particularly wide admiration as he traveled around the quake area for the first five days. The party's Central China Television broadcast repeated scenes of Wen urging on rescue teams and stooping to comfort the injured. At one point, he was shown telling a trapped child to hang on because "Grandpa Wen" was on hand.
"All my family likes Wen very much, because he is very affable and kind," said Xie, the Beijing saleswoman. "And I found that many young people who were born after the 1980s and 1990s like him very much as well."
After five days in Beijing organizing relief from the top, Wen flew back to the earthquake zone on Thursday, the New China News Agency reported.
Hu, the president and party leader, also spent several days touring the disaster-stricken hills. He was taped extending condolences to farmers and ordering a speedup in rescue operations. But his manner did not seem to strike the same sympathy among Chinese viewers as Wen's.
An import-export trader in Beijing, for instance, said he had no hope of a real change by the government just because it did what it was supposed to do in response to the disaster. But he singled out Wen for praise, saying the premier showed that "he finishes his task as much as possible by himself."
One reason for the public's embrace of Wen and the general endorsement of the party and government response was the unusual degree of openness displayed by Chinese newspapers and television stations, Zhang said. Unlike in past crises, the party Propaganda Bureau did not prevent reporting on the full extent of the damage; thus the coverage helped the nation share in the tragedy and rallied sympathy for the victims.
Some specialists said propaganda officials had tried to rein in the reporting but failed because so many Chinese journalists were launched on the story. A senior propaganda official, however, strongly suggested that the openness was deliberate.
"Do you think we have gone too far, with all this openness?" he said during a chance encounter.
Researcher Zhang Jie contributed to this report.
- Re: Do Hu and Wen deserve a Nobel Prize for their handling of the earthquake?posted on 05/24/2008
No!
They do their daily job as everybody! - Re: Do Hu and Wen deserve a Nobel Prize for their handling of the earthquake?posted on 05/24/2008
Hu cares about the dynamite prize? - Re: Do Hu and Wen deserve a Nobel Prize for their handling of the earthquake?posted on 05/24/2008
I don't think they deserve a Nobel Prize. - Re: Do Hu and Wen deserve a Nobel Prize for their handling of the earthquake?posted on 05/24/2008
我倒是奇怪谁说的他们要得奖?根本就没有这一类的诺贝尔奖。要是胡和达赖能谈妥了,没准还能那个和平奖什么的。
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