How did the September 11, 2001 attacks affect you and people in your country?

 

A girl looks at a monument for fallen firefighters of the 9/11 terrorist attack near the World Trade Center site, New York, the United States, Sept. 5, 2011. [Fan Xia/Xinhua]

9/11 resonated in a way that it reminded people terrorist attacks can happen at any time. The superpowers in the world should not play big brother. No country should try to dominate, or terrorist incidents might occur at any time.  —Xu, retired official, Inner Mongolia

Previously, I had just heard of terrorism as something intangible. The 9/11 attacks made us feel like terrorism was right beside us.  —Cao, Teacher, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province

We can feel that 9/11/2001 has changed the relationship between China and the United States. The United States is now less assertive and more coercive to China compared to before [the attacks].  —Zhou, Research Fellow, Shanghai

It was very somber. We were quite removed from the actual first hand effects, but obviously we quickly became involved in the war against terror that soon followed. Many felt as if they'd been dragged into a conflict against their will.  —Stuart, Copy Editor, Beijing

There was a sense of how vulnerable you were to some crazy person, or a mad scientist somewhere. Sure, most people are good, but what about that tiny percentage of others?  —David, Banking Industry, San Diego, USA