The Economist
Content
The unfiltered responses to a terrible train crash leave the Communist Party scrambling CHINA'S high-speed railway network, once a source of great pride for the Communist Party, has turned into an embarrassment. A collision between two trains on July 23rd near the coastal city of Wenzhou not only killed at least 35 people but also unleashed a torrent of online criticism of the network and the railway bureaucracy. The prompt dismissal of three senior railway officials is unlikely to diminish public outrage at the accident, which came hard on the heels of several malfunctions in a new high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai. The 1,318km (820-mile) line was launched with much fanfare at the end of June to coincide with official celebrations of the party’s 90th birthday. Even the rare sight of a Chinese official bowing in apology at a press conference about the crash appears to have done little to placate critics. Online demands abound that the railway minister, Sheng Guangzu, lose his job too. Mr Sheng was appointed only in February following allegations that his predecessor Liu Zhijun (a high-speed rail fanatic) was involved in corruption. The internet has proved a powerful amplifier of public scepticism in China, especially since Twitter-like services began to take off a couple of years ago. In this case, it has provided realtime, uncensored insights into a disaster that the authorities would doubtless have preferred to be covered in bare-bones style by trusted party organs. ChinaGeeks, an internet-monitoring website, has translated some of the comments that have been posted online by Chinese users. As China Media Project, another website, notes, even the official press has been quoting the observations of microbloggers. The party has been stumbling in its response. The railway ministry took hours to issue its apology. Mr Sheng, the minister, gave a terse interview (in Chinese) to state television on his way to the scene, saying nothing about human error. The sacking of three top officials of the Shanghai rail bureau, which is responsible for the area where the collision occurred, was no more than a routine party response to major accidents. It took similar action in 2008 after the last big railway disaster. The Global Times, a Beijing newspaper, said in an English-language commentary that the latest accident had delivered “a strong shock to China’s social psychology” and raised doubts about the country’s railway construction plans. These call for a huge expansion of the high-speed network in the next few years. The political shockwaves of this incident will probably reverberate longer than those of the rail disaster in 2008, even if the death toll remains lower (more than 70 died in the previous accident). China’s high-speed rail plans have been highly controversial. Some Chinese complain that the new services are effectively forcing up the price of rail travel by reducing the number of, cheaper, slower-speed trains. State-owned airlines also worry about competition (though concerns about rail safety might work in their favour). China Media Project has translated extracts from what it says are leaked directives to the official media banning discussion of the accident’s implications for the construction of high-speed rail. It is unlikely this will silence the debate.
Lest anyone think that inadequate train safety systems are found only in places like China, consider the case of the crash on the DC Metro system two years ago: The train crash was probably caused by human error and this kinda thing can happen anywhere else in the world, but in China, "losing face" is a big deal, so instead of setting up an objective inquiry to find out what really went wrong and try to learn from the mistake, the party hierarchy is scrambling to figure out who is going to "lose face" for this unfortunate accident. By the way, I don't think this train crash has anything to do with saying grace before meals! Yes yes yes, Train crashes are not unique to China. But you know what? Irregardless of what happens elsewhere it is still a preventable disaster that should be prevented. So for people like ChineseCentury who are trying to turn this into a nationalistic mud-slinging contest while wholly ignoring the problem I like to remind them that many Chinese people would be alive today if it wasn't for the inadequate safety, I find it sad that there are people willing to turn tragedies and potential reforms into their own personal political soap box.
This article is indeed saying China's transportation system is unsafe by western standards, that is a fact. It is recommending improvements, and improvements in safety knows no nationality, culture, or ethnicity. But I suppose there are the type of people who'd refuse donations, advice, and reason due to nationality. am a big fan of the Chinese high speed rail project, my commenting history is proof for it. I do not blame anyone for this disaster but I have lost a huge amount of confidence by the Chinese MOR's (ministry of railways) handling of this disaster. We are told this is cause by lightning and the rail cars are buried merely 2 days later. This is far too convenient so as to not blame anything on the rail system itself. Trains today are designed to be fail safe, even if the lightning story is true, there are multiple safety systems on the trains themselves specifically to stop a moving train from plowing into a stopped train. To say nothing of the failure of all back up measures to kick in is an insult to all who works in the profession. When the Japanese have an accident, they test and test until they figure out what is wrong. There was one incident where there is no single source of failure, through 5 years of testing, the Japanese came up with every factor contributing to the accident and completely revamped their track inspection methodology as a result. Compare that with burying the trains 2 days after the crash. I sympathize for Chinese people's patriotism, but the lack of logical objective response to a man made failure is not it. And what's Banyan doing with his diatribe against "The Party"? I would place the blame on the MOR (the department who actually run the trains), do Banyan automatically blame the congress party when a train derails in India?
Lest anyone think that inadequate train safety systems are found only in places like China, consider the case of the crash on the DC Metro system two years ago: The train crash was probably caused by human error and this kinda thing can happen anywhere else in the world, but in China, "losing face" is a big deal, so instead of setting up an objective inquiry to find out what really went wrong and try to learn from the mistake, the party hierarchy is scrambling to figure out who is going to "lose face" for this unfortunate accident. By the way, I don't think this train crash has anything to do with saying grace before meals! Yes yes yes, Train crashes are not unique to China. But you know what? Irregardless of what happens elsewhere it is still a preventable disaster that should be prevented. So for people like ChineseCentury who are trying to turn this into a nationalistic mud-slinging contest while wholly ignoring the problem I like to remind them that many Chinese people would be alive today if it wasn't for the inadequate safety, I find it sad that there are people willing to turn tragedies and potential reforms into their own personal political soap box.
This article is indeed saying China's transportation system is unsafe by western standards, that is a fact. It is recommending improvements, and improvements in safety knows no nationality, culture, or ethnicity. But I suppose there are the type of people who'd refuse donations, advice, and reason due to nationality. am a big fan of the Chinese high speed rail project, my commenting history is proof for it. I do not blame anyone for this disaster but I have lost a huge amount of confidence by the Chinese MOR's (ministry of railways) handling of this disaster. We are told this is cause by lightning and the rail cars are buried merely 2 days later. This is far too convenient so as to not blame anything on the rail system itself. Trains today are designed to be fail safe, even if the lightning story is true, there are multiple safety systems on the trains themselves specifically to stop a moving train from plowing into a stopped train. To say nothing of the failure of all back up measures to kick in is an insult to all who works in the profession. When the Japanese have an accident, they test and test until they figure out what is wrong. There was one incident where there is no single source of failure, through 5 years of testing, the Japanese came up with every factor contributing to the accident and completely revamped their track inspection methodology as a result. Compare that with burying the trains 2 days after the crash. I sympathize for Chinese people's patriotism, but the lack of logical objective response to a man made failure is not it. And what's Banyan doing with his diatribe against "The Party"? I would place the blame on the MOR (the department who actually run the trains), do Banyan automatically blame the congress party when a train derails in India?
