Speaking during a 10-day visit to London the Dalai Lama said he was "quite optimistic" about the future.
China was changing through "wider contact with outside world," he said.
He cited China's efforts to deal with the recent earthquake that left tens of thousands of…

The real-time mythologising of Wen Jiabao ("This is Grandpa Wen Jiabao, hang on child, we will rescue you!") strikes a bum note in the West, but I don't…

Far from being some kind of dirty secret, the Tangshan earthquake is widely discussed in the media and by the Chinese that I know.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/may/20/amvidquake

but what I have mostly seen on TV is soldiers digging with shovels and their hands.

Yes, that's right. They're using light-weight, non-mechanised tools on the pile. Think about what they're trying to achieve. At this point, people are quite likely still alive. Consider how long after other major earthquakes…

you know, the look that says, "wtf would jesus do?"

I thought the look was "umm. I'm halfway through a book right now about a goat. and you know how long it takes me to read a book".

To deflect public anger or pre-empt an uncaring look (don't you think George Bush would do things differently if he knew then what he knows now when the levees broke in New Orleans?) and...

i accept all your points, but had a pedantism.

bush did know what he knows now…

But it is true that the current generation of leaders, particularly Premier Wen, have been characterized by a marked and authentic concern for the plight of the common people since they came into power just over five years ago and their response…

I arrived in Dujiangyan near the epicenter at 5am on Tuesday morning, less than 15 hours after the initial quake, and was impressed by the sheer number of rescue teams from the…

On the topic, China's leaders have already set a precedent in disaster-related public relations.

The winter storms in January had Wen Jiaobao flying around and speaking to crowds with a megaphone, most memorably at the main railway station in Guangzhou where half…

must be following the Cheney/Rumsfeld school of PR--
if one pretends something never hapened, the facade becomes reality as quickly as one can say "CNN".

but i forgot--
Cheney/Rumsfeld learnt their skills by carefully studying the history of the CCP.