|
Internet
Earthquake gives Beijing a wobblyPosted by Jeremy Goldkorn, July 4, 2006 7:06 PM
Today at lunchtime, an earthquake gave the office workers of Beijing a little wobble, although apparently nobody at ground level noticed the ground moving beneath their feet. A few hours later, Xinhua released this report -- the English and Chinese versions came out simultaneously:
An earthquake measuring 5.1 degrees on the Richter scale jolted a county in north China's Hebei Province at 11:56 a.m. (Beijing Time) Tuesday, according to the State Seismological Bureau (SSB). Coming a few days after the proposal of a an absurd law that could result in fines for news media that report "sudden" news items without approval (see Danwei story: Draft bill: Breaking news stories to be illegal), this earthquake provoked a storm of mobile phone text messages and MSN conversations amongst Chinese media circles. The Big One would hit Beijing at 2pm, said one rumor, later revised to 5 pm, and then 7 pm, as the rumored Big One stubbornly refused to arrive. Which made clear a point about the recent proposed law that threatens to fine news media for reporting 'unauthorized' stories about breaking events: The function of news media during a time of emergency is to gather as many facts as possible and present a version of the truth that is better researched than casual text messages. Any law that hinders the process of sorting the facts from the rumors is a bad law. The image reproduced above is taken from Xujin's blog post: it's a map made from Google Earth that shows the distance from Beijing to the earthquake's epicenter. Links and Sources
|
Partner Links
Jobs in China
Recent Comments
affordabe on
Blogspot unblocked, but Blogger is blocked
Adam J. Sc on
Snow in Beijing
Peter Kauf on
Bound feet in China
lost in tr on
Shanzhai National Day parade
China Media Timeline
Major media events over the last three decades
Danwei Model Workers
![]() Recommended blogs and new media
Books on China
Xujun Eberlein's Apologies Forthcoming: Hong Kong's Blacksmith Books has published a short story collection by Xujun Eberlein.
Princess Der Ling: Two Years in the Forbidden City: Two years in the Forbidden City is largely a reminiscence of the minutiae of life for one of history's most powerful women, by one of her court attendants, a Manchu noble's daughter by the name of Der Ling.
Carl Crow's The Long Road Back to China: In 1939 Carl Crow - an American journalist, advertising executive and author who had lived in Shanghai for 25 years until forced out by the Japanese - travelled up the Burma Road from Rangoon to Chongqing on assignment for Liberty magazine - 'the most interesting assignment I have ever been given'.
Front Page of the Day
A different newspaper every weekday
From the Vault
Classic Danwei posts
+ New Weekly: Do Chinese kids know anything about traditonal Chinese culture? (2004.06): Q: Do you know what China's four great inventions are? Paper, printing, the compass and gunpowder 49.3% know all four, 37.3% get one or more wrong, 13.3% don't know at all (2004.06.12) + The horrors of SMS messaging (2007.09): Naraka 19 (地狱第19层), based on the Cai Jun (蔡骏) novel, gets neutered by SARFT. + China's illegal yellow press (2005.05): On the left is the front page of 'Military News', a newspaper without masthead, contact phone number or any kind of publication licence (required by Chinese law). The paper was purchased on the Beijing subway for two yuan, which is relatively expensive, as most of the city's daily newspapers cost only half a yuan.
Danwei Archives
Danwei Feeds
Via Feedsky
or Feedburner |





Comments on Earthquake gives Beijing a wobbly
All the authorities are trying to do is stopping damaging rumour going into print - I don't think they need to worry. I've had 5 readers at my blog today (apart from the 25 moderator visits, the 7 bored phone company call centre staff visits, the 25hrs a day 8 days a week intel monitoring and a vicious loon from N.Z. - nobody that matters has time for the goldfish tank of the internet..