All back to normal?
I'm writing this post while the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games goes on at the Olympic Stadium in north Beijing (the event's hard to miss since it's being shown on at least five different TV channels - the only alternatives appear to be a programme about opera or a travel show about Bangladesh).
This ceremony is the conclusion of what has been a pretty successful sequel to the Olympics themselves. The Paralympic sports were well attended by polite and often curious crowds (including me - I had no idea that wheelchairs could be used as weapons till I went to see the final of the men's wheelchair rugby).
For China this is the end of a decade's worth of Olympic and Paralympic planning. This city now has to get back to normal. On Sunday 21 September, emergency clean air measures will come to an end - construction sites will get back to work, and drivers will be allowed to use their cars every day (since late July, they've only been allowed to drive every other day).
But this country doesn't have much time to enjoy a post-Paralympic state of bliss. Right now, China's going through a pretty painful food safety scandal. After a number of food safety problems a year ago, the Communist Party assured its citizens that the right lessons had been learned. But now, thousands of babies have got sick because they've been fed on poisonous milk powder. The government's told worried parents to take their babies to hospital to be checked for kidney stones.
This afternoon, my colleagues and I went to the Beijing Pediatric Research Institute near Ritan Park. Dozens of parents carried in their babies to be checked for kidney stones. Zhao Jian Xin brought in his 15-month-old son Chunxi.
"I took my son to the hospital for a medical check, and he was diagnosed with a stone in the right side of his kidney, because he was given Sanlu milk powder," Mr Zhao told us, "He has now been hospitalized. I feel very bad and very disappointed as well. Sanlu is one of the most famous brands in China. We chose it because we trusted it. But now we are disappointed."
This is the second time this year that parents in China have felt let down by those meant to keep their children safe.
In May, hundreds of school children were killed in the Sichuan earthquake. Parents protested that their children's schools were badly built - that their children were killed not by natural disaster but by corruption and negligence.
Parents whose children have fallen ill after being fed on poisonous baby powder are now threatening action against the milk powder companies. Increasingly, parents in China are not prepared to sit quietly when things go wrong.
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Every country has it moments of glory and humiliation.
It is important for Chines citizens, especially educated elites including bloggers here (I suppose so, based on their ability to speak English), to have a level-headed attitude toward those in political and economic power.
To be patriotic is fine--especially as a tool for counteracting unfair treatment from the outside, but PLEASE make sure you have to speak for not only the strong but also the weak in China.
It is nothing wrong to applaud the successful Olympic and Paralympic games--China as a whole has made tremendous efforts to be a decent host.
But in the case of tainted milk powerder, the government officials and profit-oriented companies let many Chinese parents down. To my knowledge, the milk chemical poison has been going on for a long time.
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In my opinion product Quality has always been one of the major issues in modern day China. On one hand, less quality control usually means reduced cost of ownership, which is one of the factors that enabled China to enjoy long period of low labour cost. However, as we all see now, poor quality products can create crisis that will cost far more than the saving made by less quality control.
With the ever increasing living standard of ordinary people, Chinese consumers will sooner than later demand better quality products and more importantly better legal means of fighting against poor product quality, which may have a indirect effect on increasing the cost of manufacture.
This is a good topic in that it concerns real problems in China - so, well done James, I think this is probably the first time you have touch upon a real issue in China that can be argued from many different angles and is well worth discussing (in contrast to the superficial problems you have deluded yourself for the past year or so.)
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In response to #1 by 'onjournalism'
Thanks for explaining to us Chinese how we should be conducting ourselves.
Considering the number of poor and neglected people in Western or democratic societies, India being a prime example with its 400million people in poverty.
Also, Western profit-oriented company greed and corruption and Western government mismangement has also led to turmoil, hardship and increased poverty around the whole world. Look no further than the sub-prime debacle.
So I guess with you it's a case of the pot calling the kettle black.
ps. Personally though, I'd be pro death penalty for those to blame for contaminating the milk. There are just some lines that should never be crossed. And they crossed it. Bad people!
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I'm disgusted that the BBC showed wall-to-wall coverage of the "able-bodied Olympic Team GB" but Paralympic coverage was tucked away in tiny soundbites on evening news bulletins and very hard to find elsewhere.
Our Paralympians did better in their Games than "Team GB" did in the overhyped first set of games, and deserved at least as much coverage.
