As you may have heard in the news, They last three days were national days of mourning for the Chinese people. On Monday there were three minutes of silence in remembrance of all those who died or were hurt in the earthquake on May 12th. On Monday afternoon I went to finish some official procedures for my Foreigner residence permit. I had to go to the Bureau for Public Pacification, get my picture taken and hand in a few forms. On the way there, the radio was announcing the three minutes of silence. While I was getting my form reviewed by the bureaucrat I got a cell phone message saying at precisely 2:28 there would commence three minutes of silence, and also that all boats, trains, trucks and cars would stop and blow their horns. Sure enough, a minute later the bureaucrats all stood up and everyone in line stopped pushing and stood still and quiet for three minutes. I would have liked to have been on the street in order to see the scene, but it was still moving were I was. I was in a large hall that fell totally silent besides a child talking and muted horns and sirens could be heard from outside. I felt as though it was completely appropriate memorial and it was inspiring as well as moving to think that all across such a vast country everyone was doing the same thing.

In addition to the three minutes of silence at 2:28 in the afternoon on Monday, exactly a week after the earthquake, the government also announced three days of mourning. Many newspapers printed one character in black and white on the entire front page of the newspaper, such as the character for mourning. All home pages for websites were changed to black and white. All websites for video and media (the local youtube equivalents) had search functions disabled and the only videos accessible were videos of the disaster.

I think one of the smartest things that the Chinese government has done is to bring so much media attention to the event. Because of this, there is much international support and donations, and the domestic reaction has been huge. When people see the suffering but also see that volunteers and rescue operations are effective, they are also moved to act themselves and donate money, blood, supplies and time. There is also public pressure from citizens on companies to react and donate funds at the risk of losing customers. Besides the timely and proportionate response by the government sending in the army, the media attention has played a great part in letting people know how serious it was. I know I personally didn't really respond the day it happened. I didn't pay much attention to the news until the second day when I finally realized how serious it was

The Times of London ran a great article today about how the media attention that the Chinese have been giving this disaster has brought on a much different reaction than the media coverage the disaster in Myanmar/Burma is getting.

I just returned home from a colleagues house. It was ten PM Friday night, and everyone in the dormitories was chanting go China, go Olympics. It is now 10:45, and groups of students are jogging by on the streets screaming "Go China, Go Olympics." They are blowing whistles and shouting and clapping. I am impressed by the aerobic endurance of the student body.

As you may have guessed, tomorrow, may 17th is the day the Olympic torch rally comes to Wenzhou. My students gave me a Chinese flag in class today. They passed them out during the break, as well as large characters printed on stiff board which when held up in order will spell out a sentence. I had trouble getting them to settle down after the break as they were waving their flags. One was running back and forth with a full sized flag draped over her back. They all got on a bus after class to go to town. They will stay overnight in a hotel so they can be at the right place at six or seven in the morning when the relay starts. I asked them how many people would be sleeping in one hotel room, and they said they were not planning to sleep, so they would all fit in one or two rooms.

Yesterday, the other foreign teachers and I were asked if we wanted to go to the torch relay rally. I had said yes, I wanted to go. Today they said there are no spaces. I am not really disappointed, as I fully expected them to rescind the offer right at the last moment, but I did find it quite rude of them. It sure would have been a sight to see.

This afternoon, I tried to get the teachers to tell me if I could go by myself or not. I was to understand that at some torch relay events, the roads were completely roped off and all spectators had to pass through metal detectors, but that might have just been at the torch lighting and ending ceremonies. They encouraged me not to go as they thought it would be a complete mess and maybe dangerous. The school is also encouraging all the students not to go.

The Olympic torch parade has been quite successful in China so far. As you can tell, the young people are quite wound up. I hope they can get up in time to watch it on TV or in time to get to town after all the running and yelling. It has also been a bigger success for the sponsors who were afraid to advertise heavily on much of the international route for fear of reaction. The same cautious sponsors are going all out here. Coke even sponsored a competition to choose torch relay cheerleaders for all the cities the torch will pass through. Over an hour later, the chanting is dying down. There is still an intermittent "Go China, Go Olympics," but they are fewer and farther between.