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Quake-hit Beichuan opened to mourners

By Tan Yingzi (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-02 09:51

MIANYANG, Sichuan: On a chilly, rainy and gloomy day, Beichuan county, one of the worst hit areas on the 8.0-magnitute earthquake on May 12 last year, saw the first large-scale mourning activities yesterday after being closed to the public for months.

Several hundreds of former Beichuan residents, who have been scattered across different temporary settlement areas far away from the completely devastated town, brought red candles, scented sticks, firecrackers, paper wreaths, flowers, fruits or other traditional mourning stuff to express their sorrow and remember their lost loved ones.

Wang Xianqiong and husband Gong Xiaoping pay tribute near the debris of their former home in Beichuan yesterday. [Zhang Wei/China Daily]

It was three days before the Tomb Sweeping Festival, a day when the Chinese traditionally mourn deceased relatives and friends, but local residents said yesterday was the time to mourn the ones lost in the tragedy.

The ruined town stood quiet, only firecrackers breaking the silence from time to time. And it also smelled normal, despite epidemic prevention teams spraying disinfectants around the area four times a day.

The destroyed buildings were surrounded by a yellow police line to keep the visitors away for safety reasons. Police were stationed every 20 m along the line.

Wang Xianqiong, 41, came with her husband to mourn the eight relatives they lost during the quake.

"When I first returned to Beichuan on the 100th day after the quake, I could not help but burst into tears," she told China Daily yesterday, standing in front of what used to be her beauty salon and apartment building.

"After almost a year, I feel calm and easy now. Sorrow doesn't help and life must move on."

Though her left hand and legs were seriously injured, she recovered well and started a new salon in the temporary settlement zone in Mianyang.

"We decided to open the ruined town for mourning to show respect to the dead and those still alive," Wang Jian, the county's deputy director of the information office, told China Daily.

From yesterday until Saturday, only people with Beichuan permanent residency cards can enter the protected area of the ruined town, located in a green river valley, he said. The number of visitors is expected to peak on Saturday, the Tomb Sweeping Day.

No government-organized activities will be held during the festival, people will simply arrive at the site to mourn the dead, following the tradition, Hong Changqing, from Mianyang's information office, told China Daily.

"We will organize some activities around the first anniversary," he said.

Nearly 70,000 people in Sichuan province and adjacent regions were killed by the largest earthquake since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and over 15,000 of them were from Beichuan, the country's only Qiang autonomous county.