Serving the people wholeheartedly is the characteristics of China's human rights practice and the nature of the state power led by the CPC.

   This nature is ever more apparent in disasters.

   Many people love to compare the recent Wenchuan quake with the tremor of similar magnitude that struck Tangshan, 150 kilometers east of Beijing, in the predawn of July 28, 1976, killing 240,000 lives.

   The Tangshan quake was an extremely destructive disaster at a special historical moment, as Chairman Mao Zedong, the then leader of the Chinese people, was seriously ill and some "armchair politicians" who were in charge of the publicity work were coveting the supreme power of the country and making troubles to the rescue and relief work with their "revolution." So there was little media coverage of the disaster for quite some time and, due to the abnormal political atmosphere, China declined any international aid. Even at that time, this was regarded as against common sense and people had good reason to feel indignant at those "armchair politicians."

   However, exactly because the nature of the state power was not changed, the leaders in charge of the Party and government's daily work did not forget the fundamental principle of serving the people wholeheartedly. Therefore, to decline the international aid and failure to cover the quake clearly and openly did not mean that the government failed to take any action. In fact, the Chinese government then managed to react as quickly as possible at the time and launched the rescues on a scale not second to that in the wake of Wenchuan quake today.

   By all means, despite the undesirable political interferences, the Tangshan earthquake went down in history as a positive case of human rights practice with Chinese characteristics.

   Qian Gang, a writer, participated in the Tangshan rescue work and interviewed many eyewitnesses afterwards, which formed a book entitled Great Earthquake of Tangshan which came off the press in 1986, ten years of the tragedy. Although a report after the event, it is a more truthful record in a distance from the abnormal political environment.

   According to Qian Gang's record, at 10:00 on the morning of July 28, 1976, some six hours after the first tremor, the deputy chief of staff of the Beijing Military Command of the People's Liberation Army led a taskforce to land at the Tangshan Airport in emergency. A little while later, a staff of personnel from the PLA Air Force arrived, who were followed by the first group of leaders from the CPC provincial committee of Hebei and Hebei Military Command at 11:00. By noon chiefs of the Beijing Military Command, the Party Secretary of Hebei and the minister of coal industry landed in Tangshan. Between 14:00 and 16:00 that afternoon, 8 planes carried medical workers from the northeast, west and east China to the city.  

   Meanwhile, 100,000 PLA troops rushed to Tangshan by highways to rescue the victims. It was apparently a very quick maneuver, especially when considering the information and communication means were far more backward than they are today, and the fact that the central government leaders did not know the exact epicenter until several hours after the quake struck. Similarly apparent is that without the resolute of the supreme leadership of the Party and government, such maneuver of the army would have been impossible. As Qian Gang remarked afterwards, "Mao Zedong was unable to manage the country then as he was already seriously bedridden." Not long after the Tangshan earthquake, Mao passed away on September 9, 1976. However, observed Qian, "The whole set of methods formed under Mao Zedong was fixed, which had taken shape since the founding of the People's Republic."

   The pivot of this whole set of methods is no other than the maxim that the interests of the people is above everything. This is also what Mao Zedong emphasized in his political report to the 7th National Congress of CPC in April 1945, On Coalition Government: "Our point of departure is to serve the people whole-heartedly and never for a moment divorce ourselves from the masses, to proceed in all cases from the interests of the people and not from the interests of individuals or groups, and to understand the identity of our responsibility to the people and our responsibility to the leading organs of the Party."

   It is necessary to point out that in those years when the information technology was not developed, it was Mao Zedong himself who advocated for opening information up, including such negative news as disasters. A Selected Collection of Mao Zedong's Letters published by the Central Literature Press in 2003 included a letter Mao wrote to two leading officials in charge of communication on June 20, 1959, which typically expressed his ideas to make disasters known to the public: "The torrential rains in Guangdong should be faithfully reported. Disasters all over the nation should be publicized as well so as to arouse the people to fight them. Nothing should be hidden."

   In times of peace, "to serve the people wholeheartedly" may be regarded as a sole political slogan and could fade away in the mind of those officials who evolved into bureaucrats while enjoying a comfortable life. However, so long as the nature of this regime remains unchanged, it would be the motivation to amass all the forces for rescue and relief work when disasters strike. This was true in the Tangshan earthquake, and is true in the latest Wenchuan earthquake, and has been true in all the disasters prior to and after Tangshan.

   In fact, even the national program to try and predict quakes, a world-class challenge, was launched by the Chinese government in response to the ordinary people's call. In March 1966, two earthquakes of magnitude 6.8 and 7.2 respectively upset Xingtai in north China's Hebei and killed more than 8,000. They were the first major catastrophic quakes in the 17 years of the People's Republic, and the Chinese leaders were very concerned. Premier Zhou Enlai hurried to the stricken areas the day after the first quake to direct the relief work and express sympathy to the victims. An old peasant held the Premier's hands and thanked the government for what it had done for the people, but demanded at the same time, "Next time before the earth quakes, could the government give us a warning?"

