English version is translated by UPI Asia: http://www.upiasiaonline.com/Politics/2008/05/16/a_real_voice_from_chinas_earthquake_zone/4374/

Chongqing, China � Li Hong, a young refugee from the earthquake-hit region of Sichuan province, managed to make his way to the home of a relative in Chongqing city two days after the quake. He had been staying with his aunt's family, which lost two members in the earthquake. Li had been unable to contact his father, who was working in far-off Guangdong province.
The first thing Li did after arriving in Chongqing was to go online, sending e-mails and logging into his instant messenger service to send out as much information as he knew about the earthquake. He said that many migrant workers who had gone to the south from Sichuan province were unable to contact their families in the disaster area, and were frantic for information.

Li waited at an Internet cafe for three hours, after agreeing to an interview with this reporter. His eyes were bloodshot, and the first words he had to say were shocking. Using a strong curse word, he added, "Look at these Chinese, they're so shameless!"

Li was furious that all the online reports and discussions about the stricken areas seemed to be nothing but propaganda. Almost all the headline stories in the official media described how hard the Communist Party and state leaders had been working to rescue people. Next came stories about the bravery of the People's Liberation Army and the armed police who were sent to the disaster areas. The Web site of China's largest and most used Internet service portal, Tencent, which has the biggest outreach to young people, posted "Long Live the PLA!" as its top headline.

(Editor's note: According to domestic Chinese journalists, the emotions of survivors have fluctuated from grief over lost loved ones to anger with the authorities. The media have been instructed by the authorities not to highlight victims' emotions in their reports.)

Li said he could not understand why the media painted such a superficial reality. He had lost contact with half his relatives and friends, and more victims were losing their lives every single hour. Over one-third of the victims were still buried underground, waiting to be rescued. However, concern for the victims was not the media focus. Mainstream news stories, manipulated by the authorities, were intended to arouse the people's gratitude, he said.

If he himself had not been one of the victims, he would have been touched by the media coverage, Li said. But the truth was that two days after the quake, many people were still buried and dying, while those who had been saved were not cared for. Most of them were hungry, he said. Li believed the government had no ability to take care of the survivors. If they asked the rescue teams for help, they were told, "You people are lucky to be alive; what are you asking for?"

Actually, he said, the rescue teams were unable to take care of either the living or the dead.

As for the strong sense of patriotism and nationalism displayed by Chinese citizens who were moved by the media reports, Li expressed surprise, disgust and indignation.

"Don't readers think it's strange that no victims are expressing their thanks?" he asked. He said the government was using its powerful state machinery to manage the feelings of the bigger group, China's 1.3 billion population, rather than those of the earthquake victims. As a matter of fact, most people in the country did not know the full situation in the stricken areas, as they got their information from the government.

For example, all of that day's newspapers and Internet news reports were sensationalizing the story of one policeman who, before leaving the area, knelt down and begged to be allowed to save one more person. That scene was so touching, but the Chinese forgot to ask why a policeman had to beg to save one more person? If he could save one more victim, couldn't the rest of the rescue team do the same? Did this scene really make sense?

It is not good for rescuers to become emotional, as everyone knows. But the people were collectively too moved to think of this. They forgot about the feelings of the disaster victims. In fact, on that same day, there were more than 50 parents and family members of those still buried under the rubble kneeling down and crying out for the victims to be saved. But that scene did not appear on China's official media.

Li Hong hoped to see more coverage of the people's suffering. Although big media reports about the 50,000 soldiers sent to the disaster areas received lots of praise from netizens, Li said that 50,000 soldiers were not enough even to deal with the more than 10,000 bodies. Furthermore, he pointed out, those young soldiers were fine at group activities but not good at searching through collapsed buildings to rescue people. They didn't even know how to start.

What enraged him very much was that, at the school where his aunt lost her daughter, the only two surviving students were actually kept for a moment within the debris in order for the state-run China Central Television to take their shots. Those pictures were then repeatedly broadcast. The TV skated over the fact that 300 students remained buried.

In addition to Li Hong, this reporter also interviewed several citizens in Chongqing, where the situation is stable. None of these citizens knew in detail about the stricken areas. Several commented that since Premier Wen Jiabao had gone there everything would be fine, and the people would come through it all eventually.

Such naive thinking appeared to be the outcome of official media reports, which blocked negative information while selectively praising the authorities for their rescue efforts.

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(Da Niaowang is a pen name for a Chinese journalist based in Beijing. This article is edited and translated by UPI Asia Online; the Chinese original can be found at http://news.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2008/05/200805150804.shtml �Copyright Da Niaowang.)