Earthquake changes China storyline

For the millions left homeless and the tens of thousands who perished, last week's earthquake in Sichuan changed everything.
But so too has it altered the international media narrative on China.
This year, the story of 2008 in China began with a snowstorm which paralyzed the country's infrastructure and exposed the fragility of China's developing economy.
The country ground to a halt, millions of Euro were lost as production ceased, and food inflation spiked due to falling crop yields. It was a mess.
Then we had the Tibet riots, followed by the Olympic Torch Relay fiasco. Bad news seemed to be following China around the globe.
The earthquake, of course, is by far the worst news China has had to face so far. But it has shifted attitudes to China in the world media.
Take CNN for example. It drew the ire of Chinese people by its tough coverage of the Tibet issue and the torch riots. CNN has been almost completely 'positive' in reporting the earthquake, and other media are following suit.
The pictures of suffering people are enough to draw sympathy but the media are queuing up to lavish praise on China for its professional handling of the crisis and, perhaps most importantly, the openness with which it has relayed information on events in Sichuan.
The Chinese government has been helped in this regard by the stark contrast that can be drawn between their transparency and the stance of the Burmese government who have blocked international aid followed a devastating cyclone earlier this month.
So what does this mean for the Olympics?
Well, the storyline had been that China had a poor human rights record, loved censorship and suppressed its people.
Now there is universal sympathy for the plight of the Chinese people and a growing realisation that the government is not quite 'the same goons and thugs as 50 years ago' (to borrow from CNN's Jack Cafferty).
There were many who would have been hoping for chaos at the Olympics; hoping that things won't go as swimmingly as the Communist Party wanted.
Perhaps the more common wish now is that the Olympics will offer a bright spot for the Chinese who have faced a year of heartache and suffering.
It all depends on how the government handles the next chapter - the leg of the torch relay which passes through Tibet.