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Sichuan Earthquake

God, where are you?

The world has broken and

I am surrounded by death,

It could have been me

And I am so ashamed

I’m here when young lives

They were lives once

Are lying in the broken world

Still like eggs in the market

When snow fills the roof

Bringing it to the ground

Burma Flood

Gods upstairs fighting

crashing and throwing

buckets of water

banging the pails

shaking trees like

rice in a winnow bowl

then the world filled with water

houses drowned and we ran

without hills to help us

no Gods put hills here

our houses were too low

so my daughter drowned

my wife was swept away

she didn’t come back

I am waiting for

government gods in Yangon

to undo the work

of the gods upstairs

but they have not come

my neighbour has the

bad shit another flood

and her body will be

a dry husk of rice

to be planted

never to grow again

This week I watched with mounting horror as the news of the terrible earthquake in Sichuan province of China became worse and worse. Today the floodgates of my heart overflowed when I received news that three of my students have lost friends or relatives in it and that others are waiting anxiously for news of loved ones in the area. Another girl used to impress me with her dedicated participation in an organization of student volunteers who go to poorer areas to help villagers. Today I learned that she was helping a year ago in one of the schools that collapsed and that the village she went to stay in for a week or more has been totally destroyed. I can’t imagine how you feel Christina. Your heart must be full of sorrow and you must be searching for reasons in your mind. Me too. I don’t know why such things happen.

My friend Carole is teaching my classes and that’s how I know about my students’ grief. Carole has been doing the only thing possible at times like these, opening her heart and her arms to comfort her students. I wish I were there to do the same. She cries with them and so do I. Carole sent me a link to a site with lots of tragic photos of scenes in the earthquake zone, including the horror of dead children in the ruins of their schools. Why look at such things? Because to see these made it real to me and I wept uncontrollably, as we all should.

The Chinese government has responded quickly and efficiently, pouring troops into the area to save who can be saved. The photos also illustrate their excellent effort. Well done China.

Let us not forget the people of the Delta area in Burma (Myanmar) whose government has obstructed international efforts to help and perhaps even taken possession of aid supplies without deploying them to the devastated areas. Now the one and a half million people affected by the flood are in danger of epidemics of diseases that flourish in the conditions left by the cyclone, of polluted water and the rise in populations of disease carrying insects. With almost all crops destroyed by the torrential rain and flooding they need food to be given to them and their government is obstructing its delivery. There is a real chance of many thousands more dying for these reasons.

I thought I had finished writing critical appraising articles about China but there is one thing I rediscovered amongst my notes today that I will write because it holds an important caution for tourist thinking of buying electronic goods there and to any young student of mine who might one day think of starting a business in selling electronic goods. Don’t do it this way guys. It is really well known that one should never handle electronic circuits with uncovered hands or fingers. Those circuits are etched so finely that just a trace of oil from the hands can destroy the circuit or just a tiny spark of static electricity can wipe portions of memory, again rendering the circuit useless.

In Wuhan I had two experiences of witnessing shop assistants demonstrating ignorance or blithe disregard of those two essential pieces of knowledge. The first was when I went to buy an auxiliary hard drive for my computer. It was one of those little ones that fit in a small case and connect to the computer through a USB port. The drive came separately from the case and had to be fitted in and the sales assistant knew it was good service for him to put them together for me. I watched horrified as he put his hands all over the circuits on the drive and I had to complain to his boss. Fortunately the boss knew some English and together with my rudimentary Chinese we soon understood each other and he replaced the drive with another, and took great care not to handle the sensitive parts.

Not long after that I went looking to an electronic sales centre for additional RAM for my laptop and rejected stall after stall as I looked at memory sticks lying exposed on the counters and assistants handling the memory sticks with their fingers and ensuring that they would not last long. At last I was relieved to find a shop staffed by a person who obviously knew his work and handled each electronic product carefully by its edges, avoiding contact with the vulnerable circuits.

To Westerners looking forward to shopping in China I tell you that many Chinese shopkeepers do not know much at all about the products they sell. Their job is to sell and to do that they memorise the blurb on the packages and the manufacturers leaflets. They have little understanding of the functions of devices they have in stock and if it is not in their stock they will never have heard of it. The concept of keeping up with the literature has never entered their minds and is certainly not encouraged by the shop bosses. Rule through keeping the peasants ignorant was a common power ploy in Chinese history and perhaps most bosses use it to this day. This disadvantages any customer who wants real information also,of course.

