[Update: the suit was rejected, as a commenter points out.]

This blog was home to a spirited argument some months ago regarding the government’s efforts to bribe and/or silence parents of the children killed in the Sichuan earthquake who were demanding accountability. Now 57 of those parents are trying to have their day in court, but it is not at all clear whether the court will hear them.

A group of parents whose children were among the 127 killed in the collapse of an elementary school during the May earthquake that devastated western China have confirmed that they filed a lawsuit against government officials and a construction contractor. The lawsuit is the first filed by grieving and angry parents who say shoddy construction cost the children their lives.

Radio Free Asia reported the lawsuit in early December, but China’s official news media have not mentioned it. This weekend, the parents confirmed the filing in telephone interviews. They said the court has yet to tell them whether it will hear the case.

The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 1 in a court here in the city of Deyang, in Sichuan Province, the region hit hardest by the May 12 earthquake, which left 88,000 people dead or missing. Up to 10,000 schoolchildren were killed as some 7,000 classrooms and dormitory rooms collapsed across the quake zone, according to government estimates.

That they have gotten this far is pretty remarkable, though I doubt they will get much farther. Possibly all of them have signed an agreement with the government not to speak about the issue. The only bright side of the story is that the Chinese people are far more willing to speak out than they were just a few years ago, and they are beginning to see their right to protest and complain as a given.

In similar legal action, parents in three provinces filed lawsuits this fall against dairy companies after tens of thousands of children across China fell ill and at least four died from drinking milk and baby formula tainted with a toxic chemical called melamine. Local officials had been involved in covering up the poisonings, and judges have so far declined to hear any lawsuits.

After the earthquake, the central government assigned a committee of experts to look into the school collapses, but the committee has yet to issue a final report. In September, an official from the committee, Ma Zongjin, said at a news conference in Beijing that a rush to build schools during the Chinese economic boom might have led to shoddy construction that resulted in the student deaths. He said more than 1,000 schools had one of two major flaws — they were built on the earthquake fault line or they were poorly constructed.

Government officials at all levels have tried to suppress discussion of the school collapses.

So it’s a maddening situation, where you can protest, but only so much. Rule of law and accountability are still abstractions. You can complain and sue and speak up on the Internet and even in the media, and the government may actually investigate (which is why I bolded the text above – in the earlier thread there was a lot of skepticism of whether there would be any investigation at all). But when it comes to demanding accountability, don’t get your hopes too high. It’s great that these parents can sue the government. Until the courts start to act and hold officials accountable for their actions, however, it’s little more than a gesture.

Note: If you want to be reminded of the very human nature of the school tragedy in Sichuan, please revisit this famous post. I still get chills when I look at those faces.

Well, not quite but they’re certainly heading that way. The economic crisis is pushing them closer together and making what just a few years ago would have seemed like very strange bedfellows.

China offered 130 billion yuan ($19 billion) of loans for Taiwan companies operating on the mainland as the ruling parties of both governments laid out proposals to boost financial ties.

Beijing would provide the financing over three years and also purchase $2 billion worth of flat-panel displays from the island’s companies, Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, said at the conclusion of a weekend forum.

The meeting between officials of Taiwan’s ruling Kuomintang and their Chinese counterparts sets a blueprint for further government-level talks after a nine-year suspension. Taiwanese businessmen have invested an estimated $150 billion in China and are clamoring for the island’s financial firms to be permitted to offer services to ease access to funding and capital.

“Cooperation at this time is especially meaningful as the global financial crisis will soon spread to the manufacturing industry,” said Schive Chi, chairman of the Taiwan Stock Exchange. “As both China and Taiwan have few foreign debts and both have high savings ratio, we should really actively use up the huge savings to help boost our economies.”

Comb through the article to see just how extensive the cooperation is, and what it will mean for Taiwan businesses that have invested huge amounts in China and are now being hit hard by the crash.

