Fenghuang Bridge Disaster 2 - Updated

Perhaps the most surprising thing about the Fenghuang disaster is that we are hearing about it at all. Instead of following their usual practice of saying nothing and actively banning press coverage of anything negative, this story was all over the media, with front page reports in almost every newspaper in the country. Even my local newspaper dropped local coverage from its front page to feature the bridge story (see right).

This got me thinking about the huge number of fires being reported in Liuzhou recently. (Yes, there have been several more since I first mentioned it.) Are there really more fires than before? Or are they just reporting more?

There has been talk of the press being 'opened' more for the Olympics, but I'm not convinced that Liuzhou fires have anything to do with that! 

Whatever it is, it makes a huge change from the past. When I was living in Hunan, I tried to take a train north from the capital. The station refused to sell me (or anyone else) a ticket, merely saying “No trains.” This lasted several days. It seems that there had been a major train crash north of Changsha, with many fatalities. To this day, it has never been reported.

However, I'm not confident that anything has really changed. The day they start freely reporting the regular demonstrations outside the local government headquarters, I might think things have changed. Or when they open up the internet so that people can get real information.

Fat chance! 

~UPDATE~

Well I spoke too soon!

From the Guardian 18th August

"China has ordered its media to report only positive news and has imprisoned a pro-democracy dissident amid a clampdown on dissent ahead of the most important meeting of the communist party in five years."

"Most state media have also been banned from reporting on the collapse of a bridge in southern China which killed at least 41 people." 

Reporters attacked in Fenghuang (from  ESWN)

tags: hunan  guangxi  press  censorship  changsha  liuzhou  disaster  fenghuang  china  

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