Word: wens
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...Unlikely Hero, Familiar Villains One of the most widely praised aspects of the relief operation was the speed and scale with which the government responded. And to both Chinese and foreigners the man primarily responsible for that was the country's Premier, 66-year-old Wen Jiabao. Within two hours of the earthquake, Wen was on a plane to the disaster area and for the next four days, Chinese TV was flooded with images of the increasingly exhausted-looking leader as he rallied the relief forces, offered succor to survivors and even choked up himself...
...doubted Wen's sincerity or sympathy for the victims. He has long been the human face of the country's Communist Party. But there was also little doubt that Wen was acutely aware that the survival of the regime may depend on its handling of crises. Having discarded its Marxist-Leninist ideology, the government is increasingly reliant on public approval for its legitimacy. Netizens responded rapturously to Wen's TV appearances: "I couldn't help crying when I saw the pictures of Premier Wen in the stricken region," wrote one poster in a typical online comment. "I feel very safe...
...Wen's star turn notwithstanding, the real danger to the party comes from its rotten base: the county and township officials whose corruption and venality has had the greatest impact on the lives of hundreds of millions. There's sure to be backlash over the number of children killed by the quake, buried in their classrooms as shoddily built schools collapsed around them. In one structure alone - the three-story Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan - at least 600 students died. "It was built out of tofu," says Hu Yuefu, 44, of the building that toppled and killed his 15-year...
...lived. He was near Chengdu when the quake hit and was uninjured. But his mother, who was napping at home, did not survive. He has twice walked in from Dujiangyan, a distance of nearly 22 miles (35 km), to visit his home. He was in town when Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao spoke to the survivors and rescue workers last week, but he didn't have the heart to attend. "I don't know what the future will be like here," Wu says. "This place doesn't seem suitable for human life...
...county were that the damage was severe. In the town of Yingxiu, only 2,300 out of a population of 10,000 survived, the state-run Xinhua said. Helicopters that had been prevented from flying to the area because of heavy rains were finally able to deliver supplies. Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew in with the troops, told residents, "The central government has not forgotten about this place...