By Huma Sheikh
China gives me a ‘home-like’ feeling
I AM HOME again was how Beijing looked like to me as I disembarked from the bus to the by lane leading towards hotel from the airport. Wide roads, people huddled in lanes, boys paired up on roadsides chatting and anxiously waiting for a quick glimpse of beautiful girls walking around all came alive as I landed in Beijing on November 6. The scene made it almost impossible for me to stay indoors even after my arrival at 10 pm from as far away place as Honolulu and the excitement headed me to a nearby restaurant.
A few of my friends also joined me and suddenly the jet lag faded away as the time set up in China suited me because it is only a few hours ahead of my home country India. Making our way to a restaurant we intended to have some snacks and coffee but the aroma in the room increased our appetite even if we had enough of food on the plane during 16 hours journey. The food was fantastic. I don’t eat pork and one of my friends who is from Hong Kong helped me order the food and also for the group before she headed off to the hotel. Another friend ordered fried rice and both of us decided to pack back some of it but it was so tasty that we had it all over there. We cleaned our plates and even wanted to have more.
On my way back, I traveled around to make sure I am in Beijing and not India but there was hardly any difference between the two. The next day we set off on a Beijing exploration mission. We were split into learning groups with some task to do in an effort to make ourselves aware about some places of significant importance as well as some commonly used activities and games and way of living in Beijing. The assignment was also measured on the basis of work and research each group had done and the winning team announced by the APLP staff was the one with the highest number of accurate answers.
Day two was a little bit academic. We (APLPeers G8) started off purchasing some tickets for our nine-day China GIST travel. I bought the tickets for my Scrambling Scribers team before we started off to discover Beijing. We--my learning group comprised five people, including me, and four of us were completely new to China-- had some outline to follow to acquire some points but for us exploring China was awesome. Although we were not the highest point takers, we were quite satisfied with what we did—we visited places as historic as Tiananmen Square, went to Russian Market, shopping malls and had food at a very good Chinese restaurant. The day culminated in meeting up with the staff at Tiananmen Square, which was followed up by dinner.
On Day three we toured to Beiwai to join participants from CFAU, BeiWai, Tsinghua, Beida and Renmin universities who delivered speeches as part of the ‘Joint Workshop on China and the Future’.
Day Four was quite exciting-- I visited Forbidden City with a guide provided for our group of six. We were together until we walked down half Forbidden City and disbursed in crowd. I lost sight of almost all group mates, including our guide, except Kamal who was with me taking pictures.
However, it was a blessing in disguise as both of us—Kamal and I—had a chance ride a rickshaw and bus all alone. The interesting part of our journey was how I managed to win an argument with a rickshaw puller even if I didn’t know Chinese.
We got onto a rickshaw from Forbidden City exit gate to subway, intending to take it to the hotel. The rickshaw puller, in an attempt to bluff us, after taking all the money stopped the rickshaw halfway and pretended his cycle tyre was broken. He called another rickshaw puller and something conspired between them in Chinese. As another rickshaw puller dropped us to some other unknown place and not subway, he asked for money, triggering an argument. Although the scene was weird as I justified our stand with gestures and some signs, the rickshaw puller had to give up finally. THE MOMENT WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF MY LIFE. I WILL ALWAYS CHERISH IT.
We had CCPIT meetings on November 10, which culminated in a grand dinner hosted by APLP alumni hosted by Zhao Zhenge and Lin Honghong (G2). And the final day in Beijing on November 11 before we left for China GIST on Nov 12, was devoted to Tsinghua University where Director of Brooklyn Institute gave presentation on China and its development and economy at John Thornton Leadership Center . The lecture was of great help to literate us more deeply about China before China GIST.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Sichuan earthquake: Du Jiang Yan in making after Wenchuan natural calamity
On a foggy morning of November 18, 2008, we set off to Chengdu Bus Terminal for Wenchuan province, the epicenter of the deadly May 12 earthquake that killed at least 80,000 people and destroyed tens of thousands of houses. But to our disappointment we came to know no public transport goes to Wechuan since the earthquake has hit the area. Two of my Chinese friends Liu Xiao and Liu Pie Gang from Southwest Jiaotong University suggested another place relatively closer and which was badly affected by the natural calamity; Du Jiang Yan became our new destination.
As the bus started off, the chilly morning—coupled with thick smog which barely made visible bare branches of trees along the road-- didn’t give any impression that we were heading to a place where thousands of people died only a six months ago. But as the bus passed Chong Yi and inched closer to Du Jiang Yan, signs of earthquake started emerging. I saw some damaged houses with visible cracks but those were dominated by makeshift houses built by the China government for the victims of the earthquake.
The bus touched down into Du Jiang Yan and we got off: As we looked around the neighborhood it seemed a mix of ruined structures and newly constructed buildings. The building where we stopped by to have breakfast was rebuilt after being completely destroyed by the effect of natural calamity. A look around was enough to gauge the losses incurred by the people in terms of thousands of lives and property. A little ahead was even worse; several stretches of about half a kilometer were completely destroyed by the quake. One among them was the colony at Puyang Lu or Puyang Road .
