Today George W. Bush and his wife are very popular people in China.  That’s not something you’ll read very often.   And all it took them was a short trip from Pennsylvania Avenue down to the Chinese Embassay in Washington, to mourn the vicitms and sign a book of condolensces in memory of the Sichuan earthquake victims.

To see the American president bow his head in mourning (吊唁) to the victims plays exceedingly well to a prestige conscious culture that has felt slighted lately. So far, nearly 1800 comments have been posted to this story (in Chinese).

The comments are very interesting – I’d say 90% of them are positive toward President Bush, his wife, and Americans!  This is unlike what one usually finds in the Chinese blogosphere.  It also helps that the US has vastly raised its initial donation of US$500,000, which has been roundly ridiculed in China, as Truth from Facts reported on earlier.  But the image of America mourning for dead Chinese people means a lot to the Chinese.  A lot of the nationalism in this country (China) has to do with feeling that outsiders look down upon them.  What encourages me the most by the hundreds of comments of thanks by Chinese netizens is that it shows that the regular animosity and dispise many Chinese have against America and other foreign countries may only be skin deep.  There is room for a strong US-China relationship if only these two countries can learn how to stop antagonizing one another. 

Sina.com is keeping a list of companies that have donated RMB 1,000,000 or more.  It’s good to see lots of major Chinese corporates kicking in some cash.  Several foreign companies with a presence in China are big donors too (Mary Kay, Intel, GE, Carrefour, IDG (venture capitalists putting their money to great use!)).

The French retailer and target of Chinese nationalist fury over the Olympic Flame controversy, Carrefour, has donated RMB 2 million (US$290,000) in earthquake relief.  Chinese ‘netizen’ response is mixed.  One site has mixed postings of thanks and others pointing out it’s a pittance considering Carrefour “broke the hearts of all Chinese people”, with one posting a picture of a french baby giving the bird, cynicism was expressed here from a user named “son of a bitch little Japan (狗日小日本)  that Carrefour wouldn’t have made the donation if not for the boycott of its stores in China earlier this month.  But lots of commenters kept it positive with thanks, and one here saying this proves Carrefour is a friend not an enemy of China. 

My friend in Shanghai from Shaanxi Province (which borders Sichuan) called a friend in Shaanxi.  The friend said that students in Shaanxi have been hospitalized due to falling debris in their school.  My friend in Shanghai from Sichuan has been calling Sichuan but the lines are dead.  Meanwhile, the only images being broadcast are from nearby Chengdu show people mostly confused, but not harmed, and a broken water pipe.  I hope that is because that’s all there is, but I have a bad feeling there are serious casualties and the media just isn’t reporting it yet.

All is fine in Shanghai.  They say the earthquake was felt in the Jing’an district of Shanghai, where I am, but I didn’t feel it.  A colleague down the hall did however, and left the building as a precaution 10 minutes before the building was officially evacuated.