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Source: CCTV.com

06-29-2008 11:06

Special Report:   Documentary: The Earthquake

At 2:14 pm on May 12th 2008 a devastating earthquake occurred in Sichuan Province, and Wenchuan, where the epicenter of this earthquake was located, became the focus of world attention. People who had relatives and friends living in the disaster-stricken region were, of course, extremely worried, but communications lines had been broken. Desperate, they turned to the internet in the hope of getting through, and it was soon crammed with messages.

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One message posted on the Internet read, “Life is fragile and short. But love can make life strong and lasting. My best wishes to all of you!”

More and more news about the conditions in the disaster-stricken region poured in. In the beginning people simply sent messages to their own relatives and friends but before long they became concerned about all the victims, their hearts touched by the distress seen in the eyes of those who rescued from under the rubble.

It was a nerve-wracking time.

Many of the more fortunate residents in the disaster-stricken region donated blood so that the lives of fellow townspeople could be saved. In fact, so many wanted to donate blood that there was always a long queue at every blood donor station. Some blood donors had to wait for eight or nine hours before their turn.

In some places the blood centers received donated blood to the point where they could take no more. Blood cannot be kept in storage for a long time, and roads to the disaster-stricken region had not as yet been opened up. On May 14th the Ministry of Public Health issued a circular, requesting that blood donors make an appointment.

In China in May the weather is warm and flowers are blooming, and for young people it is the most favoured season for getting married. But when young couples heard news of the Wenchuan earthquake their weddings became shrouded in an atmosphere of unusual solemnity. V. This young couple from Pinggu District in Beijing has come to the district’s Office of Civil Affairs. They are not rich and since getting married they have been living in a rented apartment, but they are donating 1,000 yuan – for them a substantial sum - to victims of the earthquake.

In the city of Nanjing, a wedding ceremony is in progress, but it lacks the customary atmosphere of celebration usually demanded of such an occasion. Before the ceremony began, the bridegroom - a pilot with an army air unit – received orders to make his way to the disaster-stricken region to engage rescue work. He is only one of the many Chinese soldiers who have been ordered to take part.

The couple had planned a unique wedding: a remote-controlled plane model was going to come down from the sky and the bridegroom was going to take the rings from the plane and put one on the finger of his bride. But now the bride is also putting the bridegroom’s ring on her finger.

Having only the bride present at a wedding ceremony seems, to say the least, unusual. Her relatives and friends had urged her to postpone the wedding but the bride insisted on holding it as scheduled. Her reasoning is that the wedding ceremony will put her lover’s mind at ease as he goes about his rescue work and she can use the occasion to solicit support from her relatives and friends for victims of the earthquake. The wedding ceremony has turned into a donation event.

The bridegroom says, “You’re the best girl in the world. I’ll love you all my life.” These words move the bride so much she becomes choked with tears.