Tragedy destroys husband's desperate hope

Dressed in her white wedding gown, Chang Ruijuan lay peacefully on the bier, as her husband Liu Guinian tenderly placed 99 roses around her, tears streaming down his face.

There was not a dry eye at the Babaoshan Mortuary where family, friends and netizens from Beijing and Hebei gathered to bid farewell to the young girl on February 22.

Just a year ago, many of them had gathered to toast the couple as they celebrated their marriage, the culmination of a romance that began in 2005.