As I entered one of the colonies in Puyang Lu, I saw the buildings---most of the structures had been dismantled for new buildings-- which were yet to be razed badly affected by the quake. One of the buildings, which housed a local company, gave the horrific look; at least one hundred workers of the company were buried in the building when the earthquake had struck.
As I was taking pictures of the building, somebody said ‘nehaav’, hello in Chinese, to me. I turned back to find out a good looking lady behind me. I slipped my camera into my pocket immediately thinking that the lady might be offended by me for picturing a building that killed so many people.
My name is Li Mingyong. Your friends told me that you want to know about earthquake, she said in Chinese. Before I could say anything, Liu Xiao and Liu Pie Gang—my Chinese friends-- translated it for me. She continued, I am the head of the company (picture above) that was destroyed in the quake. I saw dead bodies of my employees buried under the debris after the earthquake struck. Some of the bodies were not recovered even after several days of the calamity.
I asked her about the other families who were living in the houses; Li Mingyong said they are all, including her, living in temporary shelters provided by the China Government. And about her company, she said she is running it from a nearby building provided by the government.
Li Mingyong pointed towards construction workers who were razing the buildings and said the government was seriously considering replacement of the quake victims in their houses and huge number of workers has been employed in order to expedite construction work.
Several damaged buildings were dismantled paving the way for open space while construction work was going on in full swing to rebuilt structures on the plots.
After spending some time at the spot, I decided to visit some families. I asked Li Mingyong the address of the place where temporary shelters were built and my two Chinese friends and I headed for Qing Jian Ren Jia.
The neighborhood of the location was very calm and soft as if in a bid to sooth the haunted memories of the people in the wake of natural disaster; the backdrop was the perfect place of serenity and for healing the wounds. On the left side of the Qing Jian Ren Jia gate stood a policeman beside his office; the police are guarding the colony to avoid any untoward incident. As I walked past him and inched ahead into the lane, I saw a long line of white painted one-storeyed mud-and-brick houses.
An elderly woman was knitting a beautiful sweater outside her door; I asked my friends if she would agree to speak to me for a few minutes. I was a bit skeptical but the woman agreed; she in fact invited me to her home. As she opened the door, I saw three Chinese names written on the door. My friends read the names for me which I understood were the woman and her husband but I was confused about the third name. As I got into the room her husband was in there. The home was a big room divided into two parts.
The room was stuffed mostly with clothes and there were two big beds that had covered huge space. We sat down on the bed and I asked them curiously about the third name on the door.
The man said Yao Shi Kai is me, Ou Ye Zhen is my wife and Yao Ru Ping
is my little daughter who died in the earthquake. There was a one minute silence in the room and after a little while I asked him if they were comfortable in the makeshift house. ‘‘My family and I am very happy over here,’’ he said with a big smile on his face: a scene of gloom was quickly replaced by his gesture. ‘‘The government has helped us a lot. After the earthquake on May 12th, we shifted to the temporary shelter on May 29 and received Rs 300 Yuan from the government for the first three months. I have three children and one of my sons, who was unemployed, was given a job by the government. About his house, he said it was not completely destroyed and the construction work was going on, though it would take sometime because the damage of property in Sichuan province was extensive.
Before we headed off to the next place, the couple insisted us on eating some oranges and we could not leave the place without having them. Chinese people are very magnanimous and I wonder if this kind of breed exists anywhere in the world besides China. My hometown India is also known for its people’s cooperation but the approach of Chinese people speaks wonders; they would go out of way in helping out people.
My next stop was another family at Qing Jian Ren Jia. Chen Ying runs a parlor at the makeshift colony.
Her house was destroyed by the earthquake but it hardly makes any difference for her. Before the natural calamity she was running a parlor at Di Jiang Yu and now she is doing the same business t the makeshift colony. She received monetary help from the government in addition to the compensation for the house. ‘‘My house was damaged in the quake and the government is rebuilding it now. I also got 300 Yuan for the first three months after the quake and a big room for my parlor in addition to the two-room apartment here. I have no regrets and the China government is great,’’ she said. Chen Ying has a son and her husband is working in a factory.
Not very far from the place I saw an interior designing shop. I got into it and confronted another young lady.
Jiang Xiao Cui with her son is an interior designer. Fortunately, everyone in her family was safe but her house was completely destroyed by the quake. However, she has no worries at all. Her family-- husband, baby boy and Jiang-- received 200 Yuan extra compensation from the government for another two months in addition to the first three-month 900 Yuan because the extent of damage of her house had surpassed the limit set by the government. The Chinese Government gives extra compensation to those victims whose house is damaged beyond the 70 sq ft limit set by the government.
The optimism, enthusiasm, passion and remarkable pace to re-establishment among the people despite all odds speak volumes about China Government’s systematic management to weather crises.
As the bus started off, the chilly morning—coupled with thick smog which barely made visible bare branches of trees along the road-- didn’t give any impression that we were heading to a place where thousands of people died only a six months ago. But as the bus passed Chong Yi and inched closer to Du Jiang Yan, signs of earthquake started emerging. I saw some damaged houses with visible cracks but those were dominated by makeshift houses built by the China government for the victims of the earthquake.
