Hundreds of people from Beichuan County who lost their spouses in the May 12 earthquake have remarried, the local civil affairs bureau said on Wednesday.

Bureau chief Wang Hongfa said 614 people have remarried. The county lost about 20,000 people in the quake, about 12 percent of its population.

Although there are no figures available for the total number of people who lost spouses in the Sichuan quake, Chen Kefu, spokesman for the provincial civil affairs bureau, said local governments have been encouraging people who lost husbands and wives to try and rebuild their lives with new partners.

As there are no companies offering dating services in Beichuan, authorities are planning a matchmaking fair to help bereaved spouses find new loves, Wang said.

There could be a surge in the number of marriages around the Spring Festival in January, he said.

Seven months ago, Beichuan man Zhang Jianjun was working at a construction site in Shanghai when his wife was killed in the earthquake that rocked Sichuan.

Today, the 40-year-old father of a 15-year-old boy is rebuilding his life with Mu Xianbi, his late wife's sister-in-law, whom he married on October 27.

Mu, a waitress, lost her husband in the quake, leaving her to raise her 17-year-old son alone.

Zhang has now returned to work in Shanghai, while Mu, also 40, stays at home to care for the two boys.

"Our dream is to send our two sons to university and rebuild our home," Mu said.

Wu Jiafang, 45, is another Beichuan man who has found a new love and a new life.

The farmer-cum-bricklayer came to the public's attention when a picture of him carrying his dead wife, Shi Huaqiong, home on his motorcycle appeared in several newspapers.

After reading Wu's story, 16 women wrote to him with offers of love.

After considering his many offers, Wu finally chose 45-year-old Liu Rurong from Shenzhen, and the pair married on November 18.

(China Daily December 12, 2008)