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Juan Zeng, the English teacher in Chengdu who wrote us a long report on how her students walked out of the death zone from Qingcheng Mountain has sent me another report. It is a little dated when we count by hour or even minute after the earthquake. She told me that she feels the need to express what she is experienceing and she doesn’t know who she should talk to. We didn’t edit her post and she is not a journalist. Her narration could show you a different picture of the earthquake from main stream media. -Min Guo

People were suffering after the earthquake.

It was 15th of May, at night, in Sichuan Technology University Chengdu Arts College(四川理工成都美术学院)。I think by then, we should call the end of the first stage of the earthquake, although the aftershock comes on and off all the time.

It is 10a.m., in the anti—earthquake center of my college, where I ran into my students.

Jiang Xuening (姜学宁), a monitor of the Advertisement Designing Major Class 2, Grade 07 (07级平面广告设计二班), is also the survivor from the death zone and came back after the long march. He was so excited to see me. He told me he thought by then that he might never see me again. I tried to comfort by changing the topic of Earthquake, but I could not. He continued that he saw the people dead right in front of his eyes, only less than one minute after the quake began. Chimneys fell down and walls collapsed over people in front of him. Landslides covered people, and as soon as they fell down, they did not move again. Having witnessed so much death, he and his classmates are now desensitized, with no feeing at all. When he ran away from the collapsing buildings, he fell down many times. His legs were hurt badly, but he felt nothing, just wanting to run. Only today he found there were so many bruises and so much dried blood on his legs. Bad to worse, he has lost his senses, with no desire for anything, having slept for two full days following the ordeal. Even when the aftershocks came, he just lied in his bed while the other students ran out.

I tried to comfort him. I told him that he and his classmates were all my heroes and I admired them. Even under that kind of terrible situation, they not only survived but also helped others, like the students from other colleges, local people who were hurt and the elder people from the Chengdu College for the old (成都老年大学). He interrupted me and begged me please not to mention the old people. When the elderly people climbed up the mountain, there were almost 200 in total. But less than 10 made it down and walked all the way back with them. They told that when the earthquake came, they held onto one big, old tree together while the rest of their company fell down from the top, or were buried by landslides, or blew away as if caught in a tornado right in front of their eyes. Of the waitresses, waiters, visiting art students and other residents, some were buried in this or that kind of debris, and others killed or injured by flying rocks.

Qishasha （齐莎莎), a female student was also there. She could not wait to open her mouth to tell me her experience. She also mentioned me that she could not help telling it to anyone that she ran into. At the time of the quake, she ran, but was pushed by somebody and fell down in the street. She was grateful for that push just now, because the people not far ahead of her fell into a deep ditch, and also fell from the suspension bridge into the river underneath, due to the force of the earthquake. She also saw people near a high building. No matter how much she shouted at them to run, nobody moved. As she feared, the building shortly collapsed and buried the people beneath. She was terrified, but could not bring herself to move. Even the man who knocked her over was not to be found afterwards.

They, and all their classmates are now all suffering; sleepless but very excited all the time; overeating all the time but still hungry.