At 6:00 pm, May 15, 2008, organized by the State Council Information Office in conjunction with some other agencies, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, a journalist group comprising of over 30 people left Beijing for the quake-hit areas in Sichuan by CA4104 to conduct interviews.

This was a flight quite different from previous ones. It was one without tourists. On board were the volunteers, Red Cross people, foreign rescue experts as well as domestic and overseas journalists. They had come from different places but were heading for the same direction, i.e. the quake-hit areas. Sitting right after us were two naval officers of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), who were also going to the forefront to contribute their share in the rescue effort. No uproar was heard and no smiles seen. The journalists and other passengers were all reading the newspapers in their hands, silently. The stories covered by those newspapers were all reports on the rescue and relief efforts. The headline of the People's Daily (overseas edition) says "Saving People. Racing Against Time". A foreign journalist, reading the general information carried in China Daily, said to himself, "Great China, Great Chinese People". At 8:30 pm, after a bumpy journey, the plane finally arrived at Shuangliu Airport, Chengdu. The crew announcer saluted all the people that are part of the rescue and relief effort, in both Chinese and English, before all the flight attendants lined up to say goodbye to the passengers.

Upon arriving at the hotel, the journalists couldn't wait to ask the interview itinerary of the next day. The questions most frequently asked was when they could arrive at the worst-hit areas. They would like to know the following: How heavy are the life and property losses inflicted by the disaster? How is the rescue effort going on? How is the life of the affected people like? What major difficulties are the rescue and relief operations facing? How will the reconstruction proceed? Many journalists said that they wished to, through their words and cameras, make in-depth reports and have the world see, hear and read the heavy casualties and property losses inflicted by the earthquake and the arduous efforts by the Chinese government and people in the rescue and relief operations.

On the early morning of May 16, the 20-plus overseas journalists who had arrived at Chengdu earlier joined the interview team, making the members of the team totaling 61 journalists from 39 media, among whom 34 were from 20 foreign media. At 9 am, the Information Office of the Sichuan Provincial Government held a briefing on casualties and losses, rescue operations, hygiene and epidemic control and other issues of concerns. Local officials said that just before the briefing, the death toll of Sichuan Province alone had reached over 20,000 people, with more than 100,000 injured, and the number was still on the rise. Under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, the rescue and relief operations have been going on forcefully, orderly and effectively, which have ensured the stability in the quake-hit areas. The Chinese government urgently dispatched more than 130,000 PLA officers, armed police officers and public security policemen to the quake-hit areas for rescue operations. The rescue forces, local officials and people, and the expert rescue teams have saved over 33,000 people from the debris, relocated more than 50,000 people in the quake-hit areas to proper shelters. The Sichuan people are thankful to their fellow countrymen across the nation, the overseas Chinese and the international community for their precious support in the rescue and relief efforts.

Fleet of Vehicles Carrying Love	We are bonded by blood.

After the briefing, the journalists drove to Deyang city, one of the worst-hit areas in Sichuan, with the death toll already exceeding 10,000. It was still 15 kilometers to go to arrive at the Hanwang Township of neighboring Mianzhu County, another worst-hit area. On the road to Mianyang, collapsed houses were seen everywhere. Almost all the vehicles on the road carry slogans in support of the relief operations. Trucks, cars, minivans, land-rovers, etc., were all heading for the quake-hit areas. The compartments and roofs were all laden with various bottled water, biscuits and instant noodles. It could be seen from the plates that they have come from the different corners of the nation. At a gas station, the journalists ran into 2 middle-aged men coming from Tangshan City to participate in the relief operations. Each side of their car carried a banner with a slogan saying "Fight the quake together. We are bonded by blood." Upon the news of earthquake, they immediately took the initiative to buy a batch of relief materials the next day, and sent them to Deyang after 2 days and 2 nights' non-stop driving. When asked why they had done this, they just waved their hands, saying "it's nothing". They said, "when Tangshan was struck by the earthquake in 1976, it was the people across the nation that have supported us. Now that Sichuan people are in difficulties, as people from Tangshan, we would like to do our bit to help."

