Children Lost To Quake Devastate Chinese
In A Country Where Families Are Allowed Only One Child, Their Loss Is Overwhelming
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Distraught parents search for possessions belonging to their children who were killed when their school collapsed in Monday's earthquake, in the rubble of the school in Wufu, in China's southwest Sichuan province Friday May 16, 2008. Most of the students killed when Wufu's school collapsed were only children, deepening the pain of parents who had stuck to China's one-child policy. (AP Photo)
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A parent looks at ID photos of children killed in Monday's earthquake, in the rubble of a school in Wufu, in China's southwest Sichuan province Friday May 16, 2008. Most of the students killed when Wufu's school collapsed were only children, deepening the pain of parents who had stuck to China's one-child policy. (AP)
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The damaged school ID card of a young girl who was killed when her schoolroom collapsed in Monday's earthquake, is seen at her grave in Wufu, in China's southwest Sichuan province Friday May 16, 2008. Most of the students killed when Wufu's school collapsed were only children, deepening the pain of parents who had stuck to China's one-child policy. (AP Photo)
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For them and other couples who lost an only child in the past week's massive earthquake, the tragedy has been doubly cruel. Robbed of their sole progeny and a hope for the future, they find it even harder to restart their shattered lives, haunted by added guilt, regret and gnawing loss.
"She died before becoming even a young adult," said Bi, an intense, wiry chemical plant worker, standing beside the grave of 13-year-old Yuexing - one of dozens among fields of ripened spring wheat and newly planted rice. "She never really knew what life was like."
Yuexing, a bright sixth-grader, was in school when Monday's quake struck, bringing the Fuxin No. 2 Primary School crashing down, killing her and 200 other students. Teachers had locked all but one of the school's doors during break time, parents said, leaving only a single door to escape through.
Many among the more than 22,000 people killed across central China were students in school. Nearly 6,900 classrooms collapsed, government officials said Friday, in an admission that highlighted a chronically underfunded education system, especially in small towns, and compounded the anger of many Chinese over the quake.
In Wufu, a farming village two hours north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu, most of the dead students were a couple's only child - born under a policy launched in the late 1970s to limit many families to one offspring. The policy was meant to rein in China's exploding population and ensure better education and health care.
The "one-child policy" has been contentious inside China as well as out. The government says it has prevented an additional 400 million births. But critics say it has also led to forced abortions, sterilizations and a dangerously imbalanced gender ratio as local authorities pursue sometimes severe birth quotas set by Beijing and families abort girls out of a traditional preference for male heirs. The policy is law but there are exceptions.
Farther down the lane from where Yuexing is buried, 10 more graves were laid out, some accompanied by favorite items - textbooks for English and music, a pencil box, a Chinese chess set. At one, grandmother threw herself to the dirt and wailed as her husband lit a handful of "spirit paper" believed to comfort the dead in the afterlife.
Another bereaved parent, Sang Jun, stood where his daughter, Rui, is buried, a simple mound of dirt beside his quake-shattered farmhouse. The house is surrounded by burned bushes - a traditional disinfectant.
"The house is gone and the child is dead," said Sang, who wore a T-shirt and plastic sandals. His parents, both in their 70s, looked on with tears in their eyes.
Resistance by ordinary Chinese has forced Beijing to relax the policies, allowing many rural families to have a second child if the first was a girl. But in Wufu, the family planning committee seems to have prevailed on most families to stop at one child. Slogans daubed on boundary walls and houses all along the rutted country road leading to Wufu call on families to "stabilize family planning and create a brighter future."
Standing in the rubble of the school holding his daughter's ID and a posed shot taken at a local salon, Bi - pronounced "Bee" - said starting a new family, either by having another child or adoption, was simply imponderable.
"I'm 37 years old and my child was 13. If we were to do it again, I'd be 50 when this stage comes along," Bi said.
Parents who lose children in disasters often feel intense guilt for what they see as a failure to protect them, said psychology professor Shi Zhanbiao. Parents, he said, may also recall their past relationships with their children with regret, thinking they were too stern, did not show them sufficient love or did not interact with them enough.
"They'll think that if they just hadn't sent their children to school that day, they would have been saved," said Shi, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing.
The loss is intensified for those with no other offspring to lavish with care and affection, Shi said. And in China, other, more practical concerns may also come into play because children are generally expected to care for their aging parents.
"They'll be worried about the future, because for the later part of their lives, they'll have no one to depend on," Shi said.
Bi said Yuexing was polite and smart. She had won a coveted place at the county's best high school on the recommendation of a teacher. She was a top student who got better after the family moved closer to school to reduce her commuting time, said Bi, who completed high school but failed the national university entrance exam.
