Teachers´ ultimate sacrifice

Source: China Daily | 05-20-2008 19:44

BEIJING, May 20 -- As flags throughout the country fly at half-mast in a three-day national mourning period that started Monday, images of those who died in the disaster continue to touch citizens' hearts.

Millions of netizens have likened one heroic teacher to majestic eagle: Tan Qianqiu was found under rubble with both arms extended, shielding four students from being crushed under a desk.

The four children were saved, but Tan, 51, left his wife and two daughters forever.

Tan's wife, Zhang Guanrong, cleans her husband Tan Qianqiu's face after rescuers pulled his body from the ruins of the Dongqi Middle School in Hanwang town, Deyang city, May 15, 2008. (Xinhua Photo)

Tan's wife, Zhang Guanrong, cleaned her husband's face after rescuers pulled his body from the ruins of the Dongqi Middle School in Hanwang town, Deyang city, last Tuesday.

She recalls Tan getting up at 6 on Monday morning, the day the quake struck, dressing their baby daughter and taking the child for a walk before leaving for work.

At China Central Television's donation show broadcast live on Sunday night, Tan's elder daughter, Tang Junzi, who studies law at Peking University, said her father's heroism was characteristic of the man.

"He is the kind of person who must live for his students, even if it means failing his family," she said.

Teachers and students attended a memorial for Tan last Friday at Hunan University, his alma mater in Changsha, Hunan province.

"We shall forever remember the eternal moment. Your extending arms carry the full meaning of your profession and great love."

Kindergarten teacher Qu Wanrong knew there was no escape. The roof of her crowded class was collapsing, but she instinctively knew what to do. Her extraordinary bravery came at enormous cost.

Li Juan, head of the kindergarten, wept as she recalled her colleague's self sacrifice.

"Qu lay on her stomach. Her back kept the fallen cement board away from a child beneath her. The child is safe, but she has left us," Li said.

Huanhuan Kindergarten was in the town of Zundao in Mianzhu. About 400 townsfolk have been found dead, and many more were buried. More than 80 percent of the town's buildings collapsed.

About 50 of the 80 children were killed. Three teachers also lost their lives, and two more still in intensive care.

English teacher Wu Zhonghong, 45, who had taught at Huaiyuan Middle School in the city Chongzhou for 28 years, also gave his life to save others.

Vice-principal Li Hongcheng said the four-story building shook for about one minute before cracking in the middle.

Wu was teaching junior middle school first-graders on the fourth floor, and, according to a student who identified himself as Xiaobin, Wu told the students not to panic and to "take nothing and follow me" as they hurried downstairs.

Suddenly, someone shouted out that two students had been left behind, and Wu ran back up.

"We ran out and the building collapsed. Teacher Wu disappeared," Xiaobin told a reporter.

Rescuers worked throughout the night to find Wu. When they finally found him the next morning, he and four other students had passed away. Most of the 700 students and teachers are safe.

It was a similar story at Yingxiu Elementary School, which was near the epicenter of the quake and lost most of its 70 teachers and 473 students.

Two teachers, Liu Sineng and Ye Shangmin, had been taking a PE lesson at the time of the quake. They and their students survived. When they dug through the debris with their bare hands, they found fellow teacher Zhang Laiya covering two students. The students were alive but Zhang was not. Another teacher, Geng Fang, also died saving two students.