Crashes of High-Speed Train and More

Accidents happen all the time all over the world. Crisis management is a critical organizational function. When an accident involves general public, government is expected to manage the crisis. How the public react to the accident is largely depend on how the crisis is managed. Recently, the Chinese public’s reaction to the train crash was different from the public of the West would have responded to similar tragedies.

China’s high-speed railway network, once a source of great pride for the Communist Party, has turned into an embarrassment. A collision between two trains on July 23rd near the coastal city of Wenzhou not only killed at least 40 people was a gloomy accident.

Train accidents happen in the West as well. In the aftermath of an accident in the West, the initial response of the public and the government is always to do everything possible to rescue lives. The media would have started an anti-government campaign if the rescue mission had not performed.

The Chinese government stumbled in its management to July 23rd train accident. The railway ministry took hours to issue its apology. Mr. Sheng, the minister only gave a brief interview to state television on his way to the scene. Someone in Chinese government ordered to cease the rescue effort just few hours after the accident. China Daily USA reported: "A 2-year-old girl was found alive in the wreckage hours after the rescuers had been told to stop searching for survivors and to BEGIN cutting apart the wrecked carriages."

The spotlight turned to the brutal way how the authorities handled it. The wrecked train parts were buried on the site on 24th, together with tens of victim bodies and maybe some were still alive inside. Millions of Chinese netizens (short ...

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...an't maneuver what they observe.

Some Chinese party leader once said that the relationship between the government and the public is like that of a ship and water. Water can keep the ship afloat or sink it. The possibility is always there if these online activities continue, the gaps between reality and people’s expectations will heat over into more aggressive, organized activism.

Works Cited

1. China struggles to tame microblogging masses –the Independent Sunday

2. Accounts of Chinese Bloggers Suspended, Causing Protests – New York Times

3. Media Blackout in China After Wreck - New York Times

4. Public wary of high-speed railway – Survey -China Daily USA

5. Train Wreck in China Heightens Unease on Safety Standards -New York Times

6. SINA Faces Strict Regulations – Zachs Investment Research

7. Yang, Guobin. The Power of the Internet in China, 2009