Feature: When tremor hits, femininity shines
By Xinhua Writers Zhan Yan, Rong Jiaojiaopsy
CHENGDU, June 27 (Xinhua) --
When William Shakespeare wrote \"frailty, thy name is woman,\" he may have no idea what women could do at times of extreme adversity.As the 8.0-magnitude earthquake rocked Sichuan, southwest China, on May 12, it let out not only the devastating power within the earth, but also the incredible strength inside women.
Though they have suffered both at the quake zone and on the home front, women in Sichuan have helped inspire and give hope to those around them with their strength and love.
IN THE NAME OF THE MOTHER
A two-month-old baby found under the ruins in Longwan Village, Chenjiaba Township, Beichuan County, on May 12, survived because she was shielded by the body of her mother, who died protecting her.
The mother\'s body was in a kneeling position, with the right hand preed to the ground and the left holding the baby tightly.A thick roof beam lay acro her back.The baby was crying in the space formed by her curved body.Two months before, the mother had undergone enormous pain while giving birth.She chose a natural delivery, rather than the le painful Caesarean.\"It\'s for our baby\'s health,\" Huang Lingli told her husband Mu Jianfeng.She fainted several times during the 25-hour delivery.During the labor, her husband repeatedly asked her to have a Caesarean, but she refused: \"I won\'t give up.I want our baby to be as healthy as poible.\"
\"Marriage and birth-giving, the two most important things in a woman\'s life.I\'ve done both and good days always follow,\" the husband recalled her saying.However, she only spent two months with her baby Mu Qianqi.In the eyes of her husband, the woman seemed to have boundle energy.She was busy all day, caring for the baby, cooking, working the farmland and tending other family members.The husband worked in Shanghai, thousands of miles away, earning money for the family.
\"Our daughter laughed in her sleep and woke up giggling,\" said her last text meage to her husband.The husband said he would keep this meage in his phone for the rest of his life, and would show it to the daughter when she is old enough to understand
THE BELATED MESSAGE OF ROMANCE
Li Diyan never expected her husband to carry her photo every day, because after two decades of marriage, she knew he was just not the romantic type.\"I thought he knew nothing about romance.He never told me \'I love you\' in all those years,\" Li says.
When she found out how wrong she was, it was too late.One month before his scheduled retirement, Colonel Qiu Guanghua was killed in action -- his helicopter crashed while carrying a dozen trapped and injured villagers from the remote mountains.Collecting his belongings, rescuers found a yellowing photo of his wife in his breast pocket.
Before the earthquake, the couple were planning how to spend their retirement.\"Touring around Shanghai, Hangzhou....We had done a schedule,\" Li says.
The helicopter disappeared in bad weather in the cloudy mountains.It was found after a 10-day search.
When he was miing, she had firmly believed he was alive.On the previous flight, Qiu survived a mishap when he was carrying about 20 injured people from Maoxian County, his home area.The engine overheated, but he managed a forced landing.He had 5,800 hours of flying time.
She believed the same thing had happened this time.It was his 64th flight in the 17 days after the quake.Struggling between hope and despair, she often woke in the middle of the night when she heard a noise and asked, \"Is that you? Guanghua?\"
They lived near the airport.She had to get up early and ride her bicycle for two hours to work.He asked to move, but she refused.\"It is near your workplace and convenient for you,\" she told her husband.
She is still proud of him, the boy from a backwater village who became a pilot.
He volunteered for the rescue team although he could have been excused so close to his retirement.\"They are suffering.I can\'t sit watching.I want to do my part,\" he told his wife.
She aured him she would take care of the family and look for his miing father and mother.She finally contacted them and brought them medicine, foods and a power-generator.
Each time her husband left, she worried.\"It was his familiar \'Hi\' on phone after every flight that made me feel safe at heart,\" Li says.
But this time, the call never came.
She has set up a memorial hall at their home.She pours two cups of liquor before his picture every night, toying with her jade necklace pendant.It was a token of betrothal from him.Another hung round his neck.
The Fearle Quake Heroine Fears Night
She is strong and brave during the day, but in the darkne of night, Jiang Min is painful.
(1)Jiang is a policewoman from Pengzhou, a city destroyed by the May 12th earthquake.
Ten of Jiang’s relatives died in the earthquake, including her mother and two-year-old daughter.Jiang did not leave her post (岗位) as more and more displaced(使背井离乡) people came to Pengzhou seeking help.It was up to police, like her , to find shelter and food.
In the weeks following the earthquake, Jiang worked non-stop at temporary shelters.She said she barely slept.
(2) Regarded by millions of Chinese as a national heroine, Jiang said she was still struggling with
nightmares(噩梦) from that day.Work distracts her grief .
“ I don’t like night”, she said.“I don’t know how I struggled through those days.My heart ached whenever I thought of my daughter and my mother… I didn’t even know where they were,” said she, fighting back tears.
(3) Born in 1980 , Jiang led a quiet life before the earthquake, taking a walk with friends, going shopping and drinking tea were her favorite activities.The earthquake changed everything.
\'\'Life was carefree then,\'\'she said.
The earthquake changed everything.
“ The most relaxed moment I have now is when I gather and chat with female workmates,” said Jiang, who was in Beijing for the Tenth National Women’s Congre.“We sometimes cried and we felt better after that .”In order to fight against stre,Jiang attended psychological counseling on occasion.She said talking to psychologists was helpful.
\'\'But you still have to rely onn yourself to get over the psychological stre.otherwise on matter what the experts say,it just won\'t work on you,\'\'Jiang said
A DAUGHTER\'S MEMORY AND WISH
\"Mum, you gave me life, but I am sorry I can\'t sustain yours.How I wish I could be your mother if there were afterlife, then I could take better care of you,\" wrote Li Jia, 26, on the blog dedicated to her mother, who died in the earthquake.
Li Jia, an art editor of an advertising company in Chengdu, was having on-line chat with her mother, who
worked in Beichuan County, when the tremor struck.Her mother went suddenly off-line and couldn\'t be reached on her mobile.
Finally, word came that her mother\'s workplace was flattened during the quake and her body couldn\'t be found.Li Jia couldn\'t believe that her meeting with Mum on May1 when they danced together to celebrate the Labor Day was their last.
Memories haunted Li Jia and she decided to open a blog on May 26 for her mother.She wrote that she met her Mum every day in her dreams and hoped to see her often in this way.She confeed her regret at not saying \"I love you\" due to her shyne.She promised to her mother that she would be strong and happy.
\"Through the blog, I felt relieved.It is also a way to talk to myself to gain strength to move on,\" said Li Jia, adding that her mother\'s biggest wish was to see her daughter healthy and happy.
When Li Jia arrived in Beichuan County on June 21 to see her once cozy home in ruins, she couldn\'t help weeping silently.
But she soon regained self-control.\"Mum, I know you are watching me, so I will cry no more.Your love will be lifelong and you will always be there.\" (Zhang Yanping, Zhu Yu and Bai Ruixue contributed to the story.)
