What a difference: Post-Katrina New Orleans vs. Post-earthquake Sichuan

[Driven1]

from today's WSJ...

remember all the bemoaning and hands out for government money and housing and relocation assistance, etc.. (and the subsequent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars that were spent in strip clubs and bars across the south by the "refugees")??

much different in post-disaster central China...

In the Rubble of Sichuan, Chinese Get Back to Business
A Displaced Teen Gives Workers Haircuts, And Sees a Brighter Future for Herself
By JAMES T. AREDDY
June 19, 2008; Page A1

JIANGYOU, China -- The May 12 Sichuan earthquake left 19-year-old Yin Dan homeless. It also awakened the entrepreneur in her.

When workmen started building temporary housing nearby last month, one wandered up the hill looking for a shave and a haircut.

The chance encounter spurred Ms. Yin, who had been employed in a beauty shop, to go into business for herself. Now, she is the sole proprietor of "Earthquake Disaster Relief and Convenience Barber Shop," located in a green tent.

"I have ideas. I want to open a bigger shop, a beauty shop in the city," says the young woman, slumping into her swivel chair during a rare break from customers. "This is a chance."


In Dujiangyan, 36-year-old Du Chengzhi and her husband sell green beans and steamed rice from the back of their flat-bed pickup truck.

The response of many in the disaster zone is a reminder of how profoundly capitalist ideas have taken hold in China in recent years. For nearly a decade, the private sector has created most of China's jobs and more recently accounted for more than half the economy. Now, in the rubble of towns of Sichuan province, businesses are sprouting from under tents, inside car trunks and behind makeshift stands. And despite the government's massive outpouring of food, shelter and cash, few victims seem to believe they will be living off charity indefinitely.

A little more than a month after the quake, some refugee camps are already curtailing the freebies by charging for food and items like toilet paper. Meanwhile, small businesses are opening to complement and sometimes to compete with the official outreach. Chinese characters posted in shops throughout the earthquake zone feature a new buzzword -- "self-reliant." The term also usually signals a discount.

Drawn by the roar of earthmovers in Jiangyou as government-run construction companies race to build tens of thousands of prefabricated aluminum homes, scores of budding entrepreneurs have piled into the area erecting makeshift shops and restaurants to feed the workers and the new residents. Grateful for free rice and water just a few weeks ago, the refugees now crave popsicles and cold beer.

Cash to Spend

Despite the sudden poverty of earthquake victims, many increasingly have small amounts of cash to spend. On the construction site in Jiangyou, local farmers earn $9 or $10 a day hauling windows and bolting down metal frames. The government has also begun distributing about $1 a day in cash for refugees. Banks have reopened, too, so people have access to their savings.

In the wholly unregulated postquake scramble for the best locations, some veteran businesspeople are seething about the new competition. "We used to be the only shop on this road," scoffs Jiang Anmi, the owner of "One Tea, One Seat," a little tea shop in Jiangyou.

Not now, not since 28-year-old Jiang Yuanlin grabbed the adjacent land and opened a bar so quickly that he hasn't yet named it -- though he has installed a crowd-pleasing satellite dish for the TV. "If I didn't take it, someone else would," the newcomer says.

Some of the businesspeople are refugees themselves. They include Liao Congjian, whose home in Dujiangyan was destroyed in the earthquake. Still, the 36-year-old's family was safe -- and so was his car. After a few days, he drove to Chengdu and filled the trunk with plastic slippers and returned to Dujiangyan to sell them on a tarp he and his wife set down outside a hastily built refugee camp.

Bit-by-bit since then, the former window maker has aggressively expanded his refugee-targeted business. It is now a four-tent convenience store offering everything from water and ice cream to 10 cent photocopies on a machine powered by a generator. "I'm always trying to think from their perspective," says Mr. Liao. He may open a restaurant.

To be sure, the businesses are often as modest as the spending power of refugees, and sometimes just as precariously situated. Dong Qin says that since her own clothing shop in Dujiangyan was destroyed, she has little choice but to spend her day rolling a simple rack of $2 "I Love China" T-shirts through the streets. "Maybe the first few months, the government will help, but later on you'll have to be self-reliant," says Ms. Dong.

Business is a way for Li Chunxia to get past the loss of her 8-year-old son, her mother and two other members of her family. Her hometown of Beichuan was leveled and flooded beyond repair. This month, the 29-year-old Ms. Li invested $850 on a motorized cart so she can earn cash ferrying everything from plums to scrap metal. "It's good to come out and feel happier," she says.

In Jiangyou, the earthquake spared the family of Ms. Yin, the beautician. But they lost their farmhouse, and Ms. Yin saw no reason in the wake of the devastation to rush back to her job. She had washed, colored and cut hair for two years, but just earned pocket change.