What is significant to me is the tone of the dialogue on both sides (“The consensus reflects the expectation from people from the two sides and will have an active influence over the policy- making of the governments of both sides,” said Jia Qinglin, a Chinese Communist Party Politburo member.”) You would never have read an article like this just a year or two ago. They sound like two lovers separated by a war who have just re-found one another.

Like it or not, this is one more milestone in a new era of increasing cooperation and mutual dependency, and it’s only going to intensify. Will they reunite and live happily ever after as one? Not anytime soon, and maybe never. But it’s a stake in the heart of the Taiwan independence movement, for better or for worse. Whether independence is a noble goal or not is irrelevant. All that matters is reality, and the reality is that Taiwan and the PRC are moving closer together, and that will carry enough advantages for all sides to keep independence off the table.

Staying in touch with many of my friends in Taiwan, I know that only one thing matters right now, and that is the economy and the jobs that come with it. If they see this as step toward economic improvement, the enthusiasm over the independence movement, which has already sagged dramatically, is dead in the water. A pity perhaps, but there we are.

They might keep up the old arguments about which pinyin to use and how Taiwan should be referred to by Google Earth, etc., but if the Taiwanese and the Chinese see the relationship as economically mutually beneficial, they’ll happily go along. There’s a reason regular direct flights between Shanghai and Taipei started a few weeks ago. Tough times call for pragmatism. And times haven’t been this tough for Taiwan for decades.

This is just the start. Once we begin to emerge from the crisis in four or five years, expect to see a whole new world order of alliances and agreements, and a whole new balance of power. Yes, America will still be up there at the tippy top, but it won’t be there alone and it won’t carry the weight it did from the end of WWII to 2001.

James Fallows has an update. Appears that you can get to most of the articles if you simply delete the “www” that prefaces the URL. Some links, such as those to NYT blogs, don’t begin with www, and these sites will now open from the homepage, albeit slowly. But for nearly all their articles, clicking the link without manipulating the address will still result in a timed-out server.

This holds true in Beijing as of right now. Fallows says he’s having no trouble accessing the NYT from Shanghai at the moment, making the situation even more baffling. On again, off again.

Facebook has been this way for the past couple of months now – you never know if you’ll get on or not. Why do they bother? [Rhetorical question, no reply necessary.]

Update: The NYT writes about the block.

Palin’s new in-law’s mom arrested and charged with six felony counts, and the whisper is that she was running a meth lab. Ah, traditional family values. Remember, it was Palin who presented her white trash classy son-in-law-to-be at the convention as an exemplar of those values, since he was going to marry the 18-year-old Bristol Palin after getting her pregnant. Palin put him in the spotlight and used him for political purposes, and fairly well, at that. So to say that this is fair game is an understatement. Palin pallin’ around with meth dealers. What goes around comes around, no?

Since last night, I haven’t been able to access any articles in the NYT. Oddly, the home page opens fine, but click on any link and you end up with the dreaded “Server is not responding” message. Same thing happens if you click on any links to NYT articles from other sites. I thought China had made some big strides in opening up its Internet. If this is more than a passing glitch I’ll be quite disappointed.

Update: Go here to let James Fallows know if you can access the NYT or not. (Poll ends Dec 19 at 9pm, Beijing time.)

And now, suddenly blogspot is blocked again too. And it’s not the same as usual – normally, it takes a minute or two for the server to time out on the blocked site. This time, the instant I click the link the message pops up that “the server has unexpectedly lost the connection.” Totally weird. Of course, the blocking of blogspot has been random and temperamental, like blogspot makes the Nanny go completely bipolar. So this could just be one of those off-nights, where suddenly everything goes back to normal the next day. I hope so. Back to normal, she’s back on her meds.

Must see. Awesome. The first one with the storm over the volcano is unreal.

Via Humanaught – you may also want to read his interview with John Pasden.

Chinese in the day until 3pm, then work at the office. Not a blog-friendly schedule.

