Norwegian Embassy mourns victims

Norwegian embassy in Beijing flew their national flag at half-mast to mourn the attack. Photos provided by The Mirror

By Chu Meng

The Royal Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, the Norwegian Consulates in Shanghai and Guangzhou, and the Norwegian Honorary Consulate in Hong Kong flew their national flag at half-mast to after the shocking attacks that killed 76 people last Friday in Oslo and Utoya Island.

A three-day half-mast condolence began in Norway’s embassy at No. 1 East Street in Sanlitun in Beijing at 4 pm last Saturday.

Yang Lei, press officer at the Norwegian Embassy in Beijing, said they had called off all routine visits or cultural events in Beijing. The attacks are the worst in the country since World War II.

76 people dead from the shocking attack.

“The ambassador is paying close attention to the progress of events back in Norway in order to share core information with Norwegians in China. We are also fully prepared to facilitate Norwegians here who want to go back home at present. But we have also notified them that it currently might not be a good time to do so,” Yang said.

Until yesterday, bunches of flowers, candles and cards could be seen in front of the gate of the embassy.

“Each day, many Norwegian students from international schools, employees and tourists in Beijing and from surrounding cities like Tianjin come here to show their condolences to the death. Some of them present flowers in tears, light candles and sing the national anthem,” he said.

Ambassador Svein Ole Saether expressed his thoughts in a letter to media shortly after the events: “Our priority is to help save lives and to care for the wounded and those who have lost their loved ones. Our thoughts and sympathy go out to the families of the victims.”

Flowers are laid and tears are shed for the deceased.

Sven Karlsen, a Norwegian who has worked in Beijing for two years, said, “It is extremely inhuman. And they were still university students and children.”

According to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao sent a letter of condolence on July 23 to Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg regarding the attack. Wen condemned the attacks, expressed condolences to the victims and extended sympathy to the bereaved families.

Reuters cited Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Store, as saying on Tuesday: “Let me be clear: this is a deliberate attack on the Norwegian government and the new generation of Norwegian politicians. We will not be intimidated or threatened by these attacks. The aim of such attacks is to spread fear and panic. We will not let that happen,” said Store.

Back in Norway, the government and the police have launched a full scale criminal investigation in order to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Lesson of risk and sacrifice – Policeman killed while rescuing students on Huangshan

By Wang Yu

On December 11, a group of students found themselves trapped in an area in Huangshan mountain, Anhui Province that was closed to the public. The local police department sent a rescue team to save the travelers, but on the way down a policeman fell to his death.

The travelers – 10 students from Fudan University –  had originally planned to cross the undeveloped area of the mountain in two days. They ignored warnings about the area, which lacks signs and decent roads.

Fudan students mourn the death of a life-saving policeman. Gao Jianping/CFP Photo

A student surnamed Tang, former chairman of Fudan’s outdoor association and one of the leaders of the doomed expedition, said the route was not new and that many outdoor teams had walked across the area. Besides regular equipment, the team had GPS devices and professional maps on them.

However, during the trip, someone dropped the group’s GPS in water and it stopped working. The students were soon lost, and then it began to rain. The team had to camp on high ground to avoid drowning; eventually they decided to send out an SOS.

Fans heal Beijing to mourn anniversary of Jackson’s death

Jackson's fans carry signs with environmental slogans. Photos by Chu Meng

By Chu Meng

Michael Jackson’s Chinese fan club held a bicycling event around the capital last Saturday to commemorate the first anniversary of the King of Pop’s death and spread Jackson’s dream of healing heal the world.

“Heal the World” blasted from a mini-boom box attached to a bicycle early that morning in front of Xidan Joy City. Thirty fans gathered for the one-day green biking trip. Some wore Jackson T-shirts, others wore crystal gloves or black hats.

The cyclists carried boards with environmental protection slogans as they rode from Xidan to Sanlitun to Wangfujing before ending at Houhai.

The cyclists were members of the Michael Jackson Love Club, a subdivision of Beijing’s largest Jackson fan community.

“They came together because of Jackson. They stay together because they want to be people who love our environment and help the children,” said Chen Yang, the 30-something leader of the club.

Polish immigrants worldwide mourn crash victims

A mourner carries a tribute to the Polish President Lech Kaczynski upon arriving at a ceremony at the Katyn memorial in Toronto on Sunday, April 11. AP Photo

CHICAGO — Polish immigrants and their descendants around the world shared the anguish of their mother country on Sunday, mourning the 96 victims of a devastating plane crash as they crowded into Polish-language Masses.

Millions of Poles have emigrated over nearly two centuries, establishing large communities in the United States and Britain. They coped with Saturday’s death of Polish President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of other military, church and government officials through vigils, prayer and writing.

