Dear American Friends:

On behalf of all the Chinese people including scholars and students in USA, We would like to thank you for your generous donation for Wenchuan earthquake victims and survivors in all kinds of fundraising activities/avenues and your continuous care, concern and contribution to earthquake relief in China.

At 14:28 local time on May 12th 2008, a deadly and strong earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale struck SW China, where the seismic epicenter, Wenchuan County was located. So far, this earthquake killed 69181, caused 17398 missing and 374008 injured, and left as many as 5 million homeless and the number is still increasing. Thousands of millions of survivors are calling for help and your donation is a timely response to their needs.

Thanks for your care and concern about the people in the disaster. With your generosity, we are able to make purchase of critical supplies such as food, water, clothing and shelter supplies for affected families and any longer-term recovery and reconstruction in the local areas. We are very grateful for you offering your hand to the people in desperate needs.

Once again, on behalf of all the survivors in Wenchuan earthquake, we would like to thank you for your very generous donation and support.

Sincerely,
TheNewVoice Editorial Board

Please don ‘t leave me – so glad to see you after the quake.

I am Spanda Po, Heeeee-Haaaaawwww!!!!!

Enjoy my sexy back.

My furry butt

Below is the excerpt of an article from The Independent, which discloses the secret negotiation of a treaty between US and Iraq.

“Under the terms of the new treaty, the Americans would retain the long-term use of more than 50 bases in Iraq. American negotiators are also demanding immunity from Iraqi law for US troops and contractors, and a free hand to carry out arrests and conduct military activities in Iraq without consulting the Baghdad government.”

“Mr Bush is determined to force the Iraqi government to sign the so-called “strategic alliance” without modifications, by the end of next month…The US is adamantly against the new security agreement being put to a referendum in Iraq, suspecting that it would be voted down.”

For Americans, this is a great deal–with the soaring gas price, who cares about the benefits of Iraqis? Yet, to all the self-righteous, (American) patriotic democracy chasers out there, next time, think of the imposition of the unequal treaty before you preach or criticise.

If losing sovereignty, dignity, independence and even the right of being safe and happy is the cost of becoming a ‘democratic country’, or a democratic COLONY, I don’t see how Saddam or Hitler can be labeled as worse–after all, it’s all about the law of the jungle.

Never heard of it? How about dragon boat festival. It is a Chinese traditional festival. The date is May 5 of the lunar calendar. For this year, it’s tomorrow.

The origin of the festival is still a myth. The widely accepted story is that it commemorates the great ancient poet Quyuan (340 BC - 278 BC), who committed suicide in the miluo river after his country was conquered. Here is a more detailed description on wiki. To my understanding, it is also an important date for ancient people to get ready for the summer–the first season harvest is over, flood is coming, so are diseases，snakes and bugs. There are a lot of activities people do for this festival. They are a combination of celebration, rituals of warding off evil and practice to prevent disease.

1.The most popular activity, is NOT dargon boat racing. Eating Zongzi, rice balls wrapped with leaves, is what most people do.

2. Sweet flag (changpu) and mugwort (aicao）are hanged, usually by the window or behind the door. Some parents use the herbs to bath young children. Later in summer, they can be burnt as mosquito repellent. Where I came from, farmers still keep the tradition of picking herbs in the mountain prior to the day and trade them in the morning of the festival.

3. Of course, the dragon boat race, popular for people live near the water.

4, Some people may also eat red-yolk egg (salted duck egg) or drink realgar wine. The realgar wine is also used to prevent and treat snake bite.

5.Some people wear colorful sachets filed with scented herbs. A less practiced tradition is to tie five-color （white, blue, black, red and yellow）threads on Children’s wrists, ankles and neck–hoping the power of the five colors to keep snakes, scorpions and other danger away from kids.

6. People hang pictures of Zhongkui, a traditional guardian figure to ward off demons and evil.

Thanks, Tom Megalis. I don’t think more comments are necessary. Just cross your fingers and enjoy.

[Notel] All contents are privileged by original authors and owners from Internet. Illustrations and the text are translated by the editor.

China (Wolong) Giant Panda Protection Research Center islated in the center of the seismic zone. For 30 hours after the strike of this catastrophic earthquake, communication couldn’t be established between the center and the outside. During this time, the staff were holding their positions, promptly transferring the giant pandas to safe places even the center had lost all contact with the outside. Giant Pandas were scared by the quake, crouching into a fuzzy ball, and some refused to eat. The staff treated the pandas like children, pacifying them, preparing food as usual even under such difficult circumstances. In order to save the pandas, some staff members were injured. Stranded foreign tourists and researchers were taken care of and no one was injured.

Let all of us lend our hand to contribute to the protection of giant pandas and show our respect to the staff who protect the lovely pandas.

Some of the giant pandas were relocated from Sichuan Provice to Beijing, Zhejiang and Ya’an.

So far there is no death report of giant pandas. But three of them are missing and nowhere to find.

[Notel] All contents are privileged by original authors and owners from Internet. Illustrations and the text are translated by the editor.

