Zhang Youlu was nine years old when his parents died in the devastating earthquake in Tangshan, in north China's Hebei Province, in 1976.
Zhang grew up in a government-run boarding school for quake orphans in the provincial capital Shijiazhuang. He now runs a bookstore in his home city of Tangshan, about 200 kilometers east of Beijing.
His childhood woes came back to him when an 8.0-magnitude quake struck Wenchuan county in the southwestern Sichuan Province last Monday, killing more than 40,000 people.
"My heart ached when I saw those children who lost both parents in the quake: babies who survived under the protection of dead parents and older children who find it hard to believe their parents are dead," said Zhang.
Two days after the quake, he put a posting on an Internet forum calling on all Tangshan orphans to extend love and care to quake victims in Sichuan.
Hundreds of people have answered his call in the past week with cash donations, offers of foster care for orphans and counseling services at the hardest-hit areas.
"As quake orphans ourselves, we feel those children's pain better than anyone else," he said.
PASSING ON LOVE
Thirty-two years after the devastating quake that killed 240,000 people, the desire to repay society for the love and support that helped more than 4,200 orphans grow up brought them together again.
More than 300 Tangshan orphans rallied in front of the downtown monument commemorating the 1976 quake on Tuesday to mourn the dead and donate cash for the quake-hit areas, though nearly all of them had donated more than once.
Hundreds more responded to their call and made donations from other Chinese cities.
Quake orphan Zhang Xiangqing, now president of a steel company in Tianjin, has donated 100 million yuan (14 million U.S. dollars). "I hope the money will help build new homes and schools that will withstand earthquakes."
Liu Yuanping, a government employee in Tangshan, said he wanted to pass on a message to all quake orphans in Sichuan. "Be strong and be brave. You'll all grow up like everyone else."
Liu was 14 when his parents, brother and sister died in the earthquake. He spent two years in a boarding school for quake orphans in his hometown before he went on to high school.
Throughout his one-hour interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Liu stopped from time to time to answer phone calls, most of which were from his former schoolmates. "We all want to adopt some orphans," he said. "We have similar experiences and can become better foster parents than those who don't."
HEART TO HEART
Yang Shan woke up to find her legs were gone.
Counseling was not possible because the senior high schooler from Beichuan County, one of the hardest-hit areas where more than7,000 died, would scream whenever a stranger came near.
"I'm from Tangshan and I know how you feel." These simple words from Dang Yuxin calmed the tearful girl. The 1976 quake, one of the most unforgettable events in China's modern history, made the city known to every Chinese above 10 years old.
Dang was able to approach the girl, hold her hand and reassure her that she was safe. "If you want to cry, just do it and you'll feel better."
When the girl became quiet again, Dang related her own experience.
She was six months old when rescuers pulled her from the rubble of her home. Her parents were dead and no one knew her name, so she was institutionalized at a special school for more than 100 quake orphans. There she was named Dang Yuxin, meaning "the Communist Party gave her a new life."
Yang listened quietly to her account, at the end of which she began to recall the terrible scenes she witnessed after the quake: her dead classmates, textbooks, satchels, pieces of clothing and blood everywhere. She talked until she was exhausted, and finally fell asleep.
When she woke up again she was not scared of the doctors and nurses.
"Just let them face the truth. Don't tell lies such as 'your parents are still alive but have gone away'," Dang told a team of volunteers in Mianyang, where Yang and many other survivors are being treated.
A team of 17 counselors from Tangshan has arrived in Mianzhu and Beichuan, two of the hardest-hit areas in last Monday's quake. With their survival skills acquired from the 1976 quake, they hope to provide psychotherapy to victims in Sichuan.
"Every time, I tried hard to fight back tears," said Dang, "but I have to be strong and tell them to be strong, too."
CARING FOR QUAKE ORPHANS
Most of the quake orphans from the 1970s believe it's better for the orphans to be institutionalized than to be adopted.
Zhou Jie, 39, still cannot shrug off her unhappy life with her aunt and uncle in the south. They had three children themselves. "In fact, they were very nice to me. But somehow I always felt like an outsider."
When she finished high school, Zhou found a job at a state company in Beijing.
Su Youpo, a post-quake reconstruction specialist, has made friends with many Tangshan quake orphans during decades of research work. "Most of them believe a special school is the best place for orphans," he said.
"Children who live in foster families always feel uneasy: they think they owe a lot to their foster parents. When institutionalized, however, all the children are equal and don't have to feel indebted."
Many Chinese families have expressed willingness to adopt quake orphans from Sichuan Province, though there's still no confirmed list of orphans.
The civil affairs department in Sichuan estimated about 70 children had lost both parents in the quake. The final number won't be very big because many parents in the populous province are among the country's millions of migrant workers, who have jobs in faraway cities.
"Still, it is advisable to set up a special institution for these children, better in their home province, so the children will feel closer to their dead parents," said Dong Yuguo, who was president of the government school for quake orphans in Shijiazhuang.
At least 500 people in Tangshan, some of whom grew up as orphans, have offered financial aid for the children, and voluntary services if such an institution is established.
As of Wednesday, the quake was known to have killed 41,353 people, injured 274,683 and left 32,666 missing.
Source: Xinhua
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