Flooding in Beijing killed 37 people over the weekend, causing at least $1.5 billion in damage and inciting scrutiny of the Chinese government's infrastructure investment priorities. The most incisive criticism is taking place on China's Twitter-like social media platform, Weibo:
News of the storm spread rapidly on social media, where users posted video footage of flooded intersections and where messages of support appeared alongside pointed questions about how a city that spent billions building facilities to host the Olympics could struggle so badly in dealing with a thunderstorm.
Among the sharpest criticisms came in the form of a series of photos, posted to Sina Weibo around midnight, contrasting Beijing’s flooded streets with images of sewer systems in other famous capitals, including Tokyo’s massive “Underground Temple” flood prevention system. “Sewers are not a face-giving infrastructure project,” artist Li Yijia wrote in response to the images, repeating a sentiment widely expressed elsewhere on the site.
Even some of the Chinese state press is decrying the state of Beijing's sewer system. Sinocism reflects on the Chinese government's response:
People will tolerate rampant corruption when the economy is doing well and the government delivers the goods, but the economy is struggling and the floods may have significantly damaged the credibility of the Beijing Municipal Government. It is one thing when a disaster happens in distant provinces and rural areas, quite another when one hits the capital city. Since the legendary Yu the Great Chinese have associated flood control with dynastic legitimacy, so expect the central leadership to be very concerned about the response to this disaster.
The Dish 