Columbia’s diverse Chinese-American community has been stirred by last month’s earthquake deaths and destruction as no other event in their homeland has moved them since they left to make new lives in America.

They come from many walks of life — doctors, accountants, engineers, educators — and from diverse parts of the sprawling Chinese nation. But recently they gathered to share their grief over the tragic deaths of tens of thousands in Sichuan Province, and the displacement of millions more Chinese people.

One important trait they share is the circumstance of their immigration to America.

Many left China in the 1980s when it remained a repressive post-Maoist dictatorship. Americans knew little about their country, except for the propaganda films of schoolchildren chanting “death to America” slogans and reciting Maoist slogans.

“I was one of those children,” said Dr. Richard Cheng, a Columbia physician who left China in 1986 and served in the U.S. Army and the Public Health Service before starting a medical practice in Columbia.

Cheng said Chinese-Americans have a “love-hate” relationship with their homeland. Many turned their backs on China when they left to find a better life in America.

But he said the new openness and apparent compassion welling up in the Chinese government, the army,and among the Chinese masses has tugged at the hearts of those who long ago distanced themselves from China.

“This earthquake and the search and rescue efforts showed that people really love each other and care about each other, especially when crisis strikes,” Cheng said. “It’s teaching me and many others a lesson — that life is fragile and let’s appreciate it.

“Let’s help each other to make life better and easier.”

The images on television and the Internet have had a powerful effect on these people, as they have on America in general. But the power of the Internet has magnified the effect, as message boards, blogs and e-mail have already begun to shape a certain folklore about the tragic events.

Cheng recounted one story making the rounds:

“A rescue team found a dead mother’s body on her knees and elbows, forming an arch to protect a baby beneath her. The baby was found alive and well with a cell phone on her body. A text message on the phone’s screen said: ‘My baby, if you survive this, remember, Mom loves you.’”

Another story tells of a teacher who rushed into a quake-shattered school again and again to carry children out, until it finally collapsed, killing her. A third tells of a 9-year-old boy who had escaped a building, only to crawl back in to rescue two classmates.

The stories were told in Chinese to about 50 people who gathered in a social hall on the University of South Carolina campus on a recent Saturday to allow an outpouring of their collective grief.

COMPASSION GROWS

Columbia has a significant and growing population of Chinese-Americans.

Their numbers are difficult to calculate, but at USC alone, there are 39 permanent residents from China and 89 nonimmigrant scholars. There are 230 Chinese students, the largest foreign national group on campus.

Many of Columbia’s Chinese-American residents are from mainland China.

Jimmy Chao is from Taiwan and says “that shouldn’t matter” despite the tense, half-century political estrangement between Nationalist and Communist Chinese factions. Chao is president of the Chinese social group in Columbia and heads a local engineering firm.

“When such a disaster happens, people naturally want to do something,” Chao said. “This is just the beginning of a long journey. We must remember them and continue to help them. We must not exhaust our compassion.”

The group Chao leads is sponsoring the visit of a Chinese performance troupe, the Third Sister Liu, a traditional Chinese operatic group, on Monday. Revenue from ticket sales will be used for earthquake relief in Sichuan Province.

In addition, the Chinese association is working to set up a fundraising campaign aimed at rebuilding a school in the earthquake damaged region of China.

Chao said estimates to build such a school are in the range of $80,000 to $100,000. He is working on a plan that would allow local people to make tax-exempt donations to the effort.

PEOPLE CHANGE

For Xian Wu, a USC math professor for more than 20 years, the earthquake has aroused feelings for his homeland he has not felt since arriving in America in 1982.

Wu was a victim of Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China. About the time he finished elementary school, most schools across China were closed. Urban people young and old were sent off to the countryside to work. Wu spent six years applying insecticides to cotton fields. During that time he taught himself his middle and high school course work.

When the Cultural Revolution ended and universities reopened in 1978, he won admission. After coming to the United States, he eventually earned a doctorate in mathematics from Harvard University.

Wu takes his family back to China every two years, and each time he finds the change there to be remarkable.

“Everything is completely different every time we go,” he said.

He contrasts the government reaction to this disaster to a 1978 earthquake that killed 300,000 people, and was barely known to the world outside China.

“The leaders of China at that time thought it would mean loss of face,” Wu said. “We have been deeply moved by the reaction this time. It had a lot to do with the media. Times are changing. We see the pictures. If you don’t see it, you can’t react. China is catching up with the world very fast.”

He admits China still has many problems. Last week, Chinese authorities forced grieving parents to abandon a protest of the shoddy construction of the schools that killed their children.

Wu sees a change in the Chinese population as well.

“Before, they just want to make money — money, money, money,” he said. “Now, people are showing they care. They are opening their hearts. From my province near Shanghai, and from Taiwan, private citizens are sending money for earthquake relief.”

He told a story about a private construction company owner in Shanghai who dispatched heavy equipment and operators to drive 1,000 miles and offer their services to clear the earthquake damage.

“It has been like the reaction after 9/11 in this country, to save lives,” Wu said. “The soldiers are risking their lives to help others.”

Reach Hammond at (803) 771-8474.

Source: http://www.thestate.com/local/story/433792.html