China Exclusive: Tangshan survivor recalls loss 40 years after quake

Standing in front of the gate of Kailuan Hospital, Wang Shubin, 64, can't help but recall memories of the devastating earthquake 40 years ago.

For the past four decades, Wang has suffered insomnia and nightmares whenever July 28 approaches.

"In spite of myself, I start to recall the painful past," Wang told Xinhua. "Most of the time, I just go to a quiet place and howl."

Wang will never forget how the outpatient building of the hospital collapsed suddenly as he was lying on a bed in the ward. He was receiving an intravenous infusion at the time, with his wife at his side.

In the early hours of July 28, 1976, one of the deadliest earthquakes of the 20th century toppled Tangshan, an industrial city in north China's Hebei Province, killing more than 240,000 people and injuring another 160,000.

On the night of July 27, 1976, Wang, a miner at China's Kailuan Coal Mine in Tangshan, was sent to the hospital by his wife for acute diarrhea.

Wang's bed and a piece of fallen concrete formed a narrow space for him to survive. "My first thought was to find my wife," he said.

He called her name loudly,"Jinfeng? Jinfeng? How about you?"

His wife answered that she could not move as she had been hit by concrete. "I started to remove the debris around me and tried my best to crawl to her," Wang said.

A concrete beam blocked his way. He could only reach one of her fingers through a narrow gap under the beam.

"With a weak voice, she demanded I promise to live on for our two-year-old daughter, until I could not hear her anymore," Wang said.

"I felt so weak and helpless at the time. She was just beside me, but I could not reach her and save her. I didn't understand why such a lively person was gone forever. For the past 40 years, it seems like I have just been living a dream," Wang said, sobbing.

Not knowing how long it had been, Wang said he heard a loudspeaker announcement after he was buried in the dark debris. It said the People's Liberation Army was rushing to Tangshan for rescue duties and encouraged the people of the city to be strong.

"I thought the Liberation Army would definitely come to save me," he said. "I had a daughter waiting for me. I could not wait to die here."

Wang found a bottle of glucose and a pillow in the rubble. Relying on the glucose and the grain that stuffed the pillow, Wang lived for eight days in the debris until he was dug out in the evening of Aug. 4, 1976.

"I saw the red star on the rescuers' hats. They were the Liberation Army. I could not help myself and shouted with my last bit of strength, 'Long live the Liberation Army,' and 'Long live the Communist Party of China,' and 'Long live Chairman Mao,'" Wang said.

Like other quake survivors, Wang lived on despite his inner pain.

He married again in 1984 and his second daughter was born the next year.

His elder daughter entered a military college after graduating from high school due to her gratitude for the Liberation Army. She is a military officer now, Wang said with pride.

"We are living a happy life," Wang said. "My wife and I have a monthly pension of more than 6,000 yuan (898 U.S. dollars). My daughters treat us well and I always feel satisfied."

Still, every July 28, Wang visits the earthquake museum and the quake memorial wall. Then he comes to the spot in front of the hospital, where he sits on the grass and pours his heart out to his long-lost wife.

"One day, when I was sitting and talking to myself here, two butterflies flew toward me. I felt thrilled and thought Jinfeng must hear me. I couldn't help but burst into tears again," he said. Endi