Cemetery connects lost soldiers with the present

At 70 years old, Liu Guoqin recently made the 1,600-kilometer journey from Wuxi, Jiangsu province, to Shenyang, Liaoning province, alone. Her surviving older siblings were too frail to travel, but Liu felt an obligation she couldn't pass up.

She was heading to the Chinese People's Volunteers martyrs' cemetery in Shenyang, where a single name carved into a 100-meter-long black granite wall drew her in: her eldest brother, Liu Guohua.

"I was born after he left. We never met," Liu Guoqin said, tears welling as she stood before the wall on June 3, accompanied by her childhood friend Hu Yanjuan, also 70. Liu Guoqin's brother was 22 when he died in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950-53). For decades, Liu searched — visiting government offices in Liaoning, calling old classmates and chasing leads that went nowhere. "My parents' dying wishes were to know where he was. So, I needed to find him," she said.

Three years ago, she did. His name was etched among the 174,407 names carved on the wall, representing the 197,653 fallen of the war. Duplicate names were carved only once, so the number of names is less than the true death toll.

Since then, Liu Guoqin has returned each year. "None of my living elder siblings are fit enough to travel long distances. While I can still walk, I will come," she said.