   Back in Beijing, Premier Zhou gathered a group of China's leading earth scientists and asked them to help avert such disasters. In 1971, the State Seismological Bureau was created to lead the studies on earthquake prediction and monitoring. Although scientists are still grooving on the rugged path to accurate forecast, it is remarkable that such a program was launched at the request of a peasant.

   Ten years after the Tangshan earthquake, a memorial to the disaster was erected in the city in 1986. The inscription says, "After the earthquake struck, the Party Central Committee and the State Council sent urgent telegrams to the whole nation to send rescue teams at top speed. Over 100,000 PLA troops set out in great haste and started rescue as soon as they arrived in the city. Disregarding their own safety, they saved lives, cleared out debris, built shelters and made meritorious services. More than 50,000 medical workers, cadres and civilian workers came to treat the injured, transport goods, deliver the victims from dangers, and offer favors weighty as mountains. Donations in cash and good poured in from all directions, with thousands of tons of goods carried to the stricken areas which enabled the people of Tangshan to get over the plight of grain and water deficient safely. Meanwhile, the condolation groups dispatched by the Party Central Committee came for inspections and the provincial and municipal government leaders directed the relief work on the spot. Work as to transfer the injured, clear the corpses and take measures of epidemic prevention, resume water and electricity supply and deliver relief goods was unfolded immediately and successfully. Ten days after the shock, the railway transportation was resumed; in less than one month the schools reopened, factories restarted production, and businesses came to life again; before the winter came over one million simply equipped shelters stood up in the ruins with no victim suffering cold and hunger. After the catastrophe the city witnessed fewer cases of diseases and no pestilence occurred, which created a wonder in the history of disaster relief." 

   Also written in the inscription are the following words: "Contemplating the present and recalling the past, ten years have passed by in the twinkling of an eye. Here every brick, grass and wood claims such truth that the Communist Party of China is brilliant and great, the socialist system is incomparably superior, the People's Liberation Army is loyal and reliable and the people who have become the master of their own destiny can never be overwhelmed."

   In both snow disaster of last January and current Wenchuan earthquakes there appeared voluntary rescue teams from Tangshan citizens, who would return the concerns shown to them from the Party and government 32 years ago to the disaster-hit compatriots today.

   All these facts serve to reflect how popular is "serving the people wholeheartedly."

Army not armed

   The army is the pillar of the state machine. The nature of the state power also determines the nature of the country's armed forces.

   Tremendous changes are witnessed from Tangshan to Wenchuan: the government is a lot stronger financially, the telecommunications are a lot more developed, and the country is a lot more open.

   One thing that has remained intact is that the army as the efficient instrument of the state is still the backbone of the rescue and relief. The nature of the regime that serves the people wholeheartedly has determined that the Chinese People's Liberation Army, the People's Armed Police and the Public Security forces are still the people's own troops and are still reliable.

   As compared to Tangshan, the Wechuan quake was not only of greater magnitude and more destructive but also made it hard to rescue – the disaster-hit people were scattered in deep mountains in an areas of several thousand square kilometers, while the stricken areas, already plagued with terrains inaccessible and geological hazards, were hit by constant aftershocks which caused mud-rock flows, cave-ins and landslides that blocked or seriously damaged the highways. Ground-mechanized maneuvers were out of the question. Sichuan has been notorious since ancient times for its inaccessibility. The earthquake has further worsened the transportation conditions.

   But our resolute army determined to reach the people trapped by the disaster would not be stopped by any hardships and dangers. Even if they were forced to trek the mountains and blaze the trail, they still moved fast.

   In defiance of flying rocks and landslides, 200 troops from the People's Armed Police trekked 90 kilometers in 21 hours to reach the county seat of Wenchuan at 23:15, May 13, and were the first to get there from outside.

   An army commander who lost his only son a month before the quake headed a 30-member taskforce to be first rescue unit to appear in Yingxiu, the epicenter in Wenchuan County.

   Two days after the quake, 15 soldiers from a parachute unit of the PLA Air Force jumped 4,999 meters into Maoxian County, a seriously stricken area, to help resotre the county's communication with the outside world. Enclosed by mountains of more than 4,000 meters in the narrow Minjiang Gorges, Maoxian defies parachuting due to frequently changing climatic conditions. The steep terrain there offered no landing spots. The parachutists were jumping above thick clouds and acting blindly. You do not need to be a military expert to know that to parachute in such a place is to put one's life at high risk.

   Some 76 hours after the first wave struck, the PLA and Armed Police troops had reached all the 58 most severely stricken towns in Sichuan. It was speedy action in the face of extreme physical and climatic conditions.

