Eric's Beijing Diary

I was heading over to Zhongguancun today when I got to the intersection at the East Gate of Beida, and noticed that the intersection was dead, but that horns were blaring. I proceeded to cross the street a bit bewildered. My first thought was that the people were angry because the lights weren't working, then I saw the cops standing at attention with their hats off. The horns blared from all directions for three full minutes. Nobody moved. Finally, the cop walked over and turned on the lights again.

China has really been arrested by the worst earthquake since the Tangshan quake of 1976. That earthquake was viewed as a portent of cataclysmic events, because both Mao and Zhou En-lai died shortly afterward. Many are wondering what great events this earthquake portends.