Today is Children's Day in China. 
A day of celebration.

For many kids and parents in the Sichuan region of China there is not much to celebrate.
Despite the mischief making of some domestic and foreign press in trying to sensationalise, distort and exploit the tragedy for their own petty material gains, one overall has to admire the efforts of government in their response to the disaster..
The international community, has, by and large also come together to provide aid and assistance.
Differences have, for the time being, been forgotten, maybe this dark cloud too does have a silver lining if we can go forward from this with a greater understanding and tolerance of each other.

However one disturbing factor is, if they are true, the reports of around 9,000 children who died needlessly because of corruption and cheating which sadly is still a hallmark of Chinese society.
If bribery and corruption of city officials costs the life of one child, then it is a far too high a price, the slaughter of 9000 young lives and teachers, lives that were once full of hope and expectation, is an unacceptable criminal act.
As a father I can only sympathise with the parents of the dead or missing children and I know that should anything have happened to my daughter under those circumstances my grief would be beyond imagination and my rage uncontrollable

Thus far the country and the world have been impressed with the actions of the government, but this is just the beginning.
If Hu Jin Tao is to maintain his credibility and keep his promise of developing a harmonious society with a transparent government, then the charges of corrupt and shoddy workmanship in the schools has to be investigated thoroughly and those found negligent or guilty of corruption should receive the death penalty.
This is not a time for sweeping under the carpet, certainly, nothing can restore those families or return lost lives, but the government needs to know that this is unacceptable to Chinese society today and we, the people,  need to know our leaders will be held accountable and that this is not going to happen again.
Anywhere
Ever.

China is watching Hu, the world is watching.