50,000  5/16/2008 6:36:00 PM link
It looks like the death toll of the China earthquake could reach 50,000. That's an enormous number. There are so many people still missing or buried in the rubble. Prime Minister Wen has been visiting the sites trying to show the country that the government cares. It's interesting to see China's government have to master public relations and also feel the pressure to be accountable to the people. Decades ago something like this could happen and the government didn't care. Mao was a giant earthquake that killed people. But in today's China the government has to show concern.
But it's not enough. Corruption has led to shoddy construction and many children have now died because they were living or studying in buildings that were unfit. The NYT has a heartbreaking account of family's that lost their children in schools and then had their bodies removed before Wen's visit. There is great anger.
Chinese history is riddled with moments were natural disasters threatened a government. The spotlight goes on the government and in light of the killer snow storms of a few months ago and the most recent high speed train accident,--the government is nervous about their image.
Here is the report of the parents that lost their children--if you can bear to read it.
Home Assignment 2008 5/15/2008 11:05:00 AM link
Hello everyone. We are going back to the USA this summer for a short mini-home assignment in which we hope to begin thanking everyone for their support for the HK Building Project. We have to travel during Marco's holiday so this will be short.
In addition to this, with the completion of the massive building project here in HK, last February I was given a new, very special assignment to begin working on over the next 3 years. I will write more about it in another post, but my assignment will officially change at the North American Convention in June.
Thus far, our schedule is mostly set but we are still waiting on a few appointments.
We arrive in Portland on May 22nd (next week).
May 25th, Salem, OR
June 1st, Edmonds, WA
June 8th, Albuquerque, NM
June 15th, Fortville, IN
June 20th-25th Anderson, IN
June 29- July 7 Washington D.C.
July 9th New Haven, CT
July 13th TBA (NorthEast)
July 14th-18th San Antonio, TX (IYC--Patrick only)
July 20th, Wyoming, MI
July 27th, TBA (Ohio)
August 3-16 Pacific Northwest
Just looking at the schedule exhuasts me. And this is a mini-furlough! With 54 different places to visit, obviously we will not be able to get everywhere this time around. But we will be back in 2009 to get to areas that we can't get to this time.
Will we ever get to rest? No. Not really, but on our way to NM, we are stopping in Arizona to do some fun things with Marco as a family--see Cowboys and Indians and animals. My top priority is to let Marco have a lot of fun, play with friends his age who speak English, and be a kid. Play on grass, see a tree house, see some farms, do the things that being a kid over here never allows. He needs a break. We all do.
I will also have a book signing at NAC on the evening of June 24th at the Wellness Center. I will be promoting my new book Faith in the Future: Christianity's Interface with Globalization. So if you are in the area.....
I will also be speaking at the One World One Mission event on June 21st at 9AM-12PM. Get your tickets now. I'll be doing a presentation on cities as well as serving on a panel discussion.
So I hope to see some of you in the coming few months!
Major Earthquake in China 5/13/2008 8:20:00 AM link
A very powerful Earthquake has hit China. It's the strongest one in 58 years and may be the deadliest in 33 years. Perhaps as many as 10,000 have died up to this point. That's like three 9/11's. It occurred on one of China's major fault lines.
We were not affected. China is roughly the size of the US and (thinking of it that way) we live in Miami and the quake happened in Missouri.
The Chinese fortune-tellers predicted 2008 would be a bad year for China, and so far they are right. Tibet, food shortages, some strange deadly viruses, the plagued torch run, and now a giant earthquake and the year is not half over yet. Obviously I don't consult fortune-tellers but the Chinese do. They are superstitious and a big earthquake like this in the heart of the country to them means that something really bad is about to take place.
The death toll is enormous. Far mor enormous than the Kobe, Japan earthquake. But since Burma is currently in the news with the possibility of 1 million dying because of a cyclone, it makes us lose perspective. These are massive, massive tragedies. Any other year and this would have been the story of the year.
Here's an ABC video report:
Save a Prayer 5/11/2008 12:24:00 AM link
I wrote about Burma (Myanmar) in the diary a while ago during the failed Saffron uprising in which Buddhist monks rose up against the Burmese junta that run that corrupt country. It's a thugocracy. It's not even a government or a countr, just a territory of land held together by a brutal militia involved in various criminal activities.
People live on 30 cents a day in Burma which is cut off from the world, disconnected from globalization. It's a failed-state. And now the cyclone has killed possibly more than the 2005 tsunami. That is hard to believe. Here is the update from Children of Promise about CHOG people in the country.
*Some areas of Yangon have electrical service. The area where the main church and headquarters is located does not.
*Water is only available for sale to most people. The church artesian well has been reactivated, but the water is dirty and not
drinkable.
*It was confirmed again that all the sponsored children are safe, “by the grace of God.”
*In one village where a congregation is located, not only was the roof torn off the church building, but further damage occurred to the Sunday school hall. Church members in this community lost homes and all their belongings. Some of them have taken shelter in the local Buddhist monastery.
*In another village with a congregation, not only was the church roof blown off, but also the roof of the pastor’s home is gone.
*Members of the Bible Training School have collected scrap wood and tried to cover the headquarters and girls’ home with a make-shift roof, but it is not able to keep the rain out.
*These training school students have had a tremendous outreach and ministry into the community. They have helped to clean up the roads, removed fallen trees, helped with repairs, etc. People have been very impressed with their care for the community.
