Word: sichuan
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When a devastating earthquake hit China's Sichuan province in May 2008, one bright spot in the disaster was the massive outpouring of support from across the country. In the weeks following the magnitude 8.0 quake, millions of Chinese contributed to relief efforts, either in cash donations or volunteer labor. Cars and trucks loaded with clothes, bottled water and instant noodles streamed into the disaster zone, where nearly 90,000 people had been killed and 5 million left homeless. The response was so overwhelming that authorities blocked roads and turned away volunteers because they threatened to overwhelm official rescue work...
...while many observers have said that this outpouring of support represented a turning point for civil society in China, new research suggests the state still dominates aid work. Average Chinese, many with no connection to Sichuan, contributed blood, sweat and cash to relief efforts, and for non-governmental organizations toiling in obscurity, the disaster represented an opportunity to raise cash and build support networks in one of China's most populous provinces. But much of the donations collected over the past year ended up being funneled through local governments, according to a new study conducted by researchers from Beijing...
...month investigation into donations and volunteer work in Sichuan estimated that as much as 80% of the total contributed to relief efforts was eventually dispersed to government accounts. In some cases local governments required volunteer groups to hand over funds, says Deng Guosheng, an associate professor at Tsinghua's School of Public Policy and Management, who headed the research team. But in general the heavy reliance on the state is an indicator of the underdeveloped state of many NGOs in China. "Most NGOs are incapable and desperately in need of money," says Deng. "Some of them couldn't even afford...
...wine, ecstasy and disorder. "Philosophically, we are trying to set aside this opposition between the body and soul," he declares. "Pleasure is in the mind, too; it's not only physical." Perhaps. But there's true corporeal delight in the surprise of biting into confectionery topped with numbing Sichuan buttons, or in experiencing previously unimagined combinations like artichoke confit with green aniseed, or foie gras - infused marshmallow - an elegant précis of the French culinary canon in one cubical mouthful. (See the top 10 Tour de France moments...
...Britain's Olympic gold-medal cyclists train at the National Cycling Centre, tel: (44-161) 223 2244. Evening would find me at Bridgewater Hall, tel: (44-161) 907 9000, which has some of the U.K.'s best acoustics, watching a performance by the Hallé Orchestra, followed by a Sichuan feast at Red Chilli, tel: (44-161) 236 2888. For a nightcap, I'd head to Socio Rehab, tel: (44-161) 832 4529. See pictures of London...