Why didn't they get it? Don't use the excuse that the BBC suits public taste - the BBC's remit is to inform and educate as well as entertain, and leading public thought on diversity is a duty (and an honour) that shouldn't be shirked.
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Those parents carrying their children must have been gutted to see you there James. This is nothing personal, but for Chinese people to realise that foreigners know about their problems is just too hard to take. They want foreigners to think of the China as the one they saw in the Olympics and not one which can't protect it's own children from this kind of thing.
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Glory?
This is the nation that kill their babies just to make a buck or two.
How glory that must to be for our Chinese!
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The parents should take legal actions and I hope to some outcome from it. Government correction now and then in response to a public scandal is not a good thing to see. To make sure that such things don't happen in the future, an independent judicial system, instead of the government officials, need to be there to monitor things.
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"If fidelity to freedom and democracy is the code of our civic religion then surely, the code of our humanity is
faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says "We shall give our children better than we ourselves had.""
I always remember this quote from 'the west wing'.
Where is the future of China if we are not knowing this
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Insightful bog, James! Good to see you out there, telling it as it is! And on a tight budget...yes?!
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What is the point of this entry and most of your other entries? This is pretty much a summary of the recent news and how is this blog worthy? When I read a blog, I'm looking for perspectives, opinions, and insights but I'm finding none of that here.
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Melamine in milk powder! Oh my countrymen never cease to amaze me with their creativity......and the ability to misuse it!!!
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All back to normal? I do wonder. I have noticed a marked decrease in the Über defensive tone of Chinese commentors on these pages now. They might have had a cause to complain about James's tone on a few issues, and of his lack of understanding on others but MAN!...it was getting tiresome!
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Quoting Onjournalism:
"To be patriotic is fine--especially as a tool for counteracting unfair treatment from the outside, but PLEASE make sure you have to speak for not only the strong but also the weak in China".
WORDS OF WISDOM INDEED!
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Hello James,
I whatched the desperate mothers clunching on their dear children with heavy heart.I wish them well.
And to learn that your son is one of them shocked and upset me.I pray
he will recover soon.
c.t.
N.Y.
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Let's not turn this into 'it only happens in China' issue. There are many food recalls around the world but only the China related ones get highlighted regularly in the western media and then western journalist give us their 'personal' expert views on the subject. But agreed, this issue with tainted milk is deservedly in the news.
And it's also not just a problem with China's government not being able to monitor the situation fully. These milk products have ended up in Hong Kong too and Hong Kong has different food laws (many British based) to those in mainland China, but still the products get into the market. As we all know governments talk the talk but rarely walk the walk, wherever they are in the world.
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Let's not forget that the New Zealand diary giant Fonterra owned a 43% stake in Sanlu and they must have known or suspected something was wrong for a long time or were they just interested in profits. When someone owns 43% of something I think they must have know what was going on. If they didn't then perhaps they too were at fault, a western company under western democratic ethics and regulations at fault can you believe that.
I think they kept quiet about it or didn't really try too hard to do anything about it and only jumped ship when babies died. You can feel they were just trying to cover their own involvement in the whole affair.
So James why don't you ask one of your colleages in New Zealand to do an investigative report on Fonterra and their invovlement. Let's start digging deeper in their closet for skeletons.
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We in the west have known about the melamine tainted food from China since the spring. Why didn't the Chinese government tell its own people about it then? Tainted dog food, tainted childrens toys, Made in China will become a catch phrase for "Poison, do not touch." China has paid for its sudden burst of wealth and industrialization with among other things becoming the world's number one toxic waste dump. It is inevitable that industrial poisons will sooner or later find their way into many products made there. That China allows industry to be so indifferent and careless with these toxic substances is one reason why industry does business there. If they make the rules tougher, the factories and jobs will just move somewhere else just as they moved to China in the first place.
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There should be new laws to regulate food production and tough punishment against those responsible. I will be very supprise if the owners of milk collecting centers do not get a death sentence.
The food production chain is very long and involved millions poorly educated workers. When some of them are so money orientated then there is a problem.
Again the local government behaved badly. Some polititians at local government level are of very low level. Simply need to get rid of them.
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The total disaster in New Orleans caused by Hurrican Katrina was due to US government and state government corruption, neglect and negligence, both before and after Katrina hit.
And then the US/State government housed the Katrina victims in toxic homes.
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Olympic is history now. I don't believe Chinese people dwell on it. They move on living their lives and dealing with problems.
