The Chinese government has admitted that poor school construction contributed the the casualty tally after May’s earthquake:
“BEIJING — A Chinese government committee said Thursday that a rush to build schools during the country’s recent economic boom might have led to shoddy construction that resulted in the deaths of thousands of students during a devastating earthquake in May.
Relatives and friends of those killed in the collapse of a school in Sichuan Province gathered in June. Some estimates said up to 10,000 students might have died.
The statement by Ma Zongjin, the chairman of an official committee of experts assessing damage from the May 12 earthquake, is the first time that a representative of the Chinese government has acknowledged that poor construction may have led to the collapses. Until now, officials in Beijing and in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, which suffered the most damage, had said the sheer force of the 7.9-magnitude quake caused the collapses.”

Away from the Olympics, amputee quake victims push themselves to get better:

“CHENGDU, China — Far from Beijing and its gathering of Olympic athletes, a small group of people here spend hours each day pushing their own physical limits.

Some are missing an arm or a leg. Others lost even more. They are all victims of the earthquake that devastated Sichuan Province in southwest China on May 12, and they are here at a medical center to learn to use prosthetic limbs.

Li Chunyang, 16, is one of the children pulled from the rubble of Dongqi Middle School in the town of Hanwang after being trapped for 52 hours. His left leg had been pinned under debris. It was amputated after his rescue.”

The rebuilding effort will take $147 billion and at least three years:

“BEIJING - China’s government estimates it will cost $147 billion to rebuild from the massive earthquake that struck the central part of the country in May, according to state media.

The National Development and Reform Commission’s draft rebuilding plan published this week includes new homes for more than 3 million rural households, as well as the creation of jobs for about 1 million people, the China Daily newspaper reported Wednesday.”

A teacher has been sent to a labor camp, without any trial, for publishing photos of May’s school collapses:

“The May 12 earthquake killed nearly 70,000 people, including thousands of children who died when their shoddily built schools collapsed. The issue has become a sensitive political issue for the government and the parents of dead children have staged protests demanding investigations. In recent weeks they have also been subjected to intimidation and financial inducements to silence them.

“Instead of investigating and pursuing accountability for shoddy and dangerous school buildings, the authorities are resorting to reeducation through labor to silence and lock up concerned citizens like teacher Liu Shaokun and others,” said Human Rights in China Executive Director Sharon Hom.

Liu’s family has not been able to see him since he was detained, the group said. …

The current system, in place in since 1957, allows police to incarcerate a crime suspect for up to four years. Critics say it is misused to detain political or religious activists, and violates suspects’ rights.”

A teacher in southwest China has been sent to a labour camp for publicising photos of school buildings that collapsed in the devastating May 12 earthquake, a rights group said Wednesday.

Liu Shaokun was jailed without trial after posting photos on the Internet showing schools flattened in the magnitude-8.0 quake in Sichuan province, the New York-based Human Rights in China said.

Liu’s wife was informed by police last week that the school teacher had been sentenced to one year “reeducation through labour” for “disturbing public order,” it said.

Since he was detained on June 25 on suspicion of “inciting subversion,” Liu’s family has been denied access to him and were not formally notified of his detention as required by the law, it said.

“The man labeled China’s biggest coward is a slight man with thick black glasses. He looks so unassuming, it’s hard to imagine one person could have unleashed such vitriol, such a bitter nationwide debate. Almost everybody agrees on one thing: his downfall was his honesty.”

After the earthquake, China mobilizes more mental health workers than ever:

“Help was available for 15-year-old Xiang Li, who along with 900 schoolmates was in class when the Juyuan Middle School collapsed. Pinned for three hours in the rubble, Xiang kept shouting encouragement to her friends. Out of her class of 66, she was among only 25 to survive. “I don’t have nightmares,” she told NEWSWEEK with a bold chirp in her voice. “The earthquake taught me to be brave.” But moments later she confided to Dr. Yuan Linfang, head of a psychological-counseling team from Henan, that she actually does suffer flashbacks and nightmares. He gently encouraged her to acknowledge her symptoms. “Some survivors act tough, but they really are having problems,” said Yuan, who heads a Henan crisis-intervention hotline organized by the Communist Youth League. Yuan has observed a number of traumatized reactions among Juyuan students, including one girl who couldn’t even bring herself to open a textbook. Many more fear returning to school.”

In the Southern Metropolis Daily, columnist Wang Xiaoshan wonders if it’s too soon to joke about the earthquake:

“The lighter topics in the Mobile Paper could help to ease people’s emotions. But really, there are lots of different ways to be lighthearted, and to design a quiz around the earthquake at this point in time is a little stupid, to put it mildly.”

Police forcibly remove grieving mothers and journalists from the collapsed Dujiangyan school:

A standoff between the parents, many carrying framed photos of their dead children, and the police officers, dressed in black uniforms, lasted for several hours. In the end, the parents walked away.

…

“We trust the government officials to help us,” said Tian Wenyao, 40, who lost her 12-year-old son. “We have no other way — we have to trust the government.”

“But of course we’re angry,” she added. “Who wouldn’t be angry? In the morning, my child said to me, ‘Mama, I’m going to school.’ In the evening, he turned up a corpse.”

Christian Dior throws Sharon Stone under the bus and says “We absolutely do not support any remark that hurts the Chinese people’s feelings.”

Shanghaiist’s Ken Tan says Sharon Stone was forced to “eat back her own words.”