Well folks, I have some good news and bad news.

The good news is, even though there was a massive explosion at a large chemical plant in Jilin, and even though most of the chemicals got washed into the Songhua River (which flows right through town), and even though it contaminated hundreds of thousands of gallons of drinking water for millions of Chinese people downriver, and even though the goverment got into some trouble because they didn't tell people for four days that their water was probably contaminated with high levels of benzyne, leading to the local Health Minister getting sacked, and even though I live in the southern part of town, and even though I've stretched this joke out as far as it can possibly go, milking the suspense (or lack thereof) for all it's worth, I am happy to report that the Songhua River is one of the few rivers in the world that flows from the south to the north, meaning that I missed out on all the above fun by a simple flaw in geographical gravity.

The bad news is, this means that I still haven't developed any radio-active super-powers. At least, not that I know of....

But seriously, this was all a pretty big deal up here. I even got interviewed by a French newspaper about it (I hope they quote me as "Resident Blonde Giant Aaron Voth"). The university I teach at, Beihua, has four campuses, and one of them (the North campus) is located right next to the plant. Apparently, the night of the explosion, they had to ship all of the students from the North Campus down to the East Campus (where I teach), and my students told me they had to sleep two and three to a bed.

But with every cloud there is a silver lining. Something that makes you forget about the tragedy, if only for a moment. Something that brings a smile to your face. Something that is so ridiculous, that you have to belive it, because no one in their right mind could concoct such a farce. In this case, it can be found in a quote by a senior official in the Chinese Health Department, when asked about the cover-up scandal that took place in the days after the explosion. On why the public was not notified sooner that their drinking water was contaminated:

"There are many ways to release information. Making it public is one of them."

If that statement does not sum up Chinese politics, I don't know what does.

But, because I have a sincere fondness for this blog, and do not want to be shut down, that is all I am going to say. And I would ask that, if you enjoy reading my blog as much as I enjoy writing it, you would please save any opinions or comments you have about the Chinese government for a later date (like never). Thank you.

So, I'm alive. Trust me, it's going to take more than a chemical explosion and drinking water contamination to stop these fingers from bringing you the latest, greatest news from Jilin.

And with that, I'm off like a light switch.

Zaijian!