The bus touched down into Du Jiang Yan and we got off: As we looked around the neighborhood it seemed a mix of ruined structures and newly constructed buildings. The building where we stopped by to have breakfast was rebuilt after being completely destroyed by the effect of natural calamity. A look around was enough to gauge the losses incurred by the people in terms of thousands of lives and property. A little ahead was even worse; several stretches of about half a kilometer were completely destroyed by the quake. One among them was the colony at Puyang Lu or Puyang Road .
As I entered one of the colonies in Puyang Lu, I saw the buildings---most of the structures had been dismantled for new buildings-- which were yet to be razed badly affected by the quake. One of the buildings, which housed a local company, gave the horrific look; at least one hundred workers of the company were buried in the building when the earthquake had struck.
As I was taking pictures of the building, somebody said ‘nehaav’, hello in Chinese, to me. I turned back to find out a good looking lady behind me. I slipped my camera into my pocket immediately thinking that the lady might be offended by me for picturing a building that killed so many people.
My name is Li Mingyong. Your friends told me that you want to know about earthquake, she said in Chinese. Before I could say anything, Liu Xiao and Liu Pie Gang—my Chinese friends-- translated it for me. She continued, I am the head of the company (picture above) that was destroyed in the quake. I saw dead bodies of my employees buried under the debris after the earthquake struck. Some of the bodies were not recovered even after several days of the calamity.
I asked her about the other families who were living in the houses; Li Mingyong said they are all, including her, living in temporary shelters provided by the China Government. And about her company, she said she is running it from a nearby building provided by the government.
Li Mingyong pointed towards construction workers who were razing the buildings and said the government was seriously considering replacement of the quake victims in their houses and huge number of workers has been employed in order to expedite construction work.
Several damaged buildings were dismantled paving the way for open space while construction work was going on in full swing to rebuilt structures on the plots.
After spending some time at the spot, I decided to visit some families. I asked Li Mingyong the address of the place where temporary shelters were built and my two Chinese friends and I headed for Qing Jian Ren Jia.
The neighborhood of the location was very calm and soft as if in a bid to sooth the haunted memories of the people in the wake of natural disaster; the backdrop was the perfect place of serenity and for healing the wounds. On the left side of the Qing Jian Ren Jia gate stood a policeman beside his office; the police are guarding the colony to avoid any untoward incident. As I walked past him and inched ahead into the lane, I saw a long line of white painted one-storeyed mud-and-brick houses.
An elderly woman was knitting a beautiful sweater outside her door; I asked my friends if she would agree to speak to me for a few minutes. I was a bit skeptical but the woman agreed; she in fact invited me to her home. As she opened the door, I saw three Chinese names written on the door. My friends read the names for me which I understood were the woman and her husband but I was confused about the third name. As I got into the room her husband was in there. The home was a big room divided into two parts.
The room was stuffed mostly with clothes and there were two big beds that had covered huge space. We sat down on the bed and I asked them curiously about the third name on the door.
The man said Yao Shi Kai is me, Ou Ye Zhen is my wife and Yao Ru Ping
is my little daughter who died in the earthquake. There was a one minute silence in the room and after a little while I asked him if they were comfortable in the makeshift house. ‘‘My family and I am very happy over here,’’ he said with a big smile on his face: a scene of gloom was quickly replaced by his gesture. ‘‘The government has helped us a lot. After the earthquake on May 12th, we shifted to the temporary shelter on May 29 and received Rs 300 Yuan from the government for the first three months. I have three children and one of my sons, who was unemployed, was given a job by the government. About his house, he said it was not completely destroyed and the construction work was going on, though it would take sometime because the damage of property in Sichuan province was extensive.
Before we headed off to the next place, the couple insisted us on eating some oranges and we could not leave the place without having them. Chinese people are very magnanimous and I wonder if this kind of breed exists anywhere in the world besides China. My hometown India is also known for its people’s cooperation but the approach of Chinese people speaks wonders; they would go out of way in helping out people.
My next stop was another family at Qing Jian Ren Jia. Chen Ying runs a parlor at the makeshift colony.
Her house was destroyed by the earthquake but it hardly makes any difference for her. Before the natural calamity she was running a parlor at Di Jiang Yu and now she is doing the same business t the makeshift colony. She received monetary help from the government in addition to the compensation for the house. ‘‘My house was damaged in the quake and the government is rebuilding it now. I also got 300 Yuan for the first three months after the quake and a big room for my parlor in addition to the two-room apartment here. I have no regrets and the China government is great,’’ she said. Chen Ying has a son and her husband is working in a factory.
Not very far from the place I saw an interior designing shop. I got into it and confronted another young lady.
Jiang Xiao Cui with her son is an interior designer. Fortunately, everyone in her family was safe but her house was completely destroyed by the quake. However, she has no worries at all. Her family-- husband, baby boy and Jiang-- received 200 Yuan extra compensation from the government for another two months in addition to the first three-month 900 Yuan because the extent of damage of her house had surpassed the limit set by the government. The Chinese Government gives extra compensation to those victims whose house is damaged beyond the 70 sq ft limit set by the government.
The optimism, enthusiasm, passion and remarkable pace to re-establishment among the people despite all odds speak volumes about China Government’s systematic management to weather crises.
Wenchuan earthquake split into adaptive leadership, diversity, futures and Networks.