   Behind the action is such a timetable on May 12:

   At 14: 28, the earthquake struck.

   At 14:46, the Xinhua, China's national news agency, broke the news.

   At 15:50, the General Staff of the PLA started is emergency program.

   At 16:00, two PLA helicopters were sent to the stricken areas for information.

   At 17:00, Premier Wen Jiabao rushed to the stricken areas.

   At 18:28, 2,900 troops of the Armed Police in Sichuan were dispatched for rescue.

   At 18:44, 5,000 troops from the PLA Chengdu Command were dispatched for rescue.

   At 19:20, the advance directing group of the Chengdu Command entered the stricken area.

   For reference, let's have a look at another timetable.

   At 6:10 in the morning of August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina landed in New Orleans in the southern United States.

   Despite the early warning from the National Hurricane Center 48 hours ago, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not require to dispatch 1,000 rescuers until 5 hours after the landing of Katrina, and wanted them to get into the stricken areas "in two days."

   Upon learning the news, President G. W. Bush, who was vacationing on his Texas farm, continued his vacation for another two days before he decided to cut it short. He "inspected" the disaster-hit areas on his way back to Washington, D.C., in the air, as the Air Force One hovered around over New Orleans.

   The White House set up its response to the hurricane 36 hours later, but decided to "start the work the following day."

   If the timetable is not explicit enough, we can have a look at the different performances of the troops of the two countries.

   The day after the hurricane attack, May 30, large-scale looting and arsenal broke out in New Orleans. A tourist asked the police for help and got the reply: "Go to hell, it's every man for himself!"

   On August 31, 1,500 policemen received the order to stop searching for survivors but put the city back to order. On September 1, 6,500 National Guards hurried to New Orleans, with a 40,000 reinforcement the following day. While announcing the armed forced had come to New Orleans, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco said to the local people menacingly: "These troops know how to shoot and kill and I expect they will." When a woman entrapped by the flood on top of the roof asked the National Guard soldiers in boats for help, she was demanded to lift up her clothes to prove she did not carry any arms.

   In striking contrast, the 130,000 PLA soldiers to rescue in the stricken areas of Wenchuan earthquake did not carry guns.

   The 100,000 PLA soldiers to do the rescue and relief work in Tangshan 32 years were unarmed as well.

   The PLA troops then and now had only one purpose: To save lives. At the sight of them, the disaster-hit people's first reaction was: "As the PLA has come, our fear is gone."

Why?

   Chairman Mao once said: "Without a people's army the people have nothing." That means with a people's army, the people have everything. That's why the people feel they are backed up when they see the PLA has come.

   In other words, the people's army is a strong guarantee for the human rights practice with Chinese characteristics.

   While comparing the performances of the Chinese and American armies in the two disasters, some netizens ask: Did the delayed response of the US government the "colorful performance" of the US troops armed to teeth mean to "respect for lives"? Were the PLA troops who rushed to rescue at the soonest possible time geared to the performance of the US troops in the Katrina?

   Interviewed by a Hong Kong TV, a soldier from the Armed Police troops that were the first to trek into Wenchuan stuck to one reply no matter what question was put up to him: "Because we are the loyal guardians of the Party and the people." A viewer who watched the interview said, at a normal time, I might feel miserable at this answer, assuming the soldier had been brain washed and rigid, and was no better than "an obedient tool." But after the disaster, I am full of gratitude and admiration for him when hearing him saying so.

   Our soldiers are indeed not good at talk. But it is inscribed into their hearts that the people's army is for the people. This is their belief and the motivation driving them in the recent emergency.

   This motivation has nothing to do with the "universal values" but has stemmed from the fine tradition of the people's army nurtured by Mao Zedong and other predecessors of the CPC during the decades of revolutionary wars. A commentator of the Hong Kong Phoenix TV remarked: "The PLA brought up in Mao Zedong's era has not fallen in the torrents of the market economy. Don't these soldiers know how to make big money in the market economy? What have they sacrificed for? The Hong Kong citizens have finally come to understand what a people's army is. This is the genuine people's army in the world."

Noise

   The "universal values" that emphasize individual freedom and rights also made some show during the disaster. However, amidst thousands of people who fought the disaster and saved other in spite of their personal safety, the sporadic shows of "universal values" appeared alien like noise.

    Shortly prior to the earthquake, an economist said openly: "It is folly to sacrifice oneself for the fortune of others." He insisted that "the extreme of 'sacrificing oneself for others' is towards terrorism. Those who serve as body bombs are such people."

     Fortunately, none of the 130,000 PLA soldiers who went to the stricken areas after the earthquake has listened to him. Nor did anyone believe that the numerous heroes who sacrificed themselves for others would go towards terrorism.

