Han's fellow villager Wang Tianfen cried again when she learned that Sunday was the mother's day. "I want to tell my daughter, 'we did not give you enough love. We are greatly indebted to you,'" said 36-year-old Wang.

Wang's daughter Deng Xingqiong had studied in the Beichuan Middle School and had an excellent school record.

After Deng's death, the government gave the family nearly 70,000 yuan and an insurance company settled the claims of more than 4,000 yuan against Deng's sudden death.

Such amount of money was large enough for a poor family like Wang who mainly live on raising pigs and growing corn.

Dang Jiangbo, a 27-year-old sculpture teacher with the Mianyang Fine Arts Academy, was stopped by security guards at the entrance of the old county because he did not have a Beichuan identity card, which means he was not a Beichuan resident.

Dang begged a security guard and said although he did not have relatives or friends in Beichuan, he only wanted to burn some josssticks for quake victims. The guard of the ruins finally allowed him in.

Dang's home in Mianyang, 60 kilometers away from Beichuan, was also in danger when the quake rocked the region. "I can deeply fell the ruthless earthquake and vulnerability of lives although my family members did not suffer much from the disaster."

Old people who were not able to squeeze through the crowd into the county ruins, only overlooked the old Beichuan at a terrace from which they could see their hometown in the distance.

They burned joss sticks and choked with sobs at the terrace.

The overcast sky was getting clear when we were about to leave. Several vendor's stands along crowded roads at the county entrance were selling special local products such as dried beancurd, corn wine, walnut and preserved ham as well as embroidery of the Qiang ethnic group.

(Xinhua News Agency May 11, 2009)