This issue opens with Memorial Day, focusing on how American society commemorates sacrifice, freedom, and the national spirit. From presidential proclamations to the National Moment of Remembrance, from military cemeteries to community parades, Americans have preserved a solemn respect for those who gave their lives. This commemoration is not merely about flowers and slogans; it is a form of institutionalized public memory, reminding future generations that today’s peace and security did not come from nowhere. Yet across the ocean, another question about “life” feels heavy and deeply painful. The coal mine explosion in Qinyuan, Shanxi, once again exposed to Chinese society the underground world that has long been concealed in darkness. A mining disaster is never just a number, nor merely a “safety accident.” Behind repeated gas explosions, collapses, and cover-ups, people see regulatory failure, chains of vested interests, and the long-standing disregard for the value of ordinary workers’ lives. Those who disappear deep inside the mines often have no names, no cameras, and not even a single public word of mourning. How a country commemorates the dead also reflects how it treats the living.
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