The church leader commented that it has been such a blessing to be able to help the neighbors.
*Food is still in short supply. Extra food had been purchased for an upcoming training conference at the church, so the Bible school students and leaders have had food, and have shared that with members in the area. But, there is no avenue yet for them to get food supplies to the church members outside the immediate area around the church.
*The rice crop has been completely destroyed.
*Drinking water (bottled water) prices have jumped 2 ˝ times since the storm.
*Rice prices have gone from $44 (large bag) to $88 (large bag) since the storm.
*People in the outlying areas are suffering from diarrhea.
*Because of gas prices ($20 gallon), the church cannot bus the members and children to services for the time being. Members of the Bible school will be going to each community (Lord willing) where there is a congregation to conduct services in homes this weekend.
*The national leader and staff are sleeping in the church office on the floor.
Churches and Market-Economies 5/10/2008 4:44:00 PM link
How about that very funny last post? If I need a laugh (and I've been needing those lately), I just need to watch that.
I am posting a well-known article entitled: Market Economies With Churches and Market Economies Without Churches by Zhao Xiao. I am doing it mainly for my own reference, but feel free to take a look at it.
Those Crazy Italians! 5/8/2008 11:27:00 AM link
You've got to see this. Having been to Italy a couple of times, I can attest to the fact that they are the world's most passionate people. It's not uncommon to see lots of romance and fights right on the streets. They live life to the fullest. So imagine how excited they get about soccer.
Check it out!
Can you imagine what a Pentecostal church in Rome must be like? I don't think most Christians will be this happy at the second coming. "Et Finito!" It's Finished! It's Finished!
Don't Stop Believing... 5/5/2008 3:10:00 PM link
So this next post is for our thirty-something supporters that grew up in the 1980's. I must confess, last time I was in the USA, I snuck off to a rock concert and saw Journey in Cincinnati. It was a double-bill with Def Leppard. Well...I had the time of my life thank you very much.
Journey lost their famous lead singer years ago due to a hip injury. He was pretty irreplacable but they tried anyway. The next 2 guys sounded a lot like Steve Perry, but it just didn't work out, so they had to try again. Since Perry's voice is so unique, it's very hard to find a singer that good to sing these classic songs. So the band tried Youtube.
At Youtube they found a Filipino guy named Arnel Pinella who sings in hotels and bars in Hong Kong. There's about a million hotels and bars that have Filipino bands in them in Asia. The band was blown away, flew him to San Francisco (where they lived in our neck of the woods and where I lived when I first heard them), and he is now in the band.
Anyway, now the guy has gone from Hong Kong hotels to playing stadiums in South America. I feel really happy for the guy and the band. I already checked it out and I'm going to miss them in the USA this year. But I did notice that Radiohead will be playing the Verizon Ampitheatre in Indy 3days after we leave. Maybe our supporter friend 17 year old Randy in Indianapolis will be able to get to that.
Perfect Description of New China 5/4/2008 11:41:00 PM link
I saw this in the newspaper today and it is the perfect description of where China is right now in its development. This is soooooo China.
"The world's longest sea bridge, proudly unveiled in Hangzhou on Friday, has turned into a headache for traffic police sruggling to stop drivers getting out of their cars in the middle to take photos and relieve themselves. At least 2 accidents occurred within hours of the opening. One accident involved 10 vehicles and the other four."
Who's That Girl? 5/3/2008 11:20:00 AM link
There were very few protesters during the torch run in Hong Kong. There was one girl, that I decided not to write about, who was very brave, but totally man-handled during the protests. Picked up, flung around, and hauled off by the police. I was impressed that she wasn't crying. Anyway, quite by accident, today I found that the international herald tribune did a video of her. It is here. By the way....I guarantee you this girl is a TCK.
Won't you be my neighbor? 5/3/2008 11:07:00 AM link
While I was in Taipei, I had some great Chinese food as usual. Alan and Cindy always take me to this place where there is a hot-pot and you cook the meat yourself. It is delicious and the meat is so tender. For whatever reason, meat is rarely tender in Hong Kong and it really annoys me. The Hong Kong people are so finicky about their food and have such high standards, yet they often put up with filthy restaurants, filthy bowls, and tough meat without batting an eye. Not sure what's up with that.
No word from Stefan yet about what's wrong with Taipei's city planning. I actually dreamt about this problem last night (see, I told you I'm obsessed about these things). In my dream I decided that Taipei's problem was that the city's government was centralized thus preventing local neighborhoods from being able to submit their own creative ideas on how to beautify their neighborhoods. Pretty good theory for a dream eh? Yeah, I know I'm weird okay.
Speaking of fixing up neighborhoods...see what I'm talking about. The mainland Chinese are showing initiative. Read this from Arizona:
A Chinese delegation from Beijing arrived in Phoenix last month and headed west to the Sonoran Desert, deep into suburbia. Its destination: a quintessential American residential development in Buckeye, one of the many suburbs dotting the sprawling metropolitan area.
Members of the group studied the streetscape, the golf course, the spa, the cybercafé, the health care amenities and the design of the single-family homes at Sun City Festival, a 3,000-acre, planned community for people over 55. They commented on the cleanliness and orderliness of it all.
The 25 Chinese who toured the Del Webb development were not seniors planning their retirement but government officials and their spouses, a couple of architects and a banker. Their mission: study American suburbia with an eye toward replicating it back home.
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