Whether distributing appeals for on-line donations, uploading images of quake-hit towns or asking for help in extracting someone from the rubble, Chinese netizens are fully engaged in relief from the deadly earthquake.
Zhu Dake celebrated on his blog when his friend, the horror fiction author Li Ximin, was saved after being trapped for more than three days under a collapsed guest house at a remote village in Pengzhou County, Sichuan Province.
More than 22,000 people have been confirmed dead as of Friday in the quake that hit the southwestern province on Monday afternoon.
Li's life would have been in peril without the fast action of friends online, many of whom had not met him.
Zhu first published a post on his blog, "Who is to save Li Ximin?" on Wednesday afternoon. Friends and fans noticed and passed on the information.
Some called friends in Pengzhou and others searched for contacts of the rescue task forces to inform them of Li's plight. Yet others left posts expressing concern on Zhu's blog.
A group of Air Force personnel pulled Li out of the rubble after his friends managed to find a rescue team who were working near the village and tell them Li's location.
"I am grateful for all the efforts and care from all friends," Zhu wrote.
Like Zhu, people who are eager to get information about their family and friends in quake-hit regions turn to the Internet.
China's leading website www.sohu.com launched a program with several print media organizations to get information for these netizens. People can post "missing person" notices and hope for a reply from someone else on the scene with information.
The website has received more than 3,000 notices and numerous messages so far, said Li Hongtao, deputy editor-in-chief of Sohu's news desk.
Websites are acting as donation engines as well. Every mailbox user of www.sina.com.cn received an e-mail 24 hours after the earthquake, calling on them to donate to the relief fund organized by the site and the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation.
Www.tianya.cn, one of the country's leading on-line communities, also initiated a donation campaign with the One Foundation and the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) among its members.
Many netizens not only donated but also posted information about the donation bank accounts on their blogs or in posts and praised each donor.
As Netizen "Flowertin" said on her blog: "Let's try our best, reach to the quake victims."
Chinese are expressing care for quake victims online in various ways.
Every news story about the rescue progress at www.xinhuanet.com, China's leading news website, attracts thousands of views, and many of these stories have been discussed in online forums.
At www.tudou.com, China's YouTube-like website, there were more than 4,200 videos about the earthquake, including compilations of TV news and amateur donation appeals.
In her on-line community, netizen "Anan&Xinxin" posted the name lists of injured people from quake-hit areas who were receiving treatment at several hospitals in Chengdu, Sichuan provincial capital.
Some made timely updates on the casualties; some held online mourning sessions for the dead; some uploaded pictures taken in previous visits to Wenchuan County (the epicenter) and some wrote poems for the victims.
Netizens abroad are also involved. For example, www.people.com.cn got an e-mail from 9-year-old twin brothers, Xu Ping and Xu Bin, who live in the U.S. state of Illinois.
"We wish so much to join in the rescue teams ... but we are so far away in the United States," they said. The boys decided to donate all their pocket money to the RCSC.
They also asked all children at home and abroad to participate in the donation campaigns.
"Sock_monkey", an American who had lived in China for a year, posted a note at the China Daily website.
"I just wanted to send all my best wishes to the people in Sichuan as they struggle with this horrible earthquake," the post said. "My heart goes out to the people of China during this difficult time."
EFFECTIVE CITIZEN JOURNALISTS
Hours after the earthquake jolted southwest China and tremors were felt in most parts of the country, live reports swept the Internet.
Less than 10 minutes after the quake, at a forum of www.sina.com.cn, a netizen from Luzhou City, Sichuan, posted the first note: "Big event! I am shaking while typing!"
Three minutes later, Beijing netizen Qingzhuanke said: "Earthquake! I felt dizzy."
Soon, the web was alight with people posting their quake experiences from across the country.
Yingxiu, the epicenter town, was cut off by the quake until rescue troops and journalists arrived on Wednesday. But on the Internet, 10 grainy photos, believed to be sent by a netizen from the town via cell phone, showed cracked highways, shattered houses and blocked mountain roads.
Netizens were worrying about relief work in their hometown of Jiangyou City, Sichuan, which was barely mentioned in the news. They set up a blog, gathering all the information they could get through a handful of phone calls back home and diligent online searches.
"I just want the outside world to pay more attention to this small city, only a half-hour's drive from Beichuan County," said blogger Save. Beichuan was one of the hardest-hit areas.
Save updated the blog with new official casualty figures, photos and information from other netizens.
(Xinhua News Agency May 17, 2008)