In earthquake-hit Jiang Yan, the spirit of the people and their passion to move ahead in life exemplified the perfect example of the four themes of adaptive leadership, diversity, futures and networks.
When I visited the quake-hit family in Du Jiang Yan, I was stunned looking at the enthusiasm and passion of an elderly couple who had lost their little daughter in the May 12 earthquake. Their optimism about life and positive attitude towards the future of their children reflected China’s role as great emerging future of the country.
People from different color and caste live together in temporary houses, showcasing diversity among them. At a time of worst situation, they (victims of earthquake) started their businesses within the colony to make things available for other victims who had to otherwise go to the far away city to buy stuff. And today the colony looks like hundred-year old given the way people have adapted themselves to a new set up and the connection between the young and old to re-settlement reflects their networking skills.
When I visited the quake-hit family in Du Jiang Yan, I was stunned looking at the enthusiasm and passion of an elderly couple who had lost their little daughter in the May 12 earthquake. Their optimism about life and positive attitude towards the future of their children reflected China’s role as great emerging future of the country.
People from different color and caste live together in temporary houses, showcasing diversity among them. At a time of worst situation, they (victims of earthquake) started their businesses within the colony to make things available for other victims who had to otherwise go to the far away city to buy stuff. And today the colony looks like hundred-year old given the way people have adapted themselves to a new set up and the connection between the young and old to re-settlement reflects their networking skills.
Sichuan earthquake: Du Jiang Yan in making after Wenchuan natural disaster
On a foggy morning of November 18, 2008, we set off to Chengdu Bus Terminal for Wenchuan province, the epicenter of the deadly May 12 earthquake that killed at least 80,000 people and destroyed tens of thousands of houses. But to our disappointment we came to know no public transport goes to Wechuan since the earthquake has hit the area. Two of my Chinese friends Liu Xiao and Liu Pie Gang from Southwest Jiaotong University suggested another place relatively closer and which was badly affected by the natural calamity; Du Jiang Yan became our new destination.
As the bus started off, the chilly morning—coupled with thick smog which barely made visible bare branches of trees along the road-- didn’t give any impression that we were heading to a place where thousands of people died only a six months ago. But as the bus passed Chong Yi and inched closer to Du Jiang Yan, signs of earthquake started emerging. I saw some damaged houses with visible cracks but those were dominated by makeshift houses built by the China government for the victims of the earthquake.
The bus touched down into Du Jiang Yan and we got off: As we looked around the neighborhood it seemed a mix of ruined structures and newly constructed buildings. The building where we stopped by to have breakfast was rebuilt after being completely destroyed by the effect of natural calamity. A look around was enough to gauge the losses incurred by the people in terms of thousands of lives and property. A little ahead was even worse; several stretches of about half a kilometer were completely destroyed by the quake. One among them was the colony at Puyang Lu or Puyang Road .
As I entered one of the colonies in Puyang Lu, I saw the buildings---most of the structures had been dismantled for new buildings-- which were yet to be razed badly affected by the quake. One of the buildings, which housed a local company, gave the horrific look; at least one hundred workers of the company were buried in the building when the earthquake had struck.
As I was taking pictures of the building, somebody said ‘nehaav’, hello in Chinese, to me. I turned back to find out a good looking lady behind me. I slipped my camera into my pocket immediately thinking that the lady might be offended by me for picturing a building that killed so many people.
My name is Li Mingyong. Your friends told me that you want to know about earthquake, she said in Chinese. Before I could say anything, Liu Xiao and Liu Pie Gang—my Chinese friends-- translated it for me. She continued, I am the head of the company (picture above) that was destroyed in the quake. I saw dead bodies of my employees buried under the debris after the earthquake struck. Some of the bodies were not recovered even after several days of the calamity.
I asked her about the other families who were living in the houses; Li Mingyong said they are all, including her, living in temporary shelters provided by the China Government. And about her company, she said she is running it from a nearby building provided by the government.
Li Mingyong pointed towards construction workers who were razing the buildings and said the government was seriously considering replacement of the quake victims in their houses and huge number of workers has been employed in order to expedite construction work.
Several damaged buildings were dismantled paving the way for open space while construction work was going on in full swing to rebuilt structures on the plots.
After spending some time at the spot, I decided to visit some families. I asked Li Mingyong the address of the place where temporary shelters were built and my two Chinese friends and I headed for Qing Jian Ren Jia.
The neighborhood of the location was very calm and soft as if in a bid to sooth the haunted memories of the people in the wake of natural disaster; the backdrop was the perfect place of serenity and for healing the wounds. On the left side of the Qing Jian Ren Jia gate stood a policeman beside his office; the police are guarding the colony to avoid any untoward incident. As I walked past him and inched ahead into the lane, I saw a long line of white painted one-storeyed mud-and-brick houses.
An elderly woman was knitting a beautiful sweater outside her door; I asked my friends if she would agree to speak to me for a few minutes. I was a bit skeptical but the woman agreed; she in fact invited me to her home. As she opened the door, I saw three Chinese names written on the door. My friends read the names for me which I understood were the woman and her husband but I was confused about the third name. As I got into the room her husband was in there. The home was a big room divided into two parts.