After a few years of experiences of shopping in this kind of environment I found it almost exhilarating when I discovered a shop assistant who had knowledge of his or her product or even the stock she carried, without having to consult senior staff or a book. I remember one charming girl in a cellphone shop who was able to answer questions I put to her and I took two friends there to buy their phones. It was appropriate and a pleasure to praise her for her knowledge and tell her she was exceptional as a shop assistant because of it.

To my Chinese friends, if you are ever in the position of selling make it one of your interests in life to know your field. Find out everything about the rival products and be able to tell the customer about new models that are arriving next week or even in six months time. Then also get to know the products so well you can tell the customers the advantage of one over the other and, with cellphones, what services they can connect to, who will provide the services and at what cost. If you are clear, informed and honest and want the customer’s satisfaction instead of a one time profit you will get repeat business. This stuff is so rare in China, well, Wuhan at least, that you will soon rise above your competitors.

It was Wednesday morning and Wuhan airport had been closed for three days by the snow. The media were calling it a snow disaster for Wuhan and people were dying as flimsy roofs were collapsing, built without permit and with no inkling that there would ever be snow like this in Wuhan. Transport routes were cut and fruit and vegetables were not arriving for market. it was this Wednesday that I had chosen for my departure. BMW called the airport and the early news was good. It was open. My friend Michael, who was to have arrived in Wuhan on Sunday, was amazed at my luck.

BMW and I lugged my cases downstairs and along the central driveway of the estate to hail a cab. About half an hour later, fingers freezing and painful we at last found an unoccupied taxi and drove across to Wuhan to be greeted by our friends at the Hangda company. The journey had taken about forty minutes more than usual so by the time they fed us a farewell feast it was time to go to the airport. With their usual generosity they had provided a company car and driver so I was at Tian He Fei Ji Chang at just the right time. I was soon waiting for the gate to open and the runway remained clear. My flight to Korea, where I would transfer to an Australian bound aeroplane, left exactly on time.

The staff were excellent, courteous and attentive on both flights. There was a momentary freezing blast through a gap in the sheltered walkway to the terminal but I had little need of the thermal underwear and heavy Malboro jacket I had worn. After the flight to Australia was aloft and cruising I went to the airport loo and shed the thermals. The temperature was warmish even then, but not too bad.

The journey was as usual with airplane journeys, somewhat boring, low stimulus. My companion was a young Brisbane man who had just been on tour in Europe and was constantly coughing. It sounded pretty nasty and he assured me everyone on his bus tour had succumbed to it. I determined not to allow it to conquer me.

I didn’t sleep a wink and had mild discomfort with my breathing at times, but sipping various drinks kept a dry mouth symptom under control and I consider I did well. We landed in Brisbane at 6.10 a.m.

The whole trip was routine, from -7 degrees in Wuhan to about 23 degrees in Brisbane at a time of year that is often a very unpleasant 30+. There was a small time dissonance about when I was expected by my family but by the time I had converted my cash and bought a phone simcard Peter, my son, arrived to get me. he saved me the problem of trying to haul forty-something kilograms of luggage up a central city station staircase and we were soon in his car on the way home. An hour or two of winding down and chat and I went to sleep for the first time in about thirty hours.

Just before I decided to leave China it began to snow. As I prepared myself psychologically and logistically the temperature descended and it became very difficult for me to leave the house as the cold air entering my lungs made my symptoms immediately worse. The day of departure came nearer and I slowly made sense of my belongings and explored how to arrange them and have them transferred home. BMW gradually focussed on my situation and in the end made all the difference between my bringing the majority of my treasures to Australia or having to leave them behind. In four years I had a nice little collection of paintings, ornaments, and craft items as well as various books and other papers that will help me never to forget the Middle Kingdom.

I had collected various friends too, people who had made my stay in China easier, each in their own way. They are the people who helped me retain my faith in the moral core of China, people who are as much against the opportunists, exploiters, cheats and thieves who darken that great country’s character and give her a deservedly bad reputation throughout the world. I met some of the people who see clearly through all of that and want it changed if they ever get the power to do it. I salute you, my wonderful friends and though I was not able to contact all of you I am sure you know if you are one of the ones I am talking about or if you are one of the others. Don’t be too humble, your humility is one of the ways in which you are better than we brash arrogant Westerners. My friends, those of true spirit, will be treasured in my heart. I hope you keep in touch with me and I will try to keep a habit of contacting you too.

As the snow fell each day I spent time remembering those true friends and organizing those material aids to memory. I gained some control over the symptoms that sent me home though I was unable to overcome them completely. When the day came for departure I was ready.