A year after quake, grief remains, hope regained in China´s Sichuan

TURNING ON A NEW LEAF

The quake disaster somehow helped Chen Yan, 37, find his true love.

The Chengdu-based businessman and volunteer lifted 29 students from the ruins of toppled schools in Dujiangyan. He was since known as "China's No. 1 volunteer".

One of the girls he brought out died later in hospital, but her cousin Peng Lu, a hotel waitress in Mianzhu, fell in love with him.

The couple chose Tuesday as their wedding day. "We all suffered heartbreaks last year," Chen said at the wedding starting at 14:28, the exact time the earthquake hit. "We hope 2009 would bring us happiness and laughter."

Seven of the students he saved also attended the wedding reception.

One of the students, 19-year-old Xue Xiao, is studying at a foreign language school in Chengdu and has received an offer from a university in Florida. Many Chinese still remember him as the "Coke boy" -- his plea "Give me a Coke, iced please" uttered from the ruins and broadcast live, amused millions of teary TV viewers.

One of the rescuers bought him a coke. The empty tin, bearing Xue's signature, has been collected into a private museum that opened Monday in Chengdu.

"I want to major in economics," said Xue, who has lost an arm. "I want to be a businessman and philanthropist, just like Li Ka-shing."

He wrote a letter to his dead classmates, and burnt it hoping they could "read" it. "I miss you so much, and hope you are all having fun there... I'll do my best and won't let you down," he wrote.

For bereaved parents like Huang Changrong, however, it is hard to let bygones be bygones. "Every time I close my eyes, she'd be there: in her sportswear and her face radiating with vitality," she said.

She wrote her dead daughter a letter, "Please rest in peace. Mom and dad are doing fine here. Every time I see your little brother, I feel it's you again... Yes, I still cry when I miss you. What else can I do? But after all, the quake disaster is an act of God, not human."

Editor:Zhang Pengfei