The room was stuffed mostly with clothes and there were two big beds that had covered huge space. We sat down on the bed and I asked them curiously about the third name on the door.
The man said Yao Shi Kai is me, Ou Ye Zhen is my wife and Yao Ru Ping
is my little daughter who died in the earthquake. There was a one minute silence in the room and after a little while I asked him if they were comfortable in the makeshift house. ‘‘My family and I am very happy over here,’’ he said with a big smile on his face: a scene of gloom was quickly replaced by his gesture. ‘‘The government has helped us a lot. After the earthquake on May 12th, we shifted to the temporary shelter on May 29 and received Rs 300 Yuan from the government for the first three months. I have three children and one of my sons, who was unemployed, was given a job by the government. About his house, he said it was not completely destroyed and the construction work was going on, though it would take sometime because the damage of property in Sichuan province was extensive.
Before we headed off to the next place, the couple insisted us on eating some oranges and we could not leave the place without having them. Chinese people are very magnanimous and I wonder if this kind of breed exists anywhere in the world besides China. My hometown India is also known for its people’s cooperation but the approach of Chinese people speaks wonders; they would go out of way in helping out people.
My next stop was another family at Qing Jian Ren Jia. Chen Ying runs a parlor at the makeshift colony.
Her house was destroyed by the earthquake but it hardly makes any difference for her. Before the natural calamity she was running a parlor at Di Jiang Yu and now she is doing the same business t the makeshift colony. She received monetary help from the government in addition to the compensation for the house. ‘‘My house was damaged in the quake and the government is rebuilding it now. I also got 300 Yuan for the first three months after the quake and a big room for my parlor in addition to the two-room apartment here. I have no regrets and the China government is great,’’ she said. Chen Ying has a son and her husband is working in a factory.
Not very far from the place I saw an interior designing shop. I got into it and confronted another young lady.
Jiang Xiao Cui with her son is an interior designer. Fortunately, everyone in her family was safe but her house was completely destroyed by the quake. However, she has no worries at all. Her family-- husband, baby boy and Jiang-- received 200 Yuan extra compensation from the government for another two months in addition to the first three-month 900 Yuan because the extent of damage of her house had surpassed the limit set by the government. The Chinese Government gives extra compensation to those victims whose house is damaged beyond the 70 sq ft limit set by the government.
The optimism, enthusiasm, passion and remarkable pace to re-establishment among the people despite all odds speak volumes about China Government’s systematic management to weather crises.
As the bus started off, the chilly morning—coupled with thick smog which barely made visible bare branches of trees along the road-- didn’t give any impression that we were heading to a place where thousands of people died only a six months ago. But as the bus passed Chong Yi and inched closer to Du Jiang Yan, signs of earthquake started emerging. I saw some damaged houses with visible cracks but those were dominated by makeshift houses built by the China government for the victims of the earthquake.
The bus touched down into Du Jiang Yan and we got off: As we looked around the neighborhood it seemed a mix of ruined structures and newly constructed buildings. The building where we stopped by to have breakfast was rebuilt after being completely destroyed by the effect of natural calamity. A look around was enough to gauge the losses incurred by the people in terms of thousands of lives and property. A little ahead was even worse; several stretches of about half a kilometer were completely destroyed by the quake. One among them was the colony at Puyang Lu or Puyang Road .
As I entered one of the colonies in Puyang Lu, I saw the buildings---most of the structures had been dismantled for new buildings-- which were yet to be razed badly affected by the quake. One of the buildings, which housed a local company, gave the horrific look; at least one hundred workers of the company were buried in the building when the earthquake had struck.
As I was taking pictures of the building, somebody said ‘nehaav’, hello in Chinese, to me. I turned back to find out a good looking lady behind me. I slipped my camera into my pocket immediately thinking that the lady might be offended by me for picturing a building that killed so many people.
My name is Li Mingyong. Your friends told me that you want to know about earthquake, she said in Chinese. Before I could say anything, Liu Xiao and Liu Pie Gang—my Chinese friends-- translated it for me. She continued, I am the head of the company (picture above) that was destroyed in the quake. I saw dead bodies of my employees buried under the debris after the earthquake struck. Some of the bodies were not recovered even after several days of the calamity.
I asked her about the other families who were living in the houses; Li Mingyong said they are all, including her, living in temporary shelters provided by the China Government. And about her company, she said she is running it from a nearby building provided by the government.
Li Mingyong pointed towards construction workers who were razing the buildings and said the government was seriously considering replacement of the quake victims in their houses and huge number of workers has been employed in order to expedite construction work.
Several damaged buildings were dismantled paving the way for open space while construction work was going on in full swing to rebuilt structures on the plots.
After spending some time at the spot, I decided to visit some families. I asked Li Mingyong the address of the place where temporary shelters were built and my two Chinese friends and I headed for Qing Jian Ren Jia.
The neighborhood of the location was very calm and soft as if in a bid to sooth the haunted memories of the people in the wake of natural disaster; the backdrop was the perfect place of serenity and for healing the wounds. On the left side of the Qing Jian Ren Jia gate stood a policeman beside his office; the police are guarding the colony to avoid any untoward incident. As I walked past him and inched ahead into the lane, I saw a long line of white painted one-storeyed mud-and-brick houses.