In this catastrophic earthquake, not only a lot of people died or got handicapped, severely injured, quite a few pandas became homeless, scared and ran away from the Giant Panda Breeding Base to escape from the quake. Here we show you two videos, one for the panda babies playing around in the Giant Panda Infant School before the earthquake. The other is a collection of Panda pictures during and after the earthquake.

(WenChuan Sichuan Earthquake)Panda Infant School Before

Panda lost their home in the earthquake Wolong

Here are some more pictures with English illustrations. Enjoy!

While most people criticized Sharon Stone’s association between karma and China’s earthquake, I saw few are trying to help her to get away by quoting her last few sentences:

Then I got a letter from the Tibetan Foundation, and they wanted to go and be helpful. And that made my cry. And they asked me if I’d write a quote for that and I said I would. That was a big lesson to me, that sometimes you have to learn to put you head down to be at service even to the people who aren’t nice to you. That’s a big lesson for me.

Some say that the above comment shows her change of thoughts and she no longer views the earth quake as “karma”. Besides, she promised to help.

Actually this part of her interview infuriates me most. It has to be pointed out that that she never changed her “earthquake is karma” train of thought here. Her ‘big lesson’–help people even if they treat you badly, still points finger at the earthquake victims–you are GUILTY, but I am going to help anyway. I may eventually dismiss the karma comment as coldblooded nonsense, but I can’t stand her scorn toward the victims and her arrogance in the name of charity . She slaps people in the face, throws couple of bucks (maybe only in the plan), and complacently expects APPRECIATION. It disgusts me.

Who knows what she was thinking when she did other charity work? Maybe ‘AIDS fagot, enjoy your karma’?

When asked about the Sichuan earthquake in the Cannes Film Festival, the actress responded delightfully, “Well, you know, it was very interesting…I am unhappy about the way Chinese are treating the Tibetans… Then all this earthquake,all this stuff happened, I thought, is that Karma? When you are not nice, the bad things happen to you.”

Apparently, Ms. Stone shares similar opinion with Falun Gong practitioners and the Westboro Baptist Church——the lives of more than 60,000 people claimed by the earthquake, including many of her beloved ‘Tibetans’ and thousands of children, are all deserved to die, because she is not happy about the Chinese government’s policy. I guess the same thing goes for people died in the tsunami, 9/11, Katrina, and Myanmar cyclone——well, God and Bin Laden don’t like whatever your government did, so go to hell.

There is no need to protest the hypocrisy of a brainless Hollywood porn star or those human rights activists, as this is what they always do. Ten seconds ago she was still preaching “I don’t think anyone should be unkind to anyone else”, then there came this malicious curse to ordinary people she doesn’t even know——face your karma, rot in hell! Where is the human rights now? Where is the “compassion”? And by the way, where is Dalai Lama’s effort to help those “suffered”——a lot of them are Tibetans, living in the great Tibetan area he always wants to ‘free’？Is ‘karma ‘ all he can teach? Is it the Karma for people who are still worshiping him?

The worst and most shameless part yet to come. “…sometimes you have to learn to put your head down to be of service, even for people who are not nice to you…” My fellow Chinese, my parents and friends who are still suffering in Sichuan, can you feel the mercy and grace from Her Holiness Sharon Stone? She is willing to lower her noble head, forgive and pity you low life sinners. How lucky you are and how gracious she is! She must be a true princess!

Reference: USA Today’s headline news for today: “Iraqi forces load up on U.S. arms“.

The Oil-for-Food Program was implemented in Iraq by the U.N. since 1995, until 2003;
The Oil-for-Firearm Program, although not officially named, was implemented in Iraq by the U.S. since 2003.

The Oil-for-Food Program was introduced by President Clinton, after  his predecessor, President Bush, destroyed Iraq’s economy;
The Oil-for-Firearm Program was introduced by President Bush, after he himself, President Bush, destroyed Iraq’s economy again.

Under the Oil-for-Food Program, shipping a pen to Iraq was reviewed in a process that typically took about six months;
Under the Oil-for-Firearm Program, shipping $1.6 billion worth of M16’s to Iraq was completed in 2007.

Under the Oil-for-Food Program, Iraq got food and appliances from different countries;
Under the Oil-for-Firearm Program, Iraq gets 85% of the weapons from U.S. only.

The Oil-for-Food Program helped keeping Saddam Hussein in post, critics say;
The Oil-for-Firearm Program, with tragedies like this happening almost every week, is doomed to backfire someday, a critic (that would be me) says.

May 17th - When the tragedy of Sichuan earthquake saddens millions of people all around the globe, Falun Gong New York branch held a party in Flushing, NY this afternoon to celebrate the hit to China - Chinese people and government alike. Featured with balloons, music, speeches, and posters that read “Bad Karma for China”, the event was apparently intended to be joyful, but it quickly got frowned upon. Local residents doing weekend shopping were angered by the farce. They spontaneously gathered around the block and started protesting the event. “NYPD didn’t allow us (to gather) at first, because those (Falun Gong) scums had got an approved permit. But eventually they just let us get by. A cop even gave us a thumb up.”, a person witnessed the event said.

