[From the Wall Street Journal] One of the more remarkable aspects of the aftermath of the May 12 Sichuan earthquake is how much the Chinese people know about it. The true extent of the Great Tangshan Earthquake of 1976 was hidden from the nation and the world, despite the loss of 250,000 lives. Other natural disasters traditionally have also been shrouded in secrecy — from seasonal flooding to SARS. In contrast, information about — and images of — the earthquake area have been saturating Chinese media, and may even be helping to shape the official response . . . [Click here to read more at WSJ.com.] [Click here for the article in Chinese].