    What makes people shudder are the few people who did practice what the economist said and would never sacrifice themselves for others.

    When the earth first rocked, a high school teacher at Dujiangyan was in class. It instantly occurred to him it was an earthquake, when he dashed to the stairway and was the first to get to the playground. It took quite a while when his students came. He asked them why they didn't get out sooner. The students said, "We didn't realize it was a quake at first and you disappeared so soon. Why didn't you wait to take us out?"

   To this, the teachers replied, "I'm never a person who dares to dedicate himself but I'm concerned about my own life, don't you know?" To a somehow disappointed student, the teacher said, "I'm a person in quest of liberty and justice, but I'm not a person who puts the interests of others above his own and is brave to make self-sacrifice! At the moment of life or death, I may only consider giving up myself for the safe of my daughter. I would not care about anyone else, not even my mother. Because I do not have the strength to carry adults, at the emergency moments it's good enough if only one has escaped. If it's too dangerous, it's pointless for me to die together with you; if it's not that dangerous, you could manage to escape without my help, not to mention that you are already 17 or 18!"

   In his blog, the teacher wrote, "Maybe this is my effort to absolve myself, but I feel no guilty morally at all. I also told my students that "I'd never be a man to fight a hooligan holding a knife!'"

   The teacher's remarks were like blasts in BBS. Some netizens observed that what is sad is not such kind of people exist in China today but "they even are working as teachers" and "using their theory – putting the interests of others above one's own and sacrificing oneself for others' sake is an option rather than virtue – and their practice – taking the lead to escape for life without evening giving a warning to the students – to teach the kids. Imagine, if everyone behaved like them in this earthquake, what would happen?!"

   In China's human rights practice in the past, there was the inclination of overemphasis of collective rights and neglect of individual liberty and rights. However, the Wenchuan earthquake served as a blow and a shout to the universal values emphasizing individual liberty and rights, revealing that individual liberty and rights are not without boundary. Even a friend of that high school teacher observed that as an ordinary person, it might be OK to take the lead to escape when the quake struck, but as a teacher one is obliged to guarantee that the students withdraw safely first. Meanwhile, the individual liberty and rights should also be manifested in the respect and safeguarding of public mores and values. If putting other's interests above one's own and self-sacrifice are just one option rather than virtue, how about those teachers who dedicated their lives to save their students? Aren't they worth our respect? If these deeds are not virtues, what kind of actions would match the term?

   By all means, the words of that high school teacher's could be openly discussed online indicates a progress of the times. In such clashes of different values, people could compare and distinguish what is the true, the good, and the beauty, and what are genuine liberty and rights.

Justification

   Thanks to the modern telecommunication means, China's current rescue and relief work is able to be unprecedented in openness and transparency. The Chinese government and army's responsibility for the people and their capacity to mobile the people and resources in response to the crisis and their efficiency have been fully exhibited on the media. Those who have always figure pointed at China in issues of high rights suddenly became dumb.

   Then some people came out with their explanations. At one moment, they say it's the outcome of China getting "geared to international standard," even the people's donation of money and blood is said be the influence of "universal values." At other moment, they say "the CPC has done so just to justify its legality of ruling."

   Both sayings are terribly wrong.

   The Communist Party of China managed to grow up from dozens of members when it was founded in 1921, expand despite numerous suppressions, bloody purges, encirclements and finally take the power of the country after countless martyrs' deaths, simply because it has gathered and relied on the power of the people. Rallying under the CPC to fight for their liberation were the broad masses of workers and peasants who were reduced to the bottom of society. This is the congenital foundation of the current regime of China. The people's support is where the regime is justified. Over the years there have been various forces trying to sever the blood ties between CPC and the people so as to root the Party out of its base. However, this regime is rather too deeply rooted in its base, and one after another crisis has reminded the leaders of CPC time and again that they should never get divorced from the people and destroy their base by themselves.

   The CPC that has toughened itself in hardships and disasters does not need an earthquake to justify the legitimateness of its governance, since the legality has already existed in its blood ties with the people. Only the long-existing blood ties between the Party, PLA and the people are finally exhibited to the world by means of the quake via the modern communication technologies. As a netizen joked, now it is impossible for those biased people to demonize the Communist-led army. Even if they harbor 10,000 prejudices against it, they have to confirm that the PLA is good, or they would be cursed to death by the "universal" people. Another netizen said, "To save the people from disasters in spite of their own safety has been a fine tradition of our Party and army, which has nothing to do with getting geared to international standard." This time it is the international community that is geared to Chinese standard.

   All in all, the Communist Party of China has taken power and remained in governance to this day simply because it has valued the people's lives. From Tangshan to Wenchuan, the human rights practice with Chinese characteristics in the principle of serving the people wholeheartedly is clear cut. In normal days, it might fade or be deviated, but at time of crisis, its nature bares.