China's day of mourning rekindles quake anguish

The ruins left by China's vast earthquake last year have become shrines for anguish and anger this week, when the nation's traditional mourning day has brought out families struggling in the aftermath of the calamity. Nearly one year after the May 12 quake killed around 80,000 people, bereaved families have tramped through the rubble of Beichuan and other towns across Sichuan province in southwest China to mark Tomb Sweeping Festival, the Chinese day for honouring ancestors, which falls on Saturday. In Beichuan, they knelt beside the shattered concrete and tottering buildings to burn incense, candles and ghost money, traditionally intended to help the dead in the afterlife. Li Wenqun lit fire to paper images of a blue vest, cell phone, sports car and gold bar to comfort her late son, Zheng Xiao, who died when buildings of Beichuan Middle School, on the hill above the town, crumpled and killed over 1,200 students. "It's still so hard a year on," she said as she lit offerings beside a metal fence circling the flattened school. "Now we live in a pre-fab hut and have nothing. No son, no home, nothing." For many, this pilgrimage was a painful private moment as they murmured prayers or words of comfort to the dead. But along with grief, residents shared anger and frustration over the hardships they face. Economic woes also weighed heavily on many. "Now there's only me and my wife left," said Wang Qinyou, 56, who said his son and 20 members of his extended family died in the quake. "I lost so many people it's hard to keep track," said Wang as he burned ghost money on a makeshift platform. "Now what I worry about most isn't my son. He's gone," Wang said. His son is officially classified as missing, not dead. "I don't know what my wife and I can do ... We're too old to find work and I can't afford life insurance." Such anger seems unlikely to ignite major protest among these needy survivors dependent on government help. But their anguish, and the hundreds of police and troops guarding Beichuan, stand as a reminder that in this memory-sensitive nation, even disaster anniversaries pose a political worry for a government that prefers to dwell on future hopes. BLOCKADE EASED Beichuan town itself was sealed off by troops in the weeks after the quake. But the government has eased the blockade to let locals in over four days, including Saturday, watched by troops and police. Thousands of former residents have seized the rare chance to come and share pictures, momentoes and stories of those they lost. The quake was a defining event for China, spurring a display of patriotic unity and an outpouring of voluntary aid. Beijing vowed to rebuild devastated areas, and since the global slowdown, has made reconstruction a plank of its stimulus efforts. But the scale of the destruction and funding bottlenecks mean many residents face frustrating waits for new homes. And in this part of China that is home to many migrant workers, the economic slowdown has magnified hardships for many. Peng Lin, a stocky middle-aged man, standing among collapsed buildings, said he had lost his mining job in central China's Hunan province earlier this year. Now he lives in one of the many camps of pre-fabricated foam-panel huts housing quake survivors. "Now life is just about getting by," Peng said, after resting a bunch of white flowers near a river bank for a dead nephew. White is the traditional Chinese colour of mourning. "This time last year, life seemed good. But now life seems just hard. I'm using up all my savings and they won't last long." At the Beichuan Middle School, many grieving mothers and fathers said the compensation and care they received were not enough. They said, as have many parents, that school buildings were fatally vulnerable due to poor design and weak concrete. Li, the grieving mother, said she received 4,000 yuan ($586; Dh2,151) for her son's death. His brother survived the quake. "That's all we got for a boy who'd be 18 now," she said. "At our age, it's hard to find work, and that's all they gave us."