Cross The River By Touching The Stones

摘要

May 12 2008 began as any other 'normal' day in China. The Central Government was concentrating on rousing the nation's zeal to embrace Beijing's Olympic Games. Beijing was eager to show the world its recently erected array of dazzling buildings, such as the Bird's Nest National Stadium, the Water Cube National Aquatics Centre and the new China Central Television (CCTV) Headquarters. The government was convinced that the world would be in awe of China, a giant superpower about to stage the most spectacular Olympic Games, enshrined in an architectural triumph it believed no other country could possibly achieve, At 2:28 pm, an 8-magnitude earthquake struck the rural area of Sichuan Province, southwest of Beijing - a catastrophe that revealed a far different aspect of the country.