“It was like losing a family member,” said Blanche Weigand, whose mother immigrated from Poland to Chicago in 1950. “I’m from Chicago, but my heart is in Poland.”

Weigand grew up speaking fluent Polish and eating her mother’s pierogi, and stays in touch with her Polish cousins each week through Skype.

The nation is in mourning after the crash, which occurred in Russia near Katyn forest. The dignitaries had been on their way to Katyn to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the massacre there of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet forces.

Weigand said the crash makes her want to go to Poland, while her 88-year-old mother hasn’t been able to talk about the tragedy at all. Instead, she cries, is plagued by headaches and recounts painful memories of being captured by Nazis.

“She’s reliving all of it and it hurts,” Weigand said.

Families of Polish descent packed churches in Chicago, London and elsewhere. At London’s St. Andrew Bobola Polish Roman Catholic Church, parishioners mourned one of their priests, Monsignor Bronislaw Gostomski, who died in the crash, along with Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last president of a Polish government-in-exile based in London during World War II and the communist years.

“When the Polish people have any kind of a tragedy, they pray, they go to church,” said Anna Szpindor, who was born in Poland and went to medical school there but lives in South Barrington, Ill.

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Qian Xuesen dies at 98

- Reminder of what is lacking in society and education

The death of prominent rocket scientist Qian Xuesen last Saturday drew attention to what in the country’s society and education lacks today. Can China foster another Qian under current conditions?

"I plan to do my best to help the Chinese people build up the nation to where they can live with dignity and happiness." - Qian Xuesen

Qian Xuesen, widely considered the father of the country’s nuclear missile and space program, has died at the age of 98.

Qian was born in Hangzhou and went to the US in 1935 to study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and then the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

He returned to China in 1955, and joined the Communist Party in 1958.

Qian was put in charge of developing the country’s first missiles. He also oversaw the development of China’s first atom bomb, which was detonated in 1964.

“His return brought Cina the hope of developing space science and its own missiles,”  said a domestic media report last year.

China put its first man into space in 2003.

Koreas mourn death of SKorea’s Kim Dae-jung

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s leader sent condolences to South Korea on Wednesday following the death of former President Kim Dae-jung and proposed dispatching a delegation to honor a man whose unflagging fight for democracy and reconciliation earned him the title “Nelson Mandela of Asia.”

A South Korean woman wipes tears as she holds a flower for the late former South Korean President Kim Dae-Jung during a memorial service at Seoul Plaza in Seoul, South Korea, Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009. AP Photo

In central Seoul, mourners — many clad in black — bowed before a huge portrait of Kim adorned with white chrysanthemums, the traditional flower of death. Many wiped away tears.

“We will always remember you,” read a message scrawled in a condolence book. “Rest in peace — now we will defend Korea’s democracy.”

Kim, who won the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to foster reconciliation with North Korea, died Tuesday at age 85. His death unleashed an outpouring of grief across South Korea, and drew condolences from Paris to Pyongyang.

“The feats he performed to achieve national reconciliation and realize the desire for reunification will remain long with the nation,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency quoted leader Kim Jong Il as saying in a Wednesday report.

Kim will be honored with a state funeral at the National Assembly and laid to rest at a cemetery in southern Seoul on Sunday, Lee Dal-gon, minister of public administration and security, told reporters. Flags will be flown at half-staff until the mourning period ends on Sunday.

North Korea also wants to send a condolence delegation to pay respects. KCNA said Thursday that the delegation would go to Seoul on Friday and Saturday and be led by senior Workers’ Party official Kim Ki-nam.

North Korea has only dispatched such a condolence delegation for one other South Korean, Chung Ju-yung, the founder of the Hyundai Group, which funded the first inter-Korean joint projects.

The South Korean government was considering whether to allow the visit, said Lee Jong-joo, a spokeswoman for the Unification Ministry, which handles North Korean affairs.

The rare visit could offer a chance for dialogue to improve relations between the two Koreas, divided by a heavily fortified border. They remain in a state of war because their three-year conflict ended in 1953 with a truce, not a peace treaty.

Tens of thousands in South Korea were in mourning for a man who, as an outspoken dissident, risked his life for democracy during South Korea’s era of military rule. He was elected president in 1997 at age 72.

“If you say democracy, there is only one person: Kim Dae-jung,” said Lee Tae-ho, 28, a graduate student in Seoul.

North Koreans in Pyongyang were mourning too, according to the Choson Sinbo, a Tokyo-based newspaper considered a mouthpiece for the North Korean government.

After decades of enmity, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong Il made history with a summit in Pyongyang in 2000. Inter-Korean relations blossomed in the years that followed, although they have worsened since conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008 with a hardline policy on the North.

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