An elderly woman was knitting a beautiful sweater outside her door; I asked my friends if she would agree to speak to me for a few minutes. I was a bit skeptical but the woman agreed; she in fact invited me to her home. As she opened the door, I saw three Chinese names written on the door. My friends read the names for me which I understood were the woman and her husband but I was confused about the third name. As I got into the room her husband was in there. The home was a big room divided into two parts.
The room was stuffed mostly with clothes and there were two big beds that had covered huge space. We sat down on the bed and I asked them curiously about the third name on the door.
The man said Yao Shi Kai is me, Ou Ye Zhen is my wife and Yao Ru Ping
is my little daughter who died in the earthquake. There was a one minute silence in the room and after a little while I asked him if they were comfortable in the makeshift house. ‘‘My family and I am very happy over here,’’ he said with a big smile on his face: a scene of gloom was quickly replaced by his gesture. ‘‘The government has helped us a lot. After the earthquake on May 12th, we shifted to the temporary shelter on May 29 and received Rs 300 Yuan from the government for the first three months. I have three children and one of my sons, who was unemployed, was given a job by the government. About his house, he said it was not completely destroyed and the construction work was going on, though it would take sometime because the damage of property in Sichuan province was extensive.
Before we headed off to the next place, the couple insisted us on eating some oranges and we could not leave the place without having them. Chinese people are very magnanimous and I wonder if this kind of breed exists anywhere in the world besides China. My hometown India is also known for its people’s cooperation but the approach of Chinese people speaks wonders; they would go out of way in helping out people.
My next stop was another family at Qing Jian Ren Jia. Chen Ying runs a parlor at the makeshift colony.
Her house was destroyed by the earthquake but it hardly makes any difference for her. Before the natural calamity she was running a parlor at Di Jiang Yu and now she is doing the same business t the makeshift colony. She received monetary help from the government in addition to the compensation for the house. ‘‘My house was damaged in the quake and the government is rebuilding it now. I also got 300 Yuan for the first three months after the quake and a big room for my parlor in addition to the two-room apartment here. I have no regrets and the China government is great,’’ she said. Chen Ying has a son and her husband is working in a factory.
Not very far from the place I saw an interior designing shop. I got into it and confronted another young lady.
Jiang Xiao Cui with her son is an interior designer. Fortunately, everyone in her family was safe but her house was completely destroyed by the quake. However, she has no worries at all. Her family-- husband, baby boy and Jiang-- received 200 Yuan extra compensation from the government for another two months in addition to the first three-month 900 Yuan because the extent of damage of her house had surpassed the limit set by the government. The Chinese Government gives extra compensation to those victims whose house is damaged beyond the 70 sq ft limit set by the government.
The optimism, enthusiasm, passion and remarkable pace to re-establishment among the people despite all odds speak volumes about China Government’s systematic management to weather crises.
A brief China recall in a blend of experiences and thoughts
By Huma Sheikh
China gives me a ‘home-like’ feeling
I AM HOME again was how Beijing looked like to me as I disembarked from the bus to the by lane leading towards hotel from the airport. Wide roads, people huddled in lanes, boys paired up on roadsides chatting and anxiously waiting for a quick glimpse of beautiful girls walking around all came alive as I landed in Beijing on November 6. The scene made it almost impossible for me to stay indoors even after my arrival at 10 pm from as far away place as Honolulu and the excitement headed me to a nearby restaurant.
A few of my friends also joined me and suddenly the jet lag faded away as the time set up in China suited me because it is only a few hours ahead of my home country India. Making our way to a restaurant we intended to have some snacks and coffee but the aroma in the room increased our appetite even if we had enough of food on the plane during 16 hours journey. The food was fantastic. I don’t eat pork and one of my friends who is from Hong Kong helped me order the food and also for the group before she headed off to the hotel. Another friend ordered fried rice and both of us decided to pack back some of it but it was so tasty that we had it all over there. We cleaned our plates and even wanted to have more.
On my way back, I traveled around to make sure I am in Beijing and not India but there was hardly any difference between the two. The next day we set off on a Beijing exploration mission. We were split into learning groups with some task to do in an effort to make ourselves aware about some places of significant importance as well as some commonly used activities and games and way of living in Beijing. The assignment was also measured on the basis of work and research each group had done and the winning team announced by the APLP staff was the one with the highest number of accurate answers.
Day two was a little bit academic. We (APLPeers G8) started off purchasing some tickets for our nine-day China GIST travel. I bought the tickets for my Scrambling Scribers team before we started off to discover Beijing. We--my learning group comprised five people, including me, and four of us were completely new to China-- had some outline to follow to acquire some points but for us exploring China was awesome. Although we were not the highest point takers, we were quite satisfied with what we did—we visited places as historic as Tiananmen Square, went to Russian Market, shopping malls and had food at a very good Chinese restaurant. The day culminated in meeting up with the staff at Tiananmen Square, which was followed up by dinner.
On Day three we toured to Beiwai to join participants from CFAU, BeiWai, Tsinghua, Beida and Renmin universities who delivered speeches as part of the ‘Joint Workshop on China and the Future’.