Regarding Sanlu baby milk powder, It's the evil brother (????) murder for money. They said they know it's bad chemicals they added into the milk and they and their families don't use the milk they produced but they did it anyway. Now that's pure evil. This is a case of typical total lack of social moral conscientious. Corruption Greed Get rich quick capitalism easily catch the weak or poor minded which China have so many. They(????) deserve death penalty.
While You English like to keep all the murders forever with your taxpayers money for the criminals "human rights", China shouldn't show any mercy to criminals because China have too many of them. China don't have the luxury or money to keep their criminals protected and live in comfort. Criminals should made to work for their jail cells and food. Oh they should work to pay for the prison guards fee too.
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well well, China is in good company, here in Canada we have poisonous meats and cheeses that already have killed 17 people.
the last cpl of years here in N. America we can't eat hambergers, red meats, spinach, tomatos, peppers, cheeses and cold cuts. all because they are poisonous and it had killed many.
those bad people that tainted milk for babies will suffer for this.
the companies that can't make a safe and high quality product will go away and new ones will take their places.
sorry to the kids, but some good will come out of this.
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It is high time for Chinese, especially those in power, to rethink the concept of security. In many countries, security or human security has become an important subject for research and public debate. In China, on the contrary, the authorities have reduced security to an issue of rule-making and control. Many Chinese friends, esepcially young generations tend to have an indifferent attitude towards the politics of the country, while pursuing 'their careers'. In reality, no one can escape the politics of that country unless they leave the country. if you want to have a safer life in China, a functioning and transparent monitoring system is essential. When child dies in ones own arms because of some body's else illegal behavior, then it is not hard to see why rule of law, rights issue and the power to influnence is so important.
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How did you manage to weave the Olympics, TV channels and Milk powder in one blog?
Then again I guess blogs don't have to make any real sense.
TV channels suck in China for people who have no knowledge of the country, right James? :D
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James - it seems Christmas, Easter and your birthday have all come at once!
You were desperate for a negative story of China to appear after the unparallelled success of the Olympic (and Paralympic) Games .
To the commentators on these pages: please, don't for a minute, pretend that you care about the victims here.
This event is, of course, unfortunate but if it had happened anywhere else in the world, the Western press would not have given it a minute of coverage.
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This is bad, heads will roll or should roll. This is very very bad and truly disgusting!
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To be honest, sad though it is, these problems are expected.
Whilst in China; In hospitals I've seen doctors regularly spit on the floor, farmers use human waste or toxic water to feed their plants (they believe the plants will filter out the bad stuff), children defacating in public places and men urinating in children's play areas.
I've seen women used to pour acid into car batteries, working for just a few months before they are left without the ends of their fingers, and lungs so damaged they die soon afterwards.
China is so large, with so many people, and unfortuantely for most their education is appalling and their life worth nothing. People in the cities know nothing of their own country.
I believe things are getting better, economically improving fast, socially slow. Chinese people are resilient, and they have a strong desire to march on.
People blame the government, but to be honest the real problem is deep rooted into the culture. Where you feel so removed from such a large group of people that you feel your actions have no consequences. The same reason people do not rise up against injustice, is the same reason people put chemicals in food for profit.
China has always been a country of masters and slaves. The CCP are the masters at the moment, but unless there's real change to the culture then even when they are out, all that will replace them is a different name. The people will still be slaves, and slaves will continue to not think for themselves, and to act without care of consequence.
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Let's keep this in perspective guys!
At the moment we're talking about less than 50 people arrested over this tainted milk issue maybe. There will probably be more but we're not talking in the thousands or millions of people who might be arrested.
There are a few bad if not down right rotten eggs in the batch but we're not talking the entire population here. It's like Sharon Stone and the karma statement.
So less of 'entire nation killing babies' jibes please.
And I love the comments about how China should be taking more care of the poor and weak here. Have you stopped and actually thought about the situation? All those people buying baby milk powder were probably middle class and not poor, the poor wouldn't have been able to afford the milk powder in the first place. And you should note that China has taken 600million people out of poverty over the last 30 or so years.
Those people directly involved over this scandal will probably be put to death and deservedly so in this instance.
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And why are the western governments pumping billions in propping up the financial world and not pumping billions into helping the poor, weak and deprived around the world.
The poor don't have private homes, shares, investments or even savings.
So to all the critics of China for not helping the poor in China, not only is it a misleading statement but your western democracies aren't helping the poor either.
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Also, I have to add that the title of this particular blog entry is disingenuous.