In her pictures, Yuexing, whose name combined the Chinese characters for moon and star, is smiling and demure. The studio shot shows her wearing a bright yellow sweater and looking playfully over her shoulder.
Parents in Wufu said they plan to bring a formal complaint over what they say was corruption and malfeasance in construction of the school. They say officials moved the students from a group of one-story classrooms - all of which survived the quake - into a modern-looking but unsafe building.
"We have nothing else, no other wish but to win justice for our children," said Sang's wife, Zhao Jing. "We put all our hopes on these kids, and this is the return we get."
© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
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See all 31 CommentsPosted by Klingon69 at 11:06 AM : May 17, 2008
You''re right, even if the subsidies do help some farmers make ends meet, there is ample evidence that the subsidies go too far. It seems that some farms can make more money by NOT growing crops than by cultivating the land (or cultivating crops for fuel rather than for food). And with the growing ''food crisis'' this is especially pressing because people are starting while profits continue to grow and for large-scale factory farms that contribute significantly to global warming and waste while small, local farmers and the poor continue to get shafted. What should we do?
It is shameless to blame the Chinese "one Child" policy on the name of quake.
I hope that they one day find peace.
Drew Crecente
Director, Jennifer Ann''s Group
JenniferAnn.org
Fight Teen Dating Violence!
In A Country Where Families Are Allowed Only One Child, Their Loss Is Overwhelming
This is just way too sad.
and they''re doing a pretty good job of it.
Posted by hypnotoad72
The NWS told them for over a WEEK the monster this thing could become. people with HALF a brain board up and get out. Details: Pack, leave. These people were criminals, drug addicts, welfare rats. They didn''t want to leave. Look at how things were after? Shootings, lootings, murder. Those people had NO shame and they certainly weren''t worried about anyone else but themselves. Ridiculous it was, all of it. Show me a WHITE city in MODERN times in the US that had the same things happen. Oh, let''s talk about Rodney King and how all the blacks lost their minds. Let''s talk about the verdict releasing those poor police officers from any wrongdoing in that thug on his wedding day who rammed one of them and got rightfully shot. It''s the RACE, not the event.
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Posted by hypnotoad72 at 01:47 PM : May 17, 2008
-That''s my point. The likes of you HAVE added to the population by being here. Therefore, do the rest of us a favor and save the world and kick off.
-And I did no whining about what other people think about overpopulation. Just talking about the other ones and ones like you whining. So just tell your brothers and sisters and friends and colleagues to be sterilized and force your beliefs on them. See if that will go over well.
Posted by MyOpinion1
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Working on what? Did they know? Do I know? Do you know? You claim you know, so take the next step and tell people what to do with some details.
Posted by NonayaBiness
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After you, thanks anyway.
Oh, may I ask, if it''s none of our business, why do you whine about the beliefs other people have on overpopulation? We''ve already contributed by spreading awareness and NOT adding to the population problem. Don''t be such a facetious pigheaded ingrate.
and they''''''''re doing a pretty good job of it.
Posted by truthyness at 09:16 AM : May 17, 2008
Given the current state of this country, I''d say their doing a pretty good job of it with whites too...believe me, all of this WILL end come November!
On another note: People need to stop complaining about the Katrina victims. So many people lost their homes and their jobs and still are not returned to their previous position. Many insurance companies are still not paying people for their home damage or what they are paying is not enough to repair it. Families have been broken financially and emotionally. I can tell you I have experienced the family and friends moving away as a result of this storm, but not the heartbreak that most people have felt. The complainer should pray that they never have to experience the pain that still reverberates in Southern Louisiana and Mississippi today. Shame on you.
On another note: People need to stop complaining about the Katrina victims. So many people lost their homes and their jobs and still are not returned to their previous position. Many insurance companies are still not paying people for their home damage or what they are paying is not enough to repair it. Families have been broken financially and emotionally. I can tell you I have experienced the family and friends moving away as a result of this storm, but not the heartbreak that most people have felt. The complainer should pray that they never have to experience the pain that still reverberates in Southern Louisiana and Mississippi today. Shame on you.
On another note: People need to stop complaining about the Katrina victims. So many people lost their homes and their jobs and still are not returned to their previous position. Many insurance companies are still not paying people for their home damage or what they are paying is not enough to repair it. Families have been broken financially and emotionally. I can tell you I have experienced the family and friends moving away as a result of this storm, but not the heartbreak that most people have felt. The complainer should pray that they never have to experience the pain that still reverberates in Southern Louisiana and Mississippi today. Shame on you.
Posted by chrisinchina at 12:18 AM : May 17, 2008
Actually, you could grow more than enough here to feed all our citizens, possibly all the citizens of the world. Problem is that government has been paying subsidies to farmers for so long to not grow, that now we have to import.
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See all 31 Comments