What is China going to show the world?

China is about to prove to the world how strong and advanced they are in just a few months through hosting the Olympics. However, the Sichuan earthquake has thrown the whole country into tremendous overdrive in dealing with this super disaster. It also shows the world that though China might be advanced enough to host an international event, when it comes to rural China, things are still pretty basic.

Photos I see from Hong Kong showed the 4-5 story high schools that collapsed in the earthquake were constructed with steel bars as thin as my thumb. The official who cried out for serious investigation of why such constructions were allowed, many suspect, was the one who received bribes and allowed those schools to be built in such a manner. Numerous school children were crushed by the fallen concrete, numerous are their parents' only child.

Sichuan is not the only place that such gross corruption takes place, there are many buildings built like "tofu", one shake and they will crumble. In fact, I suspect that they buildings that Dan is teaching and staying in right now (in southern China) could be one of those. While new and impressive constructions are sprouting up in new China, most people live in poorly built ones.

Some said there were all sorts of signs showing that the earthquake was imminent, could something be done? Could some villagers be warned, could the people practiced some earthquake drills?

With just 78 days to go before the Olympics, how is the world going to view China through the lens of this earthquake? What is China going to show the world?

On May 6, 2008, www.163.com reported that on April 26, 2008, around 7:00 in the morning, a pond in Hubei (a province to the east of Sichuan) with 80,000 cubic meters of water, suddenly showed swirls, villagers could hear loud rumbling sound. In less than 5 short hours, all of the 80,000 cubic meter water was gone, showing the black mud at the bottom of the pond, strangely, only a couple of big fish were found. Could this happen because there were movements in the ground, causing cracks at the bottom of the pond?