Hello, everyone here! On May 12th, a dastrous earthquake hit Sichuan, China. Many people there lost lives, families, homes..... Please help them with your donations and your kindness will be remebered.
Thanks.
Augustus

Following contents are from http://www.cctv.com/english/20080514/102783.shtml
China Red Cross: Now! Donation for earthquake in Sichuan
WATCH VIDEO
Source: CCTV.com | 05-14-2008 10:05
Special Report:   Strong quake jolts SW China

The Red Cross hotline number is +86-10-65139999 & +86-10-64027620


Cash Donations: Payment by mail

Red Cross Society of China

Add: 8,Beixinqiao San Tiao Dongcheng District Beijing 100007 China

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Cash Donations: Money Transfer

RMB Account:

Bank: Industrial and Commercial Bank of China,DongSiNan Branch,Beijing

Acct.Number: 0200001009014413252

Acct Name: Red Cross Society of China

Address: No.147 Dongsi South St.

Beijing, China

Zip Code: 100010

Swift Code: ICBKCNBJBJM

USD Account:

Bank: China CITIC Bank Beijing Jiuxianqiao Sub-Branch

Acct.Number: 7112111482600000209

Acct Name: Red Cross Society of China

Address: C&W Tower. No.14,

Jiuxianqiao Street, Chaoyang District，

Beijing, China

Zip Code: 100016

Swift Code：CIBKCNBJ100

TEL:86-10-64319780

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Cash Donations: In-person Donations

Please send money directly to Red Cross Society of China or any of its branches, and provide them with your address.

Print the donor's name and address clearly so a receipt can be mailed to you.

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In-Kind Donations

Please send items directly to a local Red Cross branch or to a Red Cross in a disaster-affected area.


 

Editor:Du Xiaodan

Why should I donate money to a super-power Great Republic of Fantastic Development ?
First, those propaganda officers insulted us about how China will crush the rest of the world with their greatness.
I understand that this is a case of humanitarian compassion and I don't mean to sound cruel, but I didn't donate zilch when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I did donate some money for Red Cross though, when that Tsunami hit the South-East Asia, 2 years ago.

Besides, the Chinese government is damn rich. Let them sell some of those few trillion $ U.S. treasury bills.

I am a people live in ChenDu Sichuan China. lots of people died in the earthquake. But I see the people helping each other to out of danger. I must say thanks form my deep heart to all the people who help or support us in the Disaster.

I donated today to the Chinese Earthquake Appeal at the bank I bank with. You always wonder whether the money you donate goes to where it should, but donating to well known organisations probably gives you greater peace of mind.

I must say that I feel more confident donating to China than Burma. At least China is open about it and reasonably transparent. The neglectful way the Burmese government has acted towards its own people has been absolutely disgraceful.

The Chinese death toll is expected to go way past 50,000. Absolutely horrific. It is hard to comprehend numbers of that magnitude. 

Have you really visited China, Stephen?

And if you have, how on earth can you have concluded that it's still a 'communist dictatorship' rather than basically pretty capitalist, these days?

Check out my pictures of where I live on the 'why I won't move to China' thread.  Not everywhere is a 'trash dump'

By the way, how is a country meant to develop without going industrial first? 

I am here out of choice.  I come from somewhere that many people risk their lives to get to (the UK) and will be going back there this summer for a couple of years - but I know in many ways I will miss China.  It does have its negatives, but your representation is also false.  I don't earn a huge sum of money out here, but I do like the simplicity of living here.

However, I like the way you have chosen a picture of a really scabby area as 'representative'.

Here's where I reside.







btw.  My friend went back to the UK with his wife about 3 years go.  They have since come back to China as they were finding it too hard to afford the cost of living in Britain.

By the way.  About political freedoms - this is true.  But I also think you'll find that the scope for criticism of the government is wider than you might think.  You just have to be clever about the way you do it.  There are articles even on China Daily which raise many issues such as those you mention, they just do it subtly.

As to independence/separatist movements - what about Waco? Wounded Knee? The Indian uprising in the 70s? And in the UK... many Indians were imprisoned on the Andaman Islands just for demanding independence.  The Maumau were also brutally put down. 

When you think about what China was like 30 years ago, where it is now is incredible.  It's improving all the time, and people seem to feel pretty good about that.  In the UK, there's a constant negativity.  "The country's going to the dogs", people always seem to believe things are getting worse.  In China it's the opposite.

I don't see how you could describe Beijing as like a giant rubbish dump.  Seriously, from when I visited, it looked really modern and comparable with a western city.

Hold post for link edits.  Trying to see if this will make it by the spam filter.

You complain that my picture of a filthy Chinese city isn't representative.  I think it is and here's why:







Chinese pollution is rampant.  It's so filthy that it is now spreading to other nations, and across continents!

Nearly every Chinese national that works for my company wants to leave there and stay in the United States.  Invariably, they state that they enjoy American freedoms.  China is still the horrible, repressive, brutal dictatorship that it was when it masacred the democracy demonstrates.  Two years ago it massacred men, women and children in Uighur villages for the audacity of practicing religion and objecting the the brutality of the government in imprisoning their leaders without trials.

You can try to make moral equivalencies with other countries, but it falls way short.

In America, I'm free to criticize the government.  In China, you are not.
In America, I'm free to practice religion.  In China, you are not.
In America, I'm free to listent to whatever media I chose.  In China, the government controls all media.
In America, I'm free to associate with whomever I chose.  In China, you are not.
In America, I'm free to vote for my government.  In China, the government is imposed upon you by force.
In America, I'm free to engage in business without undue government burden.  In China, the government controls everything.
In America, I don't have to live in filth and pollution.  In China, you breath filth and pollution everyday.

You can try to rationalize your government's brutal, totalitarian practices all you want.  You still fail.