The Sichuan earthquake is the biggest natural disaster in 30 years in China, and has taken at least 29,000 lives. The final death toll is estimated at more than 50,000. Chinese people are deeply concerned by this disaster, while the government is making unprecedented effort to send relief force.

Falun Gong is a semi-religious group that got its principles from Buddhism and ancient Chinese qigong. Chinese government announced it a cult and banned it in 1999. Falun Gong has since headquartered in the U.S. and got financial support from the U.S. National Endowment for Democracy, an extension fund of CIA. Third-party view found Falun Gong “includes rejection of science and promise of supernatural powers” and “a movement which does not accept criticism”.

The tragedies, the sacrifices, the help, the ones in need.

Zhang Guanrong is trying to clean her husband’s body. Tan Qianqiu, a middle school teacher, saved four of his students by sheltering them between a desk and himself. He did not survive.

Mama, it’s dark and cold here.

Zhang Jiwan, 11, lived in the remote mountainous region near the epicenter. Before he was rescued, he walked for 12 hours straight with his 3 year old sister on his back.

The crying mother is trying to take a photo off an exhibiting board. It’s the most recent and the last picture of her son Wang Gongliang, a third-grader from Qushan Primary School who died in the earthquake. The photo was put there for his excellent academic achievement.

May 14, Qushan Primary school, Beichuan. Many children were trapped in the debris. Rescuers could hear them crying and begging for help, or even see them. But the building was collapsed into a structure that couldn’t be cleared up by hands or simple tools. Heavy equipments were required but unavailable because the roads to the city was blocked. The rescuers could do nothing but staying with the children and watching them dying. They felt so helpless and hopeless yet had to restrain themselves to comfort the children. Some couldn’t bear the pressure, and ran far away from the debris to cry.

By May 16, the roads were through and the equipments arrived. It was too late for more than 600 students and teachers in the school. Only a dozen survived.

“My dearest baby, if you could survive, remember that I love you.”

These are the last words from the four-month old baby’s mother. She left the text message on her cellphone. When her cold body was found, she was in a kneel position, with her arms stretched out to shelter the baby, who was sound asleep under her without a scratch.

A college girl successfully helped the Chinese air force to send relief effort, by posting on the Internet, Chinese news reported on May15th, 3 days after the magnitude 7.9 earthquake in Wenchuan County.
The girl, a student at Culinary Institute of Sichuan, is originally from Wenchuan. After knowing all roads to Wenchuan had been cut off by the earthquake and landslide that followed, and rescuing effort had major trouble to reach the epicenter by air due to the mountainous landscape of this valley county, she realized that a construction field near her village was probably a good location for helicopter landing. Trying to help, she posted this information online and included her contact information on May 15th around 10AM. Her post was quickly transferred to all major Chinese forums. Hours later the girl received a phone call from the emergency headquarter, asking for more detailed description. By 4PM the headquarter had confirmed the location would be used for landing.

After the earthquake hit Sichuan, Chinese Internet users have shown immense concern over the life loss and rescue work. Calling for donations, self-organizing volunteer groups, spreading information, suggesting rescuing approaches, all web portals and forums have been flooded with earthquake related articles and posts. A lot of - if not most - bloggers turned to focus on the earthquake as well. Most users gave positive remark to the government’s quick response.

Sichuan, the province in mountains, is famous for its difficult roads. After the quake made transportation to some places impossible, helicopter became the only choice for the rescue force. However, China does not have enough of them, especially heavier ones. The central government had issued an emergency plan to temporarily seize some business owned copters. Despite China’s repetitive requests, U.S. government still maintains a ban on exportation of heavy helicopters, a common tool for disaster relief, to China.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/05/12/world/05132008_CHINA_MAP.html

1. Chinese Consulate at Chicago: http://www.chinaconsulatechicago.org/eng/xw/t434219.htm
2. Chinese red cross (*): http://www.redcross.org.cn/ or http://202.108.59.10/english/donate.htm
3. Hong Kong Red Cross (*): https://www.redcross.org.hk/donation/user_donation.asp?langId=1
4. Mercy Corps (*): http://www.mercycorps.org/chinaearthquake/?source=1062
5. International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)  (*): http://donate.ifrc.org/?navid=02_02
6. American Red Cross (*): http://www.redcross.org/news/in/profiles/Intl_profile_ChinaEarthquake.html

1. NPR: Dujiangyan Parents’ Search for Child (’Mom is coming for you’)http://www.npr.org/blogs/chengdu/2008/05/we_found_fu_guanyu_and.html
2. CNN: China’s Earthquake Victims ‘Eat Bitterness http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/14/china.vause/index.html
3. ABC: ‘Today, We Are All Sichuan People’ (China Rushes to Help Its Own http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4851881&page=1
4. ABC: Remarkable Rescues as Quake Death Toll Rises http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4850786