Mourning for China

by Amanda Dean May 19th 2008 at 5:00PM

Apparently it's natural disaster season in Asia. The massive cyclone that hit Burma () on May 3 has taken an estimated 78,000 lives with an additional 56,000 missing. Last week (May 12) an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale shook parts of china. The death toll for that quake has reached 34,000 with the body count expected to rise. Many of the quake victims have been children, as least 6 schools collapsed while classes were in session. It will take weeks, months, or even years to sort out the amount of damage caused by these events.

The Chinese government has declared a mourning period for three days for those injured, missing, and passed. This includes the closing of movie theaters, web portals and television stations. The9, who services World of Warcraft in is participating in the blackout as is Shanda Interactive Entertainment, host of the World of Legend game.

If you are helping out, there are a number of charitable organizations taking donations to assist in providing relief to victims in Asia. Studies show that making donations to such organizations actually help to boost your own mood in addition to helping those who are in need.

Tags: burma, charity, china, cyclone, death, donations, earthquake, mourning, myanmar, Shanda, the-9, The9

Filed under: News items

Reader Comments (Page 2 of 4)

mbenitez1992 May 19th 2008 6:36PM

@John

lolignorant.

Seems like flaming China is the cause célèbre nowadays.

z3rb May 19th 2008 5:58PM

This isn't going to effect gold spam/farming et al. Think about it, they don't farm/spam on the Chinese servers, they just connect to ours.

Think about it.

But still, this is complete bullshit.

Tharina May 19th 2008 6:01PM

pretty much sums it up, nice post Johnny boy

Zeplar May 19th 2008 6:18PM

The purpose of mourning isn't for the dead, it's for the living. Understand that before you make your troll posts and your uneducated flaming of a simple attempt to console those who lost their loved ones.

Pzychotix May 19th 2008 6:19PM

Screw it. Most of you guys are just willing to jump on ANY chance you can get to bash China. It's a couple days of mourning for them, and you're going to bash them for that?

You guys are terrible. Horrifyingly terrible.

If the people have an issue with that, then fine, they'll bring it up. But otherwise, sit down, shut up, and leave it alone. Christ, the audacity of some people...

john thorpe May 19th 2008 6:40PM

The people of China aren't free to "bring it up". They aren't free to protest their own government. They aren't free to do anything other than the few things the government allows.

That's why some of us "bash" the chinese government every chance we get. They're a repressive, despotic regime, and every event inside that country -- good, bad, or indifferent -- should be used to highlight that fact to the world.

It's not about whether or not some chinese people can play wow for three days. It's about shining a spotlight on the plight of a people that is much larger than a mere earthquake.

Pzychotix May 19th 2008 7:08PM

And yet when I lived in China, almost any Western website I needed to go to was free to go to.

Trust me, the "great firewall of china" isn't all that it's cracked up to be.

If people want to voice their opinions from within China, there are still ways to do it. Don't act like you're the spokesperson for the people without a voice. Because you're not. Get over yourself, and have some decency.

john thorpe May 19th 2008 7:18PM

Key word: almost

Thanks for making my point.

jbodar May 19th 2008 7:52PM

Please remove your head from your colon, you'll get infected.

33: estimated number of journalists in Chinese jails at the beginning of 2008.

51: estimated number of bloggers and cyber-dissidents in Chinese jails.

180: reports received by the Foreign Correspondents Club of China of violations of the new rules allowing for freedom of reporting ahead of the Games.

http://time-blog.com/china_blog/2008/02/rights_group_2007_a_tough_year.html?xid=rss-china

People in China are free to do many things, but criticizing the government is not one of them. You are correct that shutting down the entertainment business for a few days is small potatoes, though.

Dready May 19th 2008 8:46PM

@john thorpe

You're right! Perhaps America should go 'free' them?

Pzychotix May 19th 2008 8:54PM

I say almost because a lot of the China ISPs are pretty crappy, making some sites near impossible to get to, unless you want to wait forever.

You know the Chinese Google comparison? Where you try looking for stuff about Tiananmen square? Guess what. English Google is still available. And you can look for chinese results.

As for criticizing China, there's still various avenues to avoid detection. Hell, from where I live, there's at least 4-5 netcafes within walking distance, and a billion other places if you take a cheap taxi. Don't post pictures of yourself, don't say your name, pay with cash. PROTIP: If you're trying to criticize the government in the area you live in, it'd be wise to take measures against detection. That's not to say that you shouldn't NEED detection-prevention, but the point is that it's possible.

kunukia May 19th 2008 6:20PM

Thank you for posting about these tragedies. I have no opinion on what the Chinese Gov't has done with their mourning period.
As we play, it is good to think occasionally about the suffering in the world. We are very fortunate indeed to have this leisure time that we devote to WoW, and spending a few moments to have compassion for those less fortunate can only be of benefit.

OM MANI PADME HUM HRI

Gustav May 19th 2008 7:01PM

Why can't people just put aside politics for a few days and instead focus on the real tradgedy here: the thousands and thousands of people who have died?

prudychick May 19th 2008 7:19PM

While I may not agree or support the laws of China I am saddened for those who lost loved ones. As a commentator on the news this weekend pointed out and as is pointed out above in the blog posting the hardest hit areas were schools...many children died leaving parents who are allowed to have only one child by law now childless. I couldn't imagine the pain they are experiencing from not only the devastation and loss of personal property but even more so the loss of their child.

I may not understand either the government's ruling to shut down all public amusement portals but things here in the states weren't that different that long ago. Towns would shut down, women wore only black for the period of a year, mirrors were covered, etc.

We need to support the people that are residents of the country, it isn't their fault that they live in a Communist country ruled by a ruthless dictator.

later May 19th 2008 7:28PM

Between the day that the earthquake happened until the day of 'public mourning', which started yesterday, the majority of wow players in china spent their time in the church of stormwind talking about their fallen guild mates and holding funerals. There are lots of videos on chinese video portals of hundreds of people stuffed in stormwind church all in a /kneel pose as they took turns talking about their friends that died.

Umm... May 19th 2008 7:46PM

Nice input. Maybe if people read that they'll stop thinking that everyone in China are just mindless robots incapable of emotion.

B.D. Martinez May 19th 2008 7:47PM

You know all I have to say is that some of you and I refuse to name some names are being complete dicks and looking at this article all wrong. China is just shutting down things for 3 days like a moment of silence that we do. Yes our country as done that since a lot of places closed down for and after 9/11 as a sign of respect for the lives lost. Who cares if it is there government or not doing it. You have to understand that China is a country typically consists of one child families and that something like this greatly impacts there country. Just not sure if any of you are grasping this and to be frank it is irritating as all hell. I mean who cares how Blizz feels or The9. Maybe they wanted to participate in doing this. I mean after all its China’s deal and let them mourn or deal with this however they need to. I mean when 9/11 hit I know that China was not like, “well they should have had better security at there airports.” A good deal of the Chinese where crying when they say what happened to us. I remember CNN broadcasting video from around the world. It sucks that after a major tragedy that we are the only country that has to nit pick about it and make comments like about there schools and how I would revolt if the government took away my internet.

Anyway I feel horrible what happen and to see the loss of lives and I to am going to join in not playing wow for 3 days out of respect.

Sorry for the rant just tired of certain jerk offs who have no respect.

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