Zhang Dandan: At this moment, we are all storytellers from Wenchuan.

On May 28, 2008 12 14: 28, an earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale occurred in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, southwest of China. At the same time, it also tore a wound that is difficult to heal in the hearts of China people. The major natural disaster, which has not happened in 30 years, has attracted the attention of national leaders, governments, ordinary people and news media for the first time. In a very short time, China Foreign Languages Bureau also decided to send an interview team to the front line of earthquake relief to "make its own voice". It is against this background that less than 30 hours after the earthquake, as one of the first six members of the advance team, I boarded the plane to Chengdu. Me and my comrades-in-arms-please allow me to call them that, and go into battle as lightly as possible. Many of us didn't even bring toiletries. I only had a razor in my bag, because everyone was going to sleep in the street and set up a tent there. All units of the Foreign Languages Bureau provided the best equipment for our trip in the shortest time, including laptops with wireless network cards. In the exhortation of leaders, colleagues and friends of the Foreign Languages Bureau and units to "take care and pay attention to safety", we rushed to the front line of earthquake relief in high spirits. From the Capital Airport to Chengdu in the aftershock, it didn't go well at first. Our flight was delayed because of rain, aftershocks in Chengdu, and emergency workers gave priority to transportation. When waiting at the Capital Airport, the disaster relief scene played on the TV screen in the waiting hall attracted the attention of many passengers. The members of our interview team are not idle: call the unit to report the situation, take the time to charge the mobile phone, and get together to study the interview schedule after arriving in Sichuan. I also used this time to interview several passengers randomly in the waiting hall. Many of them are Sichuanese who have returned home. When they learned the news of the earthquake, they were very worried about the situation at home. After being delayed for more than seven hours, the flight finally took off at midnight, and it was already four o'clock in the morning when it arrived at the booked hotel. On that rainy night, we were all worried that the sudden increase of rain would increase the difficulty of rescue work. It was getting light, and I couldn't restrain my fatigue any longer and fell asleep. On the morning of May 14, before leaving for Dujiangyan for an interview, we experienced the first aftershock after entering Sichuan. I was washing my face in the bathroom. I leaned against the sink and suddenly felt dizzy for a few seconds. My first reaction at that time was lack of oxygen. Then I heard the cups on the wall and the table start to make noises. The floor is shaking horizontally, but it can stand still. When I was watching in the corridor, several passengers were nervously dragging their suitcases to the stairs, and even the hotel cleaner put down the bucket and followed. After less than half a minute, everything returned to calm. Since then, aftershocks have become a common occurrence in Chengdu, Mianyang and Beichuan. I even summed up a rule that there is at least one aftershock between 12 and 2 am every day. However, colleagues did not take the aftershocks to heart. When the vibration came, everyone was still doing what they were doing, but they just reached the spirit of "let it shake the mountain and I will never move." News is everywhere. During my few days in Sichuan, my daily schedule was full. Go to the scene by car during the day, go back to the hotel at night to process pictures and write manuscripts, and upload them to the bureau for unified FTP after all processing. I can't go to bed until 2 am almost every day. Immersed in this sudden disaster, I have never felt tired, my nerves have been tense, and I feel like a perpetual motion machine, which can keep working. The leader of our interview team will send us news and phone calls from the bureau or unit every day. Every time I talk to the editor-in-chief, I end up with a concern from the other end of the phone: pay attention to safety, drink more water and wear more clothes. According to the publication cycle of the weekly magazine, many previous business trips and interviews were relatively calm, so we just need to make records at the interview site and go back to Beijing to sort out and write the manuscript. This time, things are different. In the face of such a major disaster, there are countless news waiting to be excavated almost every day. Therefore, the online version of Beijing Review has played a great role in timeliness. I have been writing for paper periodicals before, so I should learn to adapt to the fast pace of the network and publish short and concise online manuscripts in time. On May 15, I didn't go to the disaster area because I had to attend a government meeting in Chengdu. I'm going to the newsstand to buy a newspaper, and I still brought my camera and interview book before I went out, just in case. Just passing by the door of a community, it happened that this community was engaged in the activities of donating money and materials for the disaster area, and the scene was very warm. While being infected by the atmosphere, I didn't forget that this was a good news scene, and my camera and tape recorder came in handy at this time. After an interview for half an hour, I immediately returned to the hotel to start writing and sending pictures. An hour later, the manuscript was successfully uploaded to the FTP manuscript library. That night, I met a friend in Chengdu and wanted to know about Chengdu. The location is about the "old bookworm" book gathered by famous foreigners in Chengdu. Here, I witnessed the book's first voluntary donation activity for earthquake-stricken areas initiated by foreign friends. The owner of the book bar also distributed a stack of recruitment forms for foreign volunteers, and many international friends who came to the book bar filled in their own information to help China cope with this rare disaster. For me, this is a very rare news material. Scene: I have worked and been exposed to real scenes. I have been to three places: Dujiangyan, Beichuan and Mianyang. The journey to Beichuan was the most tortuous, perhaps God's blessing, but we went smoothly that day. It takes only two hours to get from Chengdu to Beichuan. Six kilometers away from Beichuan county, we were stopped by the police. Because of traffic pressure, only trucks and ambulances are allowed to enter Beichuan County. We decided to go to Beichuan on foot, when luck came again. We met a motorcycle that transported people from the city. Finally, we were lucky enough to ride a motorcycle into the county seat. Beichuan County, 16, is a sea of people. Rescuers, volunteers, medical teams, survivors and journalists are busy in this small county. I walked in the direction of the county seat, and I was confronted