Material Warehouses	Logistic Support

The first place of interview was the relief materials distribution center in Deyang City, where the tents, clothes, drinking water and food coming from different parts of the country would be concentrated, and then distributed to the various quake-hit areas within Deyang. Here, the relief materials have piled up, like small mountains. PLA officers, armed police officers and public security policemen, together with local workers and farmers, would load the materials onto vehicles and send them urgently to places in dire need of such materials. Also here, the journalists were concerned about whether the relief materials were adequate and whether the vehicles would be timely enough. The relief workers, while continuing with their loading work, answered the questions. They said that the most needed things at this stage are clothes and tents, and the vehicles are, in general, timely enough to ensure the material supply in Immediate and fast response to the quake, with the remote mountainous areas still in dire need of food and medicine. On the other side of the distribution center are over 20 tents, which are lined up neatly. This is the medical treatment camp of a medical team of the PLA. Once the injured is sent here, the medical workers will conduct immediate treatment and offer tender care.

Angels in White	Interview with the Injured

Half an hour later, the journalists arrived at the Oriental Steam Turbine Factory in Hanwang Township. This is one of the three large-scale industrial bases which possess the capability of producing power station equipment in China, and boasts of more than 7,000 staff. When the quake struck, the factory's production buildings collapsed and buried more than 4,000 staff in the debris. Upon the striking of the disaster, the government had quickly organized rescue operations and the survivors also organized themselves to help. When the journalists arrived, the rescue effort had been going on for more than 70 hours, with a lot of rescue workers and large-scale machinery still operating day and night. According to the head of the factory, around 80-90% employees have been helped out of danger, and they would make every effort that they can to continue the search and rescue for the survivors. To date, the bodies of the victims have been disposed of properly and those severely injured have been sent to hospital for treatment. Those slightly injured employees, together with the affected residents living in neighboring areas, have been sent to a lot of tents set up in the open land of the outside perimeters of the factory. In the factory, the journalists met an emaciated granny in the seventies. Every day, she would walk more than an hour to get to the factory and wait for her child buried under the debris to be rescued. She pointed at a bicycle under the already collapsed bicycle shed, saying that her son goes to work by this bicycle every day and she would wait for her son to be back home. She has said all this quietly, tears in her eyes all the time. People present held her hands, all trying to give her comfort. Wherever is the child, the heart of his mother is always with him.

Collapsed Factory Buildings	Interview with Head of the Oriental Steam Turbine Factory
Digging Site	Waiting for Her Son to Be Back Home

After the earthquake struck, across the whole Hanwang Township, a lot of houses have collapsed, presenting a saddening, heart-breaking look. On a street not far from the steam turbine factory, we could not see any house left intact. Two 6-storey buildings have leaned and collapsed during the quake. The bodies of the parents of a woman have just been dug out by the rescue team and the woman broke out of the arms of the rescue workers for several times, crying, throwing herself to her parents' side, wanting to have a last glimpse of their faces. Witnessing such a heart-breaking parting moment, several women journalists had to cover their faces, trying not to cry aloud. One of the journalists attempted several times to raise the camera but opted to give up at last.

The rescue team lined up	The rescue team is being interviewed

Conducting the rescue mission on site was a team of rescue workers from Henan Zhongyuan Oilfield. They have searched for dozens of hours despite the risks of losing their lives also, and have saved a number of survivors. A journalist from an Arab television station interviewed one of the rescue workers on site, asking whether he had considered giving up. The young man interviewed answered firmly, "We are all Chinese. It is incumbent on us to save our fellow countrymen. We will never give up."

After accomplishing a mission, the team leader ordered his team members to have a short rest on site. After just 2 minutes, he received a new mission.

