Praying for children and parents in Sichuan Province, China

[sabrinamari]

A link to NPR's Melissa Block report on a middle school in China post-earthquake: hundreds of parents wait to find out if their children survived as rescue workers dig them out:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90379917

"Dozens of bodies of children were laid out on the ground, waiting for parents to identify them, Block said. Once claimed, the bodies were wrapped in shrouds and brought under plastic tarps. Hundreds of parents waited for hours in the rain for word of their children."

An analysis of the role of religion in the post-earthquake recovery process and at this middle school in my brother's blog:

"Natural Disasters Produce Religious Echoes"

http://religionculturepower.blogspot.com/2008/05/natural-disasters-produce-religious.html

Excerpt:

" In particular she [Melissa Block] observed how parents of children, upon finding them dead, would build small altars, bring candles and incense, and burn paper money as they were wrapped up. In Chinese (and Japanese) indigenous religion, money is a regular element of sacrifice, not only because it represents the hard work and commitment of the earner, but also because capital is a form of power. The sacrifice of money is a transfer of power to the ancestral realm, as the children take their place in the spirit world. Just as in Confucian religion China is termed the 'Middle Kingdom,' responsible for carrying out the 'Mandate of Heaven,' so the otherworld in Chinese religion often resembles a mirror image of the sociopolitical world of China, complete with a 'Celestial Bureaucracy.' Money and power grease the wheels of a Celestial Bureaucracy just as they do in the Middle Kingdom."


If you believe in the power of prayer and the real impact of what we call magic, this is a good time to put your skills and beliefs to use on behalf of the children and parents of the Middle Kingdom.

Comments

[citabria]

Hmm, the link about the religious aspect of things is interesting.

My only experience with religion in China is quite different -- I represented a refugee whose parents were persecuted (and whose other relatives had been imprisioned or killed) because they were Catholic. The Chinese government is traditionally *not* kind to Catholics. Because of that, I'm curious how much those governmentally-repressed religions are strengthening, and how (exactly) the government is responding, if at all.

Good point. Its a matter of definitions and agendas

[quiet-wyatt72.livejournal.com]

That's an excellent point. Monotheistic churches in China (which is officially atheist) have to be licensed, and the government considers Catholicism and the Vatican to be a challenge to its temporal/political authority. I linked to a Protestant Christian church in my blog, but didn't cover Catholicism. One of the reasons that Chinese indigenous religions (and to a lesser extent, Buddhism) tend to be protected are precisely because they are interpreted by the government as simply part of the "social code" of personal activity, rather than as a a form of sectarian "religion." In this case, definitions are everything.