By stating 'All back to normal', you're implying that kind of thing happens everyday - which it does not.
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Chen Danqing, a Chinese contemporary artist once said in an interview - "Intellectuals can be uglier than businessmen".
Thanks to the "educated elites" here. It makes sense of how mad man can go as in the "Culture Revolution" - one group of intellectuals attacking another for being dissidents - making use of the patriots and the foolish.
Patriotism (or nationalism), is the notion of saying our-country-is-the-greatest-in-the-whole-world kind of thing, which is boring, unsexy, and can turn ugly when you look at the history - it's popular for all repressive regimes to use it "as a tool" for controlling their own people.
Sorry for being tangential.
Contaminated mind is more poisonous than contaminated milk.
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China can not go back to normal, not with all the western companies and foreign people in the country.
The white devils and the evil foreigners are teaching and spreading western ways thru-out China, things will never be the same again for the Chinese people.
The Chinese people can not go back to what it was 30 years ago, when money was not a big deal.
It's all a big rat race in China, all out to make more and fast money.
Yes it's too late, the evil capitalist ways are out of the bottle in China.
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Of all the comments the one that stood out the most for me is from Shangpied #16. I happen to know intimately what he is talking about.
Yes, it is ingrained in the culture of masters and slaves relations. The people of China willingly allow themselves to be ruled by a few unelected leaders.
The cultural root of the problem goes deeper the feeling insignificant and removed from the mass and therefore the lack of a moral compass. I believe it is about, 1) Language of indirect speech, not willing to point out clearly or give criticism. Certain traditions and etiquette have to be followed in speech, giving it plenty of room for misunderstanding or avoidance. 2) Value of face - as long as one is not discovered for bad behavior, it is anything goes. Chinese are more conditioned by tradtion in social behaviors than by an integrated consciousness of moral standards. 3) Quanxi/connection - the synonom is cronyism and nepotism. Chinese social ties and families are more tightly intertwined, resulting in corruption and incompetence.
These cultural roots give rise to the current morass in China.
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How things are:
If there's a problem with a product or food item that's produced in a western country then that problem is only reported as a company business problem by western media. Reports are never littered with it's a US/America or Japan/Japanese or British/UK problem/failure/corruption, only the company's name is used and so does not demonize the western country involved.
But when it comes to China then it's a China or Chinese problem and failure. And then the Chinese theme is repeated several times in the same report and so further demonizes China. And every incident in the past is also included in the report to add to the charade.
Propaganda by a biased and prejudiced western media regime.
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Beijing_2008 your comments are a disgrace.
Must you see everything as "China Bashing"?. Was James Reynolds as China correspondant supposed to ignore this "unfortunate" event?
I am a commentator on this page - and I very much care about the victims - if you dont then thats your business - please only speak for yourself.
Your final sentence is beneath contempt.
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In response to #33 by democracy101
What a load of junk your simplistic view of Chinese mentality is.
It's got nothing to do with China's chinese cultural and traditional past. If that were the case then why aren't places like Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore exactly the same as China, they're not. Why aren't the many Chinese around the world mindless slave robots, they're not.
All things change! Europe today is completely different to Europe 200 or 300 years ago. With it's kings, lords, feudal and slavery past. Europe's moved on but it's taken hundreds of years to get to where it is now. But still you have your kings and queens and cronyism and old boy networks. And the US only got rid of racial segregation in the latter half of the last century and you western people harp on about tibet. Many would say non-whites in the US are still victimised.
Communism has only been part of China's political system for the past 60 or so years. Look how much has changed in the last 30 years. Many of these scandals in the past would have been swept under carpet, but here we are in 2008 and everything is reported on and also the Chinese central government is swiftly and decisively dealing with the problem, unlike the Japanese government and their rice food scandal.
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Quoting thisisacryforhelp,
"Patriotism (or nationalism), is the notion of saying our-country-is-the-greatest-in-the-whole-world kind of thing, which is boring, unsexy, and can turn ugly when you look at the history - it's popular for all repressive regimes to use it "as a tool" for controlling their own people."
This can happen in demoracratic countries also like U.S. - Iraq war. Let us be warned!
But, it is particularly widespread in China. Hope the Chinese will see the Western media as an alternate source of reliable information from now on. As one blogger had mentioned if this contaminated milk scandal had been known to the authority and Sanlu during the Olympic. Wish BBC had talked to Frontera executives then.
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This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
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