As she traveled to join the 50,000 people paying their respects to loved ones lost in the ruined city of Beichuan on the traditional Tomb Sweeping Day, Yin Huarong carried with her a special message of hope - her unborn child.

Surrounded by the flowers and lighted joss sticks scattered among the rubble by former residents on Saturday, the 32 year old sat down and told the happy news to her parents and younger brother, who were among the 30,000 killed in the city by the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated the southwestern province on May 12 last year.

"I have been pregnant for six months," Yin told China Daily on her way to the old town. "This baby is the hope of our family."

The mother-to-be received her marriage registration on the morning before the quake; just hours later her city and her life was in ruins. She said: "I was so sad and weak when I got pregnant last October while living in a makeshift house. I was not sure whether I should have this baby because of health concerns, but I decided to have it for my parents and my dear brother, who the baby will be named after."

Yin's story is just one example of how time and optimism have helped the survivors to start healing their hearts broken by a disaster that claimed the lives of more than half of the county's population and destroyed nearly 80 percent of its buildings.

The spring sunshine shone on Beichuan on Saturday, while visitors permitted to enter the area for the traditional festival walked, talked and took pictures; some stayed calm as they silently mourned loved ones, others preferred to chat with old neighbors and tried to point out where their homes used to stand.

Those left homeless by the quake now live in a temporary settlement in nearby Mianyang City while work goes on to build a new Beichuan County 35 km to the south.

The provincial government opened the area only to former residents and relatives of those killed for four days from April 1, with almost 100,000 visiting the site, Wang Jian, deputy director of Beichuan information office, told China Daily.

The old town is now the subject of a controversial 2.3-billion-yuan (US$336 million) plan to build a museum, which received criticism from some Chinese over the size of budget, which will also include the laying of new roads.

"We will continue to discuss the museum plan. It has such a huge investment and social impact we must handle it with meticulous care," said Deng Hong, an official from the project leaders, Beichuan culture and tourism bureau.

Nearby Wenchuan County also received more than 10,000 visitors at the weekend.

With its epicenter in Wenchuan, the quake claimed nearly 70,000 victims in total, 20,278 of whom were from the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture.

More than 3,000 were buried in the newly built cemetery in the county.

(China Daily April 6, 2009)