The city remembers its dead

Before traveling to Tangshan, Hebei province, I watched the Chinese-made movie Aftershock, which tells the story of the 1976 earthquake. I cried so much, I used up two packs of tissues.

I asked 68-year-old Deng Yaping, a former soldier in the communications corp of the People's Liberation Army who was paralyzed in the quake, for her opinion of the movie. "It was not even close to what really happened that night. The reality is beyond people's imaginations," she said.

Walking along the streets, I was struck by the number of posters promoting the 40th anniversary of the earthquake. They were everywhere - grim reminders that the city was wiped out in just one night.