New York TimesQuite the contrast with Myanmar, isn't it. I can't help but wonder if China sees the international communities response to that crisis and realize it would be better to be open and cooperative, ask for assistance, and show they care about their citizens.
News of the quake has dominated Chinese television. The state-controlled media have been especially aggressive in their coverage, with reporters fanning out across the stricken region. Home video, cellphone images and commentary have been flowing uncensored onto Web sites.
This really is a level of openness for China that is unprecedented.
China is an interesting place right now. One of my co-workers lived there for several years, and he was always somewhat amused by what the Chinese government censored and did NOT censor. Indeed, he had fun contrasting with what the U.S. media censors and does not censor (he is French, BTW, so he was an impartial observer of both censorship regimes).
The primary goal of the Chinese government is public order, and in that they are supported by the vast majority of the people. They censor where they feel it is necessary -- especially pro-democracy stuff or anything that questions the legitimacy of the regime -- but in other things, the Chinese press is surprisingly open. This is obviously one of those stories that they do not feel threatens public order, indeed, helps confirm the legitimacy of the regime thus coverage is to be encouraged. Compare/contrast the regime immediately sending 50,000 troops to help with rescue operations, to the response of the U.S. government to Hurricane Katrina. The Chinese media -- and people -- certainly are doing so. Whose government is illegitimate, again?
In other words, openness (in this case) is in the regime's best interests, and I have been impressed with just how sharp the Chinese have been recently -- they have made VERY few wrong steps lately. Even the response to Tibetan demonstrations and Tibetan violence against Han Chinese was carefully calculated to increase the regime's legitimacy as the "defender of public order" amongst the Han majority, no matter how bad it looked to those of us *outside* of China...