Day Four was quite exciting-- I visited Forbidden City with a guide provided for our group of six. We were together until we walked down half Forbidden City and disbursed in crowd. I lost sight of almost all group mates, including our guide, except Kamal who was with me taking pictures.
However, it was a blessing in disguise as both of us—Kamal and I—had a chance ride a rickshaw and bus all alone. The interesting part of our journey was how I managed to win an argument with a rickshaw puller even if I didn’t know Chinese.
We got onto a rickshaw from Forbidden City exit gate to subway, intending to take it to the hotel. The rickshaw puller, in an attempt to bluff us, after taking all the money stopped the rickshaw halfway and pretended his cycle tyre was broken. He called another rickshaw puller and something conspired between them in Chinese. As another rickshaw puller dropped us to some other unknown place and not subway, he asked for money, triggering an argument. Although the scene was weird as I justified our stand with gestures and some signs, the rickshaw puller had to give up finally. THE MOMENT WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF MY LIFE. I WILL ALWAYS CHERISH IT.
We had CCPIT meetings on November 10, which culminated in a grand dinner hosted by APLP alumni hosted by Zhao Zhenge and Lin Honghong (G2). And the final day in Beijing on November 11 before we left for China GIST on Nov 12, was devoted to Tsinghua University where Director of Brooklyn Institute gave presentation on China and its development and economy at John Thornton Leadership Center . The lecture was of great help to literate us more deeply about China before China GIST.
China gives me a ‘home-like’ feeling
I AM HOME again was how Beijing looked like to me as I disembarked from the bus to the by lane leading towards hotel from the airport. Wide roads, people huddled in lanes, boys paired up on roadsides chatting and anxiously waiting for a quick glimpse of beautiful girls walking around all came alive as I landed in Beijing on November 6. The scene made it almost impossible for me to stay indoors even after my arrival at 10 pm from as far away place as Honolulu and the excitement headed me to a nearby restaurant.
A few of my friends also joined me and suddenly the jet lag faded away as the time set up in China suited me because it is only a few hours ahead of my home country India. Making our way to a restaurant we intended to have some snacks and coffee but the aroma in the room increased our appetite even if we had enough of food on the plane during 16 hours journey. The food was fantastic. I don’t eat pork and one of my friends who is from Hong Kong helped me order the food and also for the group before she headed off to the hotel. Another friend ordered fried rice and both of us decided to pack back some of it but it was so tasty that we had it all over there. We cleaned our plates and even wanted to have more.
On my way back, I traveled around to make sure I am in Beijing and not India but there was hardly any difference between the two. The next day we set off on a Beijing exploration mission. We were split into learning groups with some task to do in an effort to make ourselves aware about some places of significant importance as well as some commonly used activities and games and way of living in Beijing. The assignment was also measured on the basis of work and research each group had done and the winning team announced by the APLP staff was the one with the highest number of accurate answers.
Day two was a little bit academic. We (APLPeers G8) started off purchasing some tickets for our nine-day China GIST travel. I bought the tickets for my Scrambling Scribers team before we started off to discover Beijing. We--my learning group comprised five people, including me, and four of us were completely new to China-- had some outline to follow to acquire some points but for us exploring China was awesome. Although we were not the highest point takers, we were quite satisfied with what we did—we visited places as historic as Tiananmen Square, went to Russian Market, shopping malls and had food at a very good Chinese restaurant. The day culminated in meeting up with the staff at Tiananmen Square, which was followed up by dinner.
On Day three we toured to Beiwai to join participants from CFAU, BeiWai, Tsinghua, Beida and Renmin universities who delivered speeches as part of the ‘Joint Workshop on China and the Future’.
Day Four was quite exciting-- I visited Forbidden City with a guide provided for our group of six. We were together until we walked down half Forbidden City and disbursed in crowd. I lost sight of almost all group mates, including our guide, except Kamal who was with me taking pictures.
However, it was a blessing in disguise as both of us—Kamal and I—had a chance ride a rickshaw and bus all alone. The interesting part of our journey was how I managed to win an argument with a rickshaw puller even if I didn’t know Chinese.
We got onto a rickshaw from Forbidden City exit gate to subway, intending to take it to the hotel. The rickshaw puller, in an attempt to bluff us, after taking all the money stopped the rickshaw halfway and pretended his cycle tyre was broken. He called another rickshaw puller and something conspired between them in Chinese. As another rickshaw puller dropped us to some other unknown place and not subway, he asked for money, triggering an argument. Although the scene was weird as I justified our stand with gestures and some signs, the rickshaw puller had to give up finally. THE MOMENT WAS THE MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT OF MY LIFE. I WILL ALWAYS CHERISH IT.
We had CCPIT meetings on November 10, which culminated in a grand dinner hosted by APLP alumni hosted by Zhao Zhenge and Lin Honghong (G2). And the final day in Beijing on November 11 before we left for China GIST on Nov 12, was devoted to Tsinghua University where Director of Brooklyn Institute gave presentation on China and its development and economy at John Thornton Leadership Center . The lecture was of great help to literate us more deeply about China before China GIST.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Barack Obama is a global hero - Commentary
Huma Sheikh
Issue date: 11/3/08 Section: Commentary
PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 1 Barack Hussein Obama has become a global superhero. His supporters' enthusiasm reflects the growing desire among the people for change in the US. But does it make any difference to the world? It indeed does; after all America is the super power and its government policies have an impact on world politics.
