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Leave Home Early to Avoid Traffic Jam Wangjianshuo, my sympathies to you and the Chinese people in the midst of the unfolding tragedy with the earthquake and the continuing aftershocks. I have many friends in North America and Europe who want to donate and even physically provide support if possible to the afflicted region (especially in Germany, Austria and South America-- I travel there a lot, and a good number of engineers and professionals there that I know, want to provide help to China). If there is anything we can do as far as donations or other forms of help, please provide updates on the blog. Also just as an aside, I was wondering-- is the Chinese government repealing the One Child Policy for people in the earthquake regions? I like China and the Chinese people, and I understand the difficulty of the challenge that China faces-- ensuring that the Chinese population stabilizes at replacement fertility (2.1 or whatever), ensuring that the economy is supported by enough young workers. It's a difficult challenge for any country, and I understand why the Chinese government encourages smaller families (even if i I wish it were more of a voluntary policy). Still-- it just seems cruel to me to be enforcing the One Child Policy now in Sichuan or other regions vulnerable to earthquakes or floods like this. The families love their children and also depend on their kids to grow up and provide for them, and it would seem fair to me to allow families in earthquake or flood-vulnerable regions to have more than one child. If they have only one child and then lose their child-- as so many families did-- then they lose everything, and in a dangerous region like Sichuan where a schoolhouse can collapse like that, it would seem reasonable to allow couples to have larger families. Anyway, just my two cents. My heart goes out to everyone there, and again, please let your readers know if there is anything we can do to help for earthquake relief. |