Last Thursday morning I was on the bus to work inthe central business district of Beijing, browsingsocial media and loathing myself for obsessing over posts about fashion, when I saw a pictureof black and purple smoke rising over thousands of completely burnt-out cars. News travelsfast in China these days. The photo was reposted by a friend of mine, who is from Tianjin. Itlooked like a war zone.

上周四早晨，我坐在公交车上，要到北京中央商务区(CBD)去上班。我一边浏览着社交媒体，一边为自己沉迷于时尚类帖子而自我唾弃，这时我看到了一张照片：在数千辆完全被烧毁的汽车上空，冒着黑色和紫色的浓烟。如今，资讯在中国传播得很快。这张照片是天津的一个朋友转发的。那场景看起来像战场。

The last time I saw something this terrifying was seven years ago. Back then I was working as ajournalist for the Chinese state media, and on the afternoon of May 12 a friend called to tell methere had been a major earthquake near his home town in Sichuan province. He hung up in arush, saying he needed to check if his parents were safe.

上一次我见到同等级别的可怕场景还是在7年前。当时我是中国官方媒体的一名记者。那年5月12日下午，一位朋友打电话给我，说他在四川省的老家附近发生了大地震。他匆忙挂断电话，说要打回去看看自己的父母是否平安。

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