Tragic Journey - 30 Years of the Tangshan Earthquake Written to Yun Nian

Author: Chen Feibi / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features:
Yun Nian, as the Tangshan earthquake gradually recedes into the distance, have you truly been gone from us for nearly 30 years? Thirty years have passed, the stars have shifted, the seasons have changed, and I find it hard to imagine how you endured those long, dark nights all by yourself! Gently, I reopen that long-dust-covered small box once again, and I see the watch once more—the watch unearthed from the ruins of the Tangshan earthquake 30 years ago, perhaps the one taken from your cold, stiff wrist. Imbued with the vicissitudes of the departed and condensed with the blood and tears of the deceased, its hands remain still and solemn at that tragic moment, testifying to the arrival of the devastating disaster that shook the world: 03:42:20! July 28, 1976, will forever be a heart-wrenching day for contemporary Chinese seismologists. At 3:42 a.m. that night, in this moment forever etched into the annals of human disaster, Tangshan—a historic industrial hub—was shattered by the of the earth. Amidst rolling dust and the pitch-black land of northern Hebei, countless lives were buried beneath the mountains of rubble!
Facing the desolate Tangshan landscape swept by disaster, and the survivors still reeling from the terror and grief, the seismologists felt their hearts torn asunder, consumed by regret and guilt! They blamed themselves, they felt guilty, they were utterly ashamed! They had no face to confront the strings of blood-soaked numbers: nearly a million people buried alive, 240,000 lives lost beneath the debris, 160,000 compatriots severely injured, tens of thousands of families torn apart, and over 7,000 families left without a trace. The Yan Mountains wept, the Bohai Sea sighed, Beijing and Tianjin were scarred, and the world mourned!
Yun Nian, it was in this unthinkable catastrophe that you and your comrades—six members of the Hebei Seismological Bureau’s Seismological and Geological Survey Team who had been working tirelessly in Tangshan and Luan County for over a month: Su Yingjun, Huang Zhong, Zhou Shijiu, Wang Suji, Yan Shuanzheng, and you—were ruthlessly claimed by the earthquake demon! You died in the line of duty, sacrificing your young lives for the cause of seismology.
Gazing at this watch, which has rested for 30 years—once it drank your body temperature, accompanying you across the land of our motherland; once it ticked day and night, urging you to fight the earthquake with every second—I suddenly realize: Yun Nian, is this the last message you wanted to convey to me before leaving this world? Are you warning me to never forget this moment?
Yes, how could I forget? How could I ever forget! With the arrival of this moment, an industrial hub was destroyed, 240,000 lives were lost, and the years of struggle, exploration, and hope of Chinese seismologists, as well as the once-glorious "glory," were utterly shattered and extinguished.
Staring at the hands lying silently on the dial, my thoughts once again fly back to the distant year of 1976, to those unforgettable days and nights after the Tangshan earthquake! P3-4