Matt Schiavenza From the Dragon to the Apple- A Sinophile in New York

A Moment of Silence

Urban China hums with noise, to an extent that even New Yorkers find staggering. There are car horns, loudspeaker announcements, musing blaring from shops, and sidewalk vendors on every block in every city. Then, of course, there are people...lots and lots of people. People jabbering into phones, spitting, shouting, laughing, and jostling for position. Even Kunming, a city with a reputation for sleepiness, bustles with constant activity.

I've spent the past few days hosting a college friend of mine who lives in Austin, Texas, and unsurprisingly he has also noticed the beehive atmosphere here in town. Yesterday, we walked through the downtown area and through the once-majestic Bird and Flower Market before reaching The Hump, a youth hostel cum bar located in Jinbi Square. As the sky brightened, we thought we'd reward ourselves with an afternoon beer after a few hours on foot.

As we approached the square, we noticed hundreds of middle-school aged students lined in single file, wearing identical blue track suits. There were unusually large crowds gathered as well, and I heard a man with a loudspeaker discuss what people were to do at 2:28pm.

Then I remembered- that time marked the one-week anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake, and the Chinese government had planned a nationwide moment of remembrance. I realized that in every city and town across this massive nation, people would be out in solidarity- more than a billion souls in all.

My friend and I rushed to the hostel and climbed onto the roof where we ordered our beers and a plate of fries. As we sat and waited, we heard a sudden blast of horn noise emanating from the street below. Everyone on the roof approached the ledge. We looked out over downtown Kunming, and saw people standing at their windows in apartment buildings. Everyone at street stood perfectly still. For two or three minutes, absolutely nothing happened and only the car horns and bomb sirens filled the void.

And then, just as suddenly, it was over. Traffic resumed, the sirens were turned off, and people went back to their lives. A couple of hours later, we turned on CCTV1 and saw footage of the exact same scene repeated in all of the nation's major cities, including the capital, where at Tiananmen Square the Politburo members bowed their heads in respect to the earthquake victims.

I was, to say the least, extremely impressed by the display of national unity shown yesterday. A fifth of the world's population stood still and reflected for three full minutes, a gesture as appropriate and lovely as it was amazing.