"All up", he ordered. "I have just received an order. 2 kilometers from this place, a collapsed building indicated signs of life. We are asked to go there to conduct rescue operations immediately. If at the site you find any survivor, report to me immediately! If you find any bodies of the victims, report to me immediately, too, so as to make proper disposal!" He spoke very quickly and strongly. "In addition, in disposing of the bodies of the victims, we should respect the victims like we respect people still alive. Understand?"

"Yes, sir", the 7 team members answered unanimously, with the same strong voice.

Never give up.	Racing against time to move the bodies of victims.

Seeing such a view, 4 journalists, from home and abroad, followed the rescue team to the rescuing site. To get there, they must go through streets that are several hundred meters long. And along the road are decrepit buildings that may fall again at any time due to aftershocks. Temporarily, the rescue workers didn't find any survivor, but they still carried the body of a victim from a runnel to a slope that is several meters high, in a relay manner, despite the risks. They also honored their commitment by paying respect to the deceased. The cameras of the journalists have recorded the whole process. When doing on-site coverage, a Chinese journalist couldn't help choking several times, and a foreign journalist was also deeply touched by this view.

Volunteers on the Vehicle.	Granny Carrying Water.

Completing the interview here, the journalists didn't stop a second and went to another worst-hit area, the Jinhua Township of Shifang City. On board, volunteers handed out several slices of bread to the journalists as lunch. When passing by the villagers' committee of Dongyue Village, the journalists made a short stopover, when a granny with white air carried her boiling water pot, walked alongside the road, asked each car whether water was needed and poured water for every needy person, free of charge. She said the boiled water was the mineral water she had prepared earlier. She knew that people passing by were all going to the quake-hit areas to help and may need boiled water, so she has been waiting here, carrying her pot. "We are grateful to you. Thank you for coming to our rescue. We will never forget you!" Despite her strong Sichuan accent, each word of hers sounded so clearly to us.

Running forward.	Keep watch for home.

After another bumpy journey that took more than half an hour, the journalists arrived at Jinhua Township. Due to the narrow roads in the mountain, the vehicle of the journalists had to go forward by turns with the vehicles coming from the opposite direction. On the roadside parked neatly dozens of buses for carrying PLA officers and rescue teams. A lot of volunteers have also driven here. A transport police officer was giving instructions, with the rescue vehicles passing by one after another but very orderly. One after another team of PLA soldiers passed by running, with solemn faces and high morale. Some soldiers were cooking together with local people. Looking far away, one after another village has been flattened. Only the mountains far out there are still standing. With the help of the military force, some villagers set up make-shift tents in the adjacent open land, where the government has sent to them clothes, food and drinking water. Simple as the conditions are, they finally had a temporary shelter, after all.

One villager was squatting on the debris of his house, keeping watch for his home. The journalists surrounded him. Right beside him, several farm birds were strolling, as if in no knowledge of the disaster.

"I am not afraid!" Since some foreign journalists could not understand his accent quite well, he raised his voice. "We can take the time to build the houses later. So long as we are safe now, and so long as we have food and clothes, we are not afraid!"

People in his village have been very lucky. When the earthquake struck, most of the villagers were outside the township for a wedding ceremony, and escaped this disaster.

"The rescue personnel of the government arrived quickly, just 5 hours after the quake hit." He said. "The village is home to 2100 people. In such a devastating earthquake, only 300-plus people died and most survived. We are already very lucky."

Another villager is not so lucky as him. After the quake struck, he went immediately to the school where his 9-year-old younger son was having classes, and dug out several students with his bare hands. When the rescue workers who arrived immediately afterwards finally found his son, the kid already could not utter the sound "Papa" any more. His another son, 15-year-old, receiving education at a junior high school at the township proper, was also gone, like the younger one. When his own children were gone forever, he became the father of the kids that survived. In the afterworld, have the two brothers dreamed of the warm hands of their father? Have they felt the heart-breaking pains of their father?

