Standing Proud for the Children

By YE JIANPING, LIU MIN & WU XIAOYING

ON April 5, 2011, the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day, Liu Gangjun visited the tomb of his son for the first time since the Wenchuan earthquake. The boy was killed in the 2008 disaster. “I am here to tell my boy that I am on my feet again,” said Liu.

June 16, 2008: Torchbearer Liu Gangjun, who lost his right leg in the Wenchuan earthquake, carries the Olympic flame during the Beijing Olympic Games torch relay. China Foto Press

We met Liu at a supermarket in the newly built district of Hanwang Town, Mianzhu City. The man has big eyes, gray hair and an artificial right leg. On the day of the earthquake, Liu was in a bus on his way from Hanwang Town to Tianchi Town. For over 30 hours, his right leg was caught under a huge rock that rolled down from the mountains. Without anaesthetic, he asked rescuers to cut off his leg with a fruit knife. He survived.

“The pain was like thousands of arrows piercing my heart,” Liu wrinkled brows at his recollection of the moment. “I bit down on a towel, but the pain was so intense that I broke my teeth in the effort. Even now I have difficulty eating,” Liu told us.

We asked him what kind of power motivated him to survive and rebuild his life. He answered instantly that it was his deep love and concern for his child.

After being rescued, Liu was sent to a hospital in Chongqing for treatment. His strong will moved the whole society and for that he was picked as an Olympic torchbearer in Chongqing. “I ‘ran’ for about 50 meters in my wheelchair that day to the loud encouragement of bystanders,” said Liu.

Returning to his hometown afterwards, Liu asked his wife to pack away everything related to their son in order to avoid thinking about the child’s untimely death. Even so, whenever coverage of the earthquake rescue came on TV, or children romped around his prefab home, Liu would dissolve in tears.

As the glory of being a torchbearer faded, Liu found himself depressed and for a long time he was no longer capable of holding down a regular job. But the help offered by a volunteer group brought Liu new hope.

The sorrow fades and his confidence grows day by day. In September 2009, Liu, together with his two disabled friends, hung up their grocery store shingle “Dream Taking Off.” The busy work has kept their life fulfilled and happy.

Liu told us that a friend of him once asked: “You’re disabled already, why do you work yourself that hard?” He replied: “I am disabled, but I will never give up the chance to be self-reliant again.”

Liu has turned himself from a beneficiary of the volunteer operation to a help-provider. Currently he is busy with assisting Yang Wanming, another disabled friend, start his liquor factory.

In the earthquake-struck area, over 7,000 disabled people are carrying on with their lives. Their resolve and resilience has helped them move on and rebuild.

YE JIANPING, LIU MIN and WU XIAOYING are reporters of Xinhua News Agency.