Update: And since the best I can do today is offer some links, here’s a link to some more photos – pics of the Cultural Revolution I hadn’t seen before, now on display in a museum in Sichuan. When you stop and think that’s what was going on here a mere 30-some years ago….

All long-time readers know I’ve had an affectionate, long-running feud with a certain commenter (and when I say long-running I mean more than half a decade), Sam S., who saw US politics very differently than I do. He was one of my most frequent commenters, and even though we were often at each others’ throats, we were also friends. I made a special trip to Shenzhen a few years ago to spend a day with him.

I just learned Sam has passed away from a heart attack. When I met him I was surprised to see he was a chain smoker (Marlboros, and not Lights). I was surprised because he was so into bicycling (his old blog used to feature photos of the bicycles he admired). Bicycling and cigarettes don’t seem to go well together. I’m guessing he was only in his mid-50s. Anyway, Sam was a cool guy. He was funny and outspoken and he loved China. Like me, his views about the government evolved slowly, from a black and white perspective to one that was a lot more gray. He was always wrong about US politics, of course, but I loved him anyway. He’ll be missed.

[I realize this story is already ancient history (about 4 days old) but I just came across it and have to mention it.]

According to the video only one man is known to have ever escaped a Nork prison camp and made it out of the country, and this is his story.

More about the escapee:

He is a thin, short, shy man, with quick, wary eyes, a baby face, and sinewy arms bowed from childhood labor. There are burn scars on his back and left arm from where he was tortured by fire at age 14, when he was unable to explain why his soon-to-be-hanged mother had tried to escape. The middle finger of his right hand is cut off at the first knuckle, punishment for accidentally dropping a sewing machine in the garment factory at his camp.

And we think we’ve got problems. And yes, I know who has enabled and nurtured this utopia.

Shanghai officials argue that pajama-wearing pedestrians are “visual pollution,” while offenders maintain they aren’t hurting anybody. I admit, my level of culture shock hit a new high the first time I came to Shanghai in 2001 and saw the likes of the above photo, but like a lot of things here, you get used to it. I can think of a lot more important things to worry about.

I’m really enjoying the lessons over at this site. They take a different approach from Chinese Pod and are geared toward a somewhat different audience. (If you’re preparing for the HSK exams, this is your place to go.) What’s most useful to me is the authentic sound and pace of the dialogues – even the elementary lessons are spoken at the actual speed at which you’ll hear people speak here, and loaded with kouyuhua. That means you have to strain to listen harder, and in doing so you become a better listener. Or at least I do.

I haven’t given up Chinese Pod, though. Their podcasts are unsurpassed for familiarizing yourself with essential phrases you’ll use again and again. Unfortunately, they shy away from grammar, while Popup Chinese embraces it. (Isn’t understanding grammar key to unlocking the mysteries of a new language?) So I find the two sites complement one another.

Too bad Chinese Pod’s lessons aren’t free anymore (not that I blame them for doing that). A few months ago I would have paid to subscribe, but right now I am being soooo careful with my money. I have a bank of about 60 pre-August 2008 CP lessons on my iPod, and soon I’ll have most of them memorized word for word. I even hear the voices of John and Jenny in my dreams.

Update: Forgot to mention this: Thanks to John over at Sinosplice I’ve started spending a couple of hours each day over at Skritter. If you’re working on improving your hanzi reading and/or writing skills, just go there now, sign up and start practicing. Once you sign up it starts customizing the lesson for you, repeating the characters you’ve had trouble with. Totally addictive. It’s a first: an addictive Web site that actually produces benefits. My reading ability shot up after just a few weeks. It helped me learn to spot the clues that differentiate certain characters that look annoyingly similar. It also drove home to me that memorizing characters by reading and looking at them isn’t enough. You have to write them. Priceless. Of course, they’ll probably ask for money soon, too, and I don’t blame them. Like Chinese Pod – and Popup Chinese – it’s worth paying for.