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The Sichuan Earthquake and Civic Engagement in China (Epub & Pdf)

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The Politics of Compassion: The Sichuan Earthquake and Civic Engagement in China by Bin Xu Details

The 2008 Sichuan earthquake killed 87,000 people and left 5 million people homeless. In response to the devastation, an unprecedented surge of volunteers and civic associations in Sichuan to provide…

The Politics of Compassion synopsis

The 2008 Sichuan earthquake killed 87,000 people and left 5 million people homeless. In response to the devastation, an unprecedented surge of volunteers and civic associations in Sichuan to provide assistance.

The policy of compassion examines how committed citizens act on earth, how they understand the meaning of their actions, and how the political climate shapes their actions and understandings. Using extensive data from interviews, observations and textual materials, Ben Xu shows that large-scale civic participation was not only a natural flow of compassion, but also a complex social process, which was empowered and restricted through the authoritarian political context.

While volunteers expressed sympathy for the suffering of those affected, many of them avoided speaking openly about the causes of suffering, especially in the case of thousands of schools collapsing. Xu explains that this silence and apathy explains the general inability to discuss politically sensitive issues while living in a repressive state.

This book is a powerful account of how the death and suffering of the earthquake have grown into the moral and political dilemma facing Chinese citizens and provides a window on the world of civic engagement in contemporary China.



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