'I Got the Idea'

Then, about a week after the earthquake, bulldozers and earthmovers started clearing a large tract of farmland just below Ms. Yin's house for the new neighborhood of temporary houses. And that worker wandered up toward Ms. Yin's settlement and asked whether anyone cut hair. "I got the idea," says Ms. Yin.

By then, thousands of newly homeless locals and others from the ravaged hills surrounding Jiangyou were setting up tents along Shixian Road, which divided the bustling building site, hoping for more permanent housing there. Tea shops, food stands and cigarette vendors began arriving, too.

Ms. Yin latched on to a government issued tent but found nowhere to put it except the middle of Shixian Road. "We were looking for a place, and there was nobody here. The sidewalk was full," she says.

A few days later, she got the tent wired for electricity by connecting it to a nearby house. She installed a refrigerator, and loaded it up with Sprite and Snow Beer from salesmen wholesaling from bicycles.

Next, Ms. Yin went to her old beauty shop and retrieved a red chair that pivots and a black one with a back that can be lowered for washing hair. She balanced a mirror on a table and leaned it against one of the bamboo tent frames. Her sink is a pink plastic bucket, and she hauls water from a community spigot across the street.

Almost immediately after she pasted a tiny red and white barbershop sign on the outside of the tent in early June, workers started stopping in. The first night, customers continued to arrive until midnight, and Ms. Yin slept there.

Last Friday, Liu Haiqiang, a 58-year-old construction engineer from Beijing, declared himself satisfied with Ms. Yin's service. After handing over three yuan, less than 50 cents, Mr. Liu rubbed his hand through gray stubble and said, "It's cheap. In Beijing, I pay five yuan."

As the rumble of a dump truck drowned out the buzz of her electric shaver, Ms. Yin said she doesn't expect to make much money and doubts she'll be allowed to remain in the middle of the street for more than a few months. Still, running her own shop will give her experience.

For now, the young woman says, "I see many people here who need haircuts."

--Ellen Zhu contributed to this article.

Write to James T. Areddy at james.areddy@wsj.com

[Downtown Dweller]

AWESOME! How refreshing to see people stand up and take care of business!

[second_pancake]

Why go so far away to see differences?  Just take a look at the flooding and levee breakage in Iowa and Illinois.  I haven't heard much about FEMA or seen anyone on tv ranting about not having homes...even though they don't.

[Driven1]

Why go so far away to see differences?  Just take a look at the flooding and levee breakage in Iowa and Illinois.  I haven't heard much about FEMA or seen anyone on tv ranting about not having homes...even though they don't.

good point.

[Downtown Dweller]

Excellent point, I was thinking the same thing yesterday watching the news.... people are obviosuly stressed, and you can see it but there was no craziness..... Of course midwesterners are very self efficient and are not dependent on others taking care of their every need, I know I lived there for many, many years 

[copperfiend]

Typical Murdoch.

[RiversideGator]

Typical Murdoch.

So the article is untrue?   

[Driven1]

i love the communists.    hate their lifestyle (politics in this case) but love the people.  luv em so much i went and visited twice!  plan to go again as well 

[Driven1]

Im confused.  You seem to be praising their reaction to their natural disaster.  That would be their politics and lifestyle wouldnt it?

In any case, bravo for applauding pure socialism.  Its very brave.

you so funny.    and you are right - i AM brave!!

[downtownparks]

Yeah, these are great comparisons.

Deaths from the flooding in the midwest.... so far 2... In Katrina... A devastating 1400+
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake? 67

Deaths in Chinas earth quake almost 70000....

Yeah, communism is WAY better.

[Downtown Dweller]

I could be totally missing the point, but it seems to me people are being very capitalistic in the article, finding ways to make money... I didn't take this as an endorsement of communism or condemnation of poor people, I took more like we are spoiled and expect our govt to do everything for us. I can tell you not all the people at the NOLA convention center were "poor". But then again, I try not to make everything political, I just enjoy seeing people overcome the hurdles thrown at them....again maybe I missed some inside joke.

[Driven1]

I could be totally missing the point, but it seems to me people are being very capitalistic in the article, finding ways to make money... I didn't take this as an endorsement of communism or condemnation of poor people, I took more like we are spoiled and expect our govt to do everything for us. I can tell you not all the people at the NOLA convention center were "poor". But then again, I try not to make everything political, I just enjoy seeing people overcome the hurdles thrown at them....again maybe I missed some inside joke.

Downtown.  LOL.  You are reading it correctly.  Stick around and read a few more of Stephendare's posts and you will notice the pattern that the rest of us have.

[copperfiend]

Typical Murdoch.

So the article is untrue?  

I am sure I could have found somebody out of the thousands of displaced NO residents that was selling t-shirts out of the back of a car.

[Driven1]

yes...there are exceptions to every rule.  this article was profiling how common it was to see capitalistic behavior by the Chinese (those evil, red, dark-hearted, communists if you believe some of the rather racist propaganda you may read from other posters on this thread) is becoming commonplace in the wake of the tragedy in Sichuan.