Barack Obama has been a populous global figure, unlike many Presidential candidates in the history of the US. His sizeable lead in the polls and unimaginable global support show the long-standing desire of the world to see an American leader who can be honored as a great global leader.
If globalization means anything, it means that election in the US has a global role. What happens at home doesn't necessarily stay at home. The current financial crisis that began with the collapse of financial institutions in the US has triggered market instability worldwide after stock prices plummeted, says Vannarith Chheang, a Cambodian doing Asia Pacific Leadership Program at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii.
Change is important to prevent uncertainties like the US economy crunch in the interdependent world. The world needs effective leaders to tackle complexities with potential global risks and I believe Barack Obama has the potential to make the world a better place.
APLP fellow Phatry Derek Pan says Cambodian-American refugees and other new Southeast Asians struggled when they first immigrated in the early 80s. But prosperity trickled in with Bill Clinton's policies in the 90s that favored minorities and the middle class. On a personal level, he received more financial assistance when he began his college education.
He says people like myself oppose war, because the truth is, his family never wanted to leave their country. So when George Bush decided to invade Iraq, it simply reminded them of our plight here and the struggle we endured.
Another APLP fellow Shawn P Hall, who is African-American, doesn't want to be classified unfairly on the basis of his vote to Obama who is also an African-American. ''For most of the people they feel it is automatic that I would support Obama since we are both African-American, nothing could be further from the truth! I shun anyone from voting based solely on race. For me it is about which candidate has the best vision for the country, and which candidate shares my hopes and views. The quality and efficiency Obama has shown in managing his campaign and his effectiveness in delivering message of change was remarkable.
Nevertheless, he is a little skeptical about what "Change" will encompass. There is a saying he once heard, "do not change for change's sake alone''. In this phrase is the understanding that we can change but possibly change into a worse condition. However, looking at the current state of affairs, I doubt there is much worse we can change into. With this said, he is willing to take a chance with Senator Obama, and cast his vote for Obama instead of Senator McCain, who historically has sided with President Bush over 90 per cent of the time. Sen. Obama's rhetoric addresses my concerns, however I would be less than honest if I didn't say I wish I had more time to examine him, or had some other choices. McCain and Obama are the only choices, he believes, so a relatively unknown and untested Obama seems the better of the two choices, says Shawn.
(Huma Sheikh is an Asia Pacific Leadership Program fellow at the East-West Center)
Issue date: 11/3/08 Section: Commentary
PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 1 Barack Hussein Obama has become a global superhero. His supporters' enthusiasm reflects the growing desire among the people for change in the US. But does it make any difference to the world? It indeed does; after all America is the super power and its government policies have an impact on world politics.
Barack Obama has been a populous global figure, unlike many Presidential candidates in the history of the US. His sizeable lead in the polls and unimaginable global support show the long-standing desire of the world to see an American leader who can be honored as a great global leader.
If globalization means anything, it means that election in the US has a global role. What happens at home doesn't necessarily stay at home. The current financial crisis that began with the collapse of financial institutions in the US has triggered market instability worldwide after stock prices plummeted, says Vannarith Chheang, a Cambodian doing Asia Pacific Leadership Program at the East-West Center at the University of Hawaii.
Change is important to prevent uncertainties like the US economy crunch in the interdependent world. The world needs effective leaders to tackle complexities with potential global risks and I believe Barack Obama has the potential to make the world a better place.
APLP fellow Phatry Derek Pan says Cambodian-American refugees and other new Southeast Asians struggled when they first immigrated in the early 80s. But prosperity trickled in with Bill Clinton's policies in the 90s that favored minorities and the middle class. On a personal level, he received more financial assistance when he began his college education.
He says people like myself oppose war, because the truth is, his family never wanted to leave their country. So when George Bush decided to invade Iraq, it simply reminded them of our plight here and the struggle we endured.
Another APLP fellow Shawn P Hall, who is African-American, doesn't want to be classified unfairly on the basis of his vote to Obama who is also an African-American. ''For most of the people they feel it is automatic that I would support Obama since we are both African-American, nothing could be further from the truth! I shun anyone from voting based solely on race. For me it is about which candidate has the best vision for the country, and which candidate shares my hopes and views. The quality and efficiency Obama has shown in managing his campaign and his effectiveness in delivering message of change was remarkable.
Nevertheless, he is a little skeptical about what "Change" will encompass. There is a saying he once heard, "do not change for change's sake alone''. In this phrase is the understanding that we can change but possibly change into a worse condition. However, looking at the current state of affairs, I doubt there is much worse we can change into. With this said, he is willing to take a chance with Senator Obama, and cast his vote for Obama instead of Senator McCain, who historically has sided with President Bush over 90 per cent of the time. Sen. Obama's rhetoric addresses my concerns, however I would be less than honest if I didn't say I wish I had more time to examine him, or had some other choices. McCain and Obama are the only choices, he believes, so a relatively unknown and untested Obama seems the better of the two choices, says Shawn.
(Huma Sheikh is an Asia Pacific Leadership Program fellow at the East-West Center)
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