WorldToChina

      I am not going to talk about the language spoken by people here in Guangdong. I am going right straight to talk about those who are born and living here in this district of China.

      First impression of Cantonese people is there gentle and patient characteristic. They are friendly and helpful when you turn to them for help such as asking ways. They are soft and gentle when you are bargain with the sales girl for a beautiful cloth. It seems they are much more easy-going than those in Xiao Zhai (Xi’an), because they are more likely to be angered when you offer a low price for their commodities. But the beauties here would not.

      Another special thing about Cantonese people is their addiction to their own dialect. They would most likely to use Cantonese in their daily life. When they are talking to non-Canton people they are using Madarin clumsily. That makes them sound cute.

      One more impression about them is their popular belief in superstition. They would always avoid the number FOUR. Even those modern grand hotels are non-exceptional. No botton for fourth floor would be found on the switchboard of elevators. It would never be any surprise for them to set up shrines to worship divinities at their doors or beside the stairs.

      Interesing Cantonese people. Cute dialect. And nostalgic behaviors.

      It is regarded in Chinese folk tales that there are five poisonous animals that intend to bring disease and disarsters to people. They are: scorpions, snakes, centipedes, geckos and toads.

      Moreover, there is a saying among people that the five poisionous wake up on the Dragon Boat Festival and try to stir up disarsters and plagues. Thus, people thought of many ways to get rid of the threat of those five poisonous.

      This is a picture of the five poisonous. Believe it or not, people use this as a way to fight against the five evils. They drew this picture on red paper and put them on the wall. Then use five niddles to pierce them respectively. This is the way people killing the five poisonous on the festival and comforting themselves to be healthy in the rest of the whole year.

      Weeks before one of the helicopters heading for Tang Jiashan accidentally crashed down. The government sent several troops to find the wrecked Mi-171, but the bad weather and high moutains placed great difficulty in front of them all. Days passed we still had no news about the disappeared helicopter.

      However, the soldiers didn’t give up. Until they found the wreckage and carried the remains of the pilots down the moutains. All the staff on the very helicopter were found dead. Then the commander in chief ordered the soldiers to carry the remains down the moutains on shoulders, as the landscape doesn’t allow any vehicles to approuch.

      600 brave soldiers took part in the transferring. In the morning of June 13, they arrived in Yin Xiu. Some of the remains has already been transported to Cheng Du.

       8:12 AM today, the drainage project started to work in Tang Jiashan aera. Twenty minutes later, the water stream flew to the river bed of Qian river.

      The water level reached a peak in the early morning. The government took immediate action by start the project at 7:05 AM. The yellow alert signal was put on at the minute the draining project started. One of the governor in Mian Yang said:”We arrange three kinds of alert signals: yellow, orange and red. Simply speaking, the yellow signal is for the staff to get ready; the orange means we should inform the residents to be alerted; and the red is for all the civilians to evacuate immediately.” Now it is the time for us to get ready and be highly alert to danger and pay close attention to the rise of the water level.

      The commander ordered that after the meeting, all the staff should go back to their post immediately to make sure that one third of the going-to-be flooded area should be totally desolated. Further more, do make sure that all the evacuated residents should be well settled down.

      I haven’t heard any kind of earthquake drill carried out in any school in China before yesterday. Yes, we had a earthquake drill yesterday morning around 10. a.m. At that time we were having the American literature class.

      The immergency bell rang as it was announced one day in advance. One of our six boys was giving his presentation, and was forced to have an abrupt ending. Then the yardman entered our classroom from nowhere, hurring us to get out in order. We were quite relaxed and calm, only to find ourselves have an early dismiss.

      I think this kind of drill telling both students and staff how to deal with immergency is extremely necessary. Schools should always be alarm to provide training like this, because we can never predicate when a disarster is to arrive.

      However, I do not appreciate the drill we received, for it was arranged after the disarter had already happend. Actually, most of the immergency doors were deadly locked. Nobody could open it except for the yardmen. But when we were in the drill yeaterday, almost all the possible doors on our campus were open. It can never help if we were taking drills that were set under a different situation from the one we were always in. When earthquake hits, we still do not know where we can go and which door is open for us to get out.

      Hopefully, our shoolheads can be informed of this penalty.

      In the seriously striken areas like Ningqiang and Lueyang in Shaanxi province, people are busy with constructing temporary exam rooms for the up-coming National College Entrance Examination(NCEE).

      In order to ensure the examinees of suitable eviroment, schools set up temporary classrooms for them to do revision, dorms for accomodation and employ chefs to cook for them. This annual examination has always been the focus of attention for families and schools. Some are even nervous about it, not to mention this years special condition.

      The earthquake seemed to have disturbed the whole procedure. Many parents are eager to know when, where and how will this year’s exam be taken. Some examinees, together with their parents express their preference to take the exam in-doors. Well, a challenge for the students to take the exam definitely. But also a challenge for the government to carry it out to every one’s satisfaction, because some are calling for a cancelation.

       For me, the tents and food supplies can actually be sufficient for the students to do revision. One can never be always taken care of. The government has done what they are capable of. The rest is up to the students to handle.

       I totally understand that it might be difficult to concerntrate on learning right after the loss of house or even family members. But That Is Life! The unexpected are happening and will keep on happening at any time in our life. The only well-tried recipe is one’s strength of will. Stand up on you own two feet my deer examinees! You are no longer little kids. Go and get your credit in the coming exam!

