According to Premier Wen Jiabao, last week's earthquake in Sichuan province was the biggest natural disaster since the establishment of the People's Republic of China. For China, how it handles the disaster will be a defining moment.
The country is united as never before, with so many people offering to donate blood that many have had to be turned away. Tens of thousands of people have driven to disaster sites, bringing all the food and water they could carry - a sure sign of a vibrant civil society in the making.
Mr Wen was on a plane to the devastated area within hours of the first report of the quake. And, over the succeeding week, he was everywhere, toting his bullhorn - assuring people trapped in the debris that they would not be abandoned and exhorting rescuers to do everything possible as long as there was the slightest chance of a single individual being pulled out alive.
And, most amazing of all, these stories were told in real time on Chinese television and analysed in-depth in the newspapers. Not only was the media unleashed - foreign journalists, too, were allowed to do their work without hindrance, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman wishing them success in their work while asking them to 'please take care of yourselves'.
The result, not surprisingly, was an avalanche of positive publicity for China, which should counterbalance to some extent the explosion of China-bashing since late March in the wake of the riots in Tibet and the subsequent crackdown.
'The earth is shifting in China in more ways than geologic,' an opinion piece in the Washington Post declared. And The New Zealand Herald commented: 'China's response to this week's catastrophic earthquake in Sichuan province has revealed a compassion, openness and efficiency that casts the country in a new light.'
Inevitably, there are comparisons being made with the Tangshan earthquake of 1976 that claimed 250,000 lives. China was then a closed society and the government turned down all offers of help.