On the site, the journalists saw an air-drop force that was conducting rescue operations. The glorious flag was flying with the wind. On the helmets of the soldiers was a heroic name, Air-drop Force. After taking dozens of hours to go all out to search and rescue people buried under the debris, they were assembled again to set up tents for the affected people during the night. The communications soldiers standing by were pointing the antenna of their walkie-talkies to the sky, as if symbolizing that the electric waves of life would never fade away.

Interview with Commander of Air-drop Troops	Electric Waves That Will Never Fade Away.

For most of the overseas journalists, this was the first time for them to conduct an interview in a quake-hit area. After leaving Jinhua Township, on the road, few journalists have opened their mouth and talked. When a Chinese journalist asked about the feelings of a German journalist, he shook his head and said solemnly "Not so great". Another journalist said to the Chinese journalist, "But I think your government did a great job."

When arriving at a temporary shelter camp in Shifang City, it was already 8:30 pm. This was also the last stop of the whole interview journey. Originally here was a large recreational square of Shifang City. Now big tents have been set up here as a temporary shelter camp for 2600 people affected by the quake. There are a total of 29 such camps in the city. Outside the square were the relief materials, neatly and tidily piled up there, being distributed orderly. Medical workers have set up a makeshift health station, ready to treat patients ant any time. Epidemic-control personnel spray sterilizing drugs regularly to prevent epidemic out-breaks. Public security policemen and armed police officers patrol day and night to safeguard the safety of the people. Insurance and telecommunications companies provide 24-hour services on the site. Tens of young volunteers were being assembled for missions, ready to lend a helping hand at any time. The head of the camp is the head of the local community office. He told the reporters that up to now the camp has been operating very well in all aspects and the affected people would be transferred to neighboring, safer areas properly as early as possible.

Head of the Temporary Shelter Camp	Volunteers of the Temporary Shelter Camp

On the air was being broadcasted the latest information on the rescue and relief operations. At a corner of the square was a 42-inch colored TV, where many young people were watching the live reports on disaster-relief operations. Most of the affected people were sitting at the meadow of the square, chatting quietly. On their faces we could see fatigue, the comfort of surviving the earthquake, but more, the endless thoughts about the beloved ones that they have lost. When interviewed, many people expressed their gratitude to the government and for the support from all sectors, stating the belief that days will better and better. A granny, with her little grandson on her back, told a French journalist that her grandson would be one year old in just 4 days to come. The little kid was lying prone on his grandma's back, looking curiously at the journalist who is from a different country. The journalist wanted to tease him, but he shyly hid his face to the other side. It is our sincere wish that this kid, who will be celebrating his one-year birthday soon, will live the rest of his life happily, safe and sound.

When the journalists went back to Chengdu, it was already 11 pm. On the way, they have raced against time to write the reports, make phone calls to their headquarters to tell what they have heard and seen, and transmit TV footages and pictures. This disaster is far from over. However, through this interview, the foreign journalists have witnessed with their own eyes the great spirit of the Chinese people, who are untied in solidarity and going through this tough time together. They have also deeply felt the courage, strength and confidence of the Chinese government and people. Many journalists said that there is reason to believe that China will survive this hard time and the international community will continue to follow closely and support the rescue and relief operations of China in fighting the earthquake. "What the Chinese government and people have done in the face of disasters is admirable and touching." "Hope Sichuan people will get out of the ordeals inflicted by this disaster as early as possible and rebuild their homes as early as possible." "I wish they can live happily, safe and sound, thereafter."

Yes. History will remember the immense disaster and pains endured by the Chinese people. History will remember the courageous and persevering battle fought by the nation as a whole in the face of the disaster. History will also remember all those who have made contributions and sacrifices in the rescue and relief operations. There is still a long way to go in the relief effort, but it is certain that the Chinese people will overcome any difficulty and march forward.