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Couples from Sichuan quake-hit regions hold collective wedding in Beijing

2009-07-14 15:12 BJT

Zhang Mingliang and his wife Pu Xiaorong stayed hand in hand all the way from Anchang to Beijing. From neighbors to become a couple, Zhang, 51, and Pu, 43, had experienced great changes in their lives.

51-year-old bridegroom Zhang Mingliang (left) and 43-year-old bride Pu Xiaorong (right) cross their arms to drink wine on July 13. On the same day, 15 couples from Sichuan quake-hit regions held a wedding ceremony in Beijing.
51-year-old bridegroom Zhang Mingliang (left) and 43-year-old bride 
Pu Xiaorong (right) cross their arms to drink wine on July 13. 
On the same day, 15 couples from Sichuan quake-hit regions 
held a wedding ceremony in Beijing.

On the afternoon of July 12, 15 couples from 6 cities (prefectures) of Sichuan, including Dujiangyan, Mianyang, Deyang and Aba, who have lost their loved ones in the Sichuan earthquake, were married again. The ceremony was witnessed and congratulated by Beijing residents. These 15 couples “rebuilt” their families from the quake ruins.

With tears welling in their eyes and smiles on their faces, couples of various ages stood on this special stage and leaned against each other, receiving the blessings from chief witness Peng Peiyun, honorary president of the All-China Women's Federation.

“I want to speak to her deceased husband and my deceased wife, asking them to be eternally peaceful in the heaven, because she and I have both found a love in which we can trust. Because we survived the disaster, we will live out the rest of our lives confidently and courageously,” Zhang Mingliang said loudly in the wedding ceremony. Pu Xiaorong, who stood beside him, shedding tears, turned her head away and hided on her husband’s shoulder.

Before the earthquake, the two families lived in the dormitory of the same school. A year ago, when the dormitory collapsed, Zhang Mingliang and Pu Xiaoron survived the disaster and had the life and death experience. Both found that their own families had also collapsed. During the year following the earthquake, bereaved Zhang Mingliang and Pu Xiaorong have supported and helped each other, in order to give their children a feeling of home. Finally, they came together and two fragmentary families were “rebuilt” into one. The new family has an open-minded father and a gentle mother, as well as a post-graduate son studying in Beijing and a beautiful daughter who just finished the college entrance examinations.

To show unity among ethnic groups, several Tibetan and Qiang couples decided to wear traditional Tang suit for the weddings, and temporarily left aside their ethnic costumes.

Reporters learned that this is the first trans-provincial (municipal) group wedding ceremony especially held for the “rebuilt” families following the Wenchuan Earthquake. According to Chinese Red Cross Foundation, more support will be given to post-quake families through a one-to-one support program.

 

Translated by LOTO

术路

http://beijing.qianlong.com/3825/2009/07/13/118@5075532.htm

Editor: Shi Taoyang | Source: CCTV.com