      Yesterday was the day for all the children under 18 years old in China, including those in and from the earthquake striken area. What did they do on this very day then?

      Some teachers in places like Beichuan and Mianyang say the children are recovering smoothly. They tried to make them feel as comfortable as they were on the Children’s Day before. “But we must be cautious anyway,” says a teacher, “because this is there first Children’s Day without parents.”

      Though over 6000 kids have already reunited with their parents, there are still more than 1800 children have to spend the day alone. However, the government and the schools tried their best to provide them with a happy and comfortable holiday. And the kids were by no means disappointing. They are unexpectedly strong.

      Little Song Xinyi lost her parents in the Beichuan earthquake. She suffered a 40-hour torture in the ruin under the protection of her mom and dad’s remains. And now, she is recovering very well and is gettin prepared for her up-coming operation to have an artificial limb.

     Wish her all the best!!

      This is the happy moment the pupils had yesterday on the temporary playground in front of their tent school.

     Good luck for you all, my dear sisters and brothers! Hold fast to you hope and dreams and you can surely push through.

      In the Spring and Autumn Period, there were three proud warriors in Qi kingdom. They were all exclusively brave and good at battles. Thus the king held special favor for them. However, their arrogance made the Prime minister Yan Ying angry at them.

      One day, the king was holding a banquet dining the king and ambassador from the neighboring kingdom. Lu Prime minister Yan suggested that the three warriors should present in the dinner. Meanwhile, he was planning a cunnning trap for them.

      When the dinner came to its mid-way, Yan suggested that the peaches in the backyard were ripe enough to have a taste. Then the king asked some servant-girls to pick some up for tasting. However, Yan volunteered to pick on his own, because, he said, ripe peaches in this season were few and far between and the peaches in the backyard of our respectable king’s palace were even more precious. Let me go and pick some.

       Before long, Yan returned with six peaches on tray, but there were seven people presenting at that moment. The king asked:”Aren’t there any more peaches? Why didn’t you get some more?” “Because the others are not ripe enough to eat.” Yan answered, bowed and handed over one peach to his king and another to the king from the Lu country.

      The king was extremely happy with the little pretty and delicious peaches. He asked the abassador and his Primier to have one respectively and they accepted respectfully. This time, there were only two peaches left on the tray. Yan proposed that the bravest two would be rewarded the peaches, and the king gave the permission.

      One of the three worriors stepped forward and said he once killed a tiger that attacted the king when they were hunting in the forest. ”Aren’t I worth the peach for rescuing our respectable king?” Yan gave his agreement immediately and gave him the peach together with a cup of wine. The first worrior stepped aside infatuatedly.

      On seeing there was only one peach on the tray, another warrior stepped forward and hurried:”A tiger is just a piece of cake compared with the huge sea turtle I killed when I was companing the king across the yellow river. It dragged the horse into the billowy water and nearly got our king drowned. Hadn’t I jumped into the water, unimaginable things could have happend. Aren’t I deserve the peach?” The king agreed immediately that his life was save by him and alloted him the last peach.

      The last warrior was desparated seeing all the peaches gone. He shouted that it was unfair because he was the bravest one of them all. He successfully captured over 5000 enemies in a battle, so he thought he deserved the highest prize. The current situation was a insult to him and his contributions to this country. He killed himself on the spot.

      The other two felt deadly regret and sorry for his death. What’s more, they realized they were not as brave as the third one at all, so they killed themselves too, so as to relieve their guilt for killing their once comrade -in- battles.

      Following is a picture drawn in Han Dynasty as a record of this famous story.

      The upper stream of the Qianjiang River near Beichuan County was damaged in the May 12 earthquake, forming “quake lakes” as water was shoved from its bed by rock and mud slides sent off by the earthquakes.

      With the heavy rainfall recently in Sichuan province, the water lever is continually increasing. It is reported that at the highest point it has already measures 723 meters, only 29 meters below the lowest point of the weir crest in Tangjiashan district.

      According to the weather report, the following two days will witness 20~60mm rainfall. That means this district will be in great danger of flooding before long. In addition, the bad weather is also difficult for the soldiers to take action. They planned to land equipments into the lake district, but finally failed due to the thick clouds.

     Yesterday afternoon, an antiaircraft brigadge of 800 soldiers from Chengdu and 1000 armed policemen from Mianyang airport were called out, each carring 10kg explosive and a shovel, to march into the endangered quake lake in Tangjiashan.

      Great soldiers, you all have a brave heart!

      Having heared that Shannxi porvince will receive nearly 10,000 people from Beichuan, Sichuan province, I searched on the net for official news about it, but found nothing concrete to prove this saying.

      However, it will take one year or two for the earthquake striken district to recover. Thus, we should take immediate action to find a place for the victims. Sichuan government is now providing tents for them to live in temporarily, and is planning to building up resettling houses in 20 cities for them.

      According to some governors, the resettling houses would amount up to over 1,000,000 rooms in order to meet the need of the homeless 3,000,000. Each room should be sized about 20 square meters. A water supply station, a public lavatory and a garbage recycling center should be available for every 50 households. A primary school, a clinic and a market should go with every 1,000 households.

      This huge project is to be finished within four months with the help from many other provinces. Collective spirit is highly promoted and have been reflected all the way through China’s earthquake disarster. I think that’s why we are alway ranking our Chinese nation as a great nation.