Hope amid the ruins of China's quake disaster -- china.org.cn

Rescuers clean out the debris pressing on a trapped middle school student Yang Hong in quake-striken Beichuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 15, 2008.

The man himself might not know how dozens of PLA soldiers worked for five and a half hours in the ruins -- some were bleeding themselves after they were injured by falling stones, triggered by aftershocks. But their pains paid off when the man was saved.

The victims themselves never lost hope -- when the worst was over and one was either hardened or paralyzed by the pain and horror, the drive to live would almost always prevail.

Two girls held hands in the ruins of their school and swore to each other they would never give up hope. When rescuers found them, one in a coma and the other dead, their hands were still clenched together.

At the site of a collapsed kindergarten in Beichuan County, one of the worst-hit areas near Wenchuan, a preschooler hummed a nursery rhyme when rescuers carefully removed the layers of rubble from her legs.

"I'm trying to forget the pain," she said.

Song Xinyi, a 3-year-old earthquake survivor, is saved in earthquake-hit Beichuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 14, 2008. Song was saved after being buried in the ruins for more than 40 hours.

Even an 18-month-old toddler screamed "save mama, save papa" from the safety of a rescuer's arms. Her parents were both dead.

Many babies were born during the quake, and most of their names reflect that. Given names like Zhensheng (born in the quake) and Yaoyao (rock) were bestowed to commemorate the significance of their births.

As the song goes, "a ray of hope flickers in the sky, a tiny star lights up way up high. All across the land dawns a brand new morn. This comes to pass when a child is born."

Miracles can always happen, where there is hope.

(Xinhua News Agency May 16, 2008)

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