National flags, tears glorify quake-killed peacekeepers

BEIJING, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- They went there, on a humanitarian mission; they died there, in a devastating earthquake; and they were back, as national heroes.

Soldiers carry the coffins of the eight peacekeeping police officers who  died in the Haiti earthquake at the airport in Beijing, China,Jan.19,2010. (Xinhua/Jin Liangkuai)

Eight Chinese peacekeeping police officers last week lost their lives during a meeting with United Nations officials when a 7.3-magnitude earthquake ravaged Haiti, a Caribbean nation most Chinese know little about.

They were transported back Tuesday morning to a chilly and foggy Beijing. Eight coffins, draped in five-starred red national flags of the People's Republic of China (PRC), were escorted off a China Southern Airlines charter plane by honor guards to an apron where a slate of state leaders lining up for an unusual, solemn reception.

Senior officials were joined by families, holding portraits of their beloved, colleagues, biting their lips, and roughly a hundred unrelated people, bowing in silent tribute.

Zhou Yongkang, a Standing Committee member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, led the mourners to bow three times to the coffins. The former police chief wore a dark tie, a white-flower chest pin and a black armband, a Chinese way to show final respect for deceased.

Slideshow: 8 peacekeepers bodies returning home

Police officer Zhong Hairong said, "In this exact airport seven months ago, I saw them off to Haiti, but they came back dead." Zhong accompanied families of the three victims, Li Qin, Zhong Jianqin and He Zhihong, from southwest Yunnan Province.

"They said to me they would come back safely. They were supposed to complete the mission by the end of April," said the middle-aged Zhong, with tears streaming down his cheeks.

One grief-stricken member of the victims' families, who arrived in Beijing late Sunday, said to Xinhua he cried every time when television networks broadcast pictures of the dead.

Zhong Jianqin, a dedicated peacekeeper, was sent to Haiti for the second time last June, four days after his daughter was born. Li Qin, a reportedly heavy smoker, quit smoking for his peacekeeping mission in Haiti. He Zhihong, the only female among the eight victims, survived by a son of poor health.

The rest five victims were Wang Shulin, Li Xiaoming, both researchers at the Ministry of Public Security; Zhu Xiaoping, director in charge of the ministry's equipment and finance; Guo Baoshan, deputy director of the ministry's international cooperation department; and Zhao Huayu, head of China's 7th peacekeeping corps to Haiti.