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Tears, prays for quake victims on Tomb Sweeping Day
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-05 10:31

BEICHUAN -- Tears fell down her cheeks, like the rain dropping on her umbrella.

"I dreamed of my granddaughter several times," Tan Yunlan said while sobbing.

Tears, prays for quake victims on Tomb Sweeping Day
A relative of earthquake victims mourns at the ruins of earthquake-hit Beichuan county in Sichuan province April 2, 2009. [Agencies]
Supported by her daughter, the elderly woman gazed at a pile of rubble which used to be an apartment building in the former Beichuan county seat.

Tan's son-in-law arranged several bricks to burn incense, while her daughter took out a folded handkerchief from her bag. She opened it and placed the photo of a four-year-old girl inside, then gently placed it on the ground.

Behind the family, people walked slowly in twos and threes, holding candles or white chrysanthemums. Firecrackers would sound sporadically.

As Saturday was China's traditional Tomb Sweeping Day, survivors of the quake-leveled county returned to what's left of their homes to mourn loved ones.

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Grief in Quake Zones

More than 80,000 people were confirmed dead or missing after the May 12, 2008 earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan province.

One of the worst-hit areas, 15,645 people were killed in Beichuan. Another 4,311 others remain missing. Because of the destruction, the county has been closed-off since May 20 last year. For the first time since then, former residents were allowed to return for four days of mourning starting Wednesday.

Life forever changed for Zhu Xiuhua after her husband was buried under the county's vegetable market.

"He was considerate and diligent, earning 3,000 yuan a month to support the family," she murmured, eyes swollen.

After the quake, Zhu became the family provider, taking care of her parents-in-law and two sons. Although the local government gave her some subsidy, she now has to work at construction sites like a man.

Tears, prays for quake victims on Tomb Sweeping Day
A woman mourns her child killed during the devastating earthquake striking southwest China's Sichuan Province May 12, 2008, in Beichuan County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, April 4, 2009. [Xinhua]

Facing the debris of the market, she drew a circle on the ground with a stick and wrote the name of her husband.

"There were too many people who died in the quake. I am afraid he can't find the money I gave him," she wept.

Zhu then lit a candle and placed it alongside the pork she had cooked and set by the debris. Pork, was her husband's favorite food. She then burned ghost money, as an offering to help the dead in afterlife.

"Don't worry about us. We can manage it," she whispered to him.

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