Broken China.

You needn't be a believer in the melting of differences between nations, an apologist for oligarchic government, or a free-trade fan of the current state of U.S.-Chinese economic relations to be moved by the reports coming out of China. When that country faced comparable earthquake devastation 32 years ago, the damage was hidden from the world by a totalitarian Maoist government. That isn't possible now.

The Chengdo earthquake revealed not only the flimsiness of recent Chinese construction--including, most tragically, elementary schools--but also a technologically savvy populace willing to make sacrifices to help neighbors in need. When the rubble is cleared and the dead buried, that is likely to be the quake's largest legacy. China's new wealth has created a modern civil society, able to act independently of the government.

The quake may have other consequences as well. The images of Chinese people acting with bravery and compassion in the face of stunning adversity takes much of the sting out of the anti-Olympic protests, whose message can't help but seem small by comparison. If the tragedy dissuades Western leaders from making a show of insulting the Chinese government by boycotting the Olympic ceremonies, that would be welcome. So too would be the muting of those Beltway strategists trying to portray China as the next great enemy against whom America must mobilize. (McCain adviser Bob Kagan regrettably falls into this category.) The sights and sounds coming from that stricken country make demonization more difficult. Nothing that kills 50,000 and leaves 5 million homeless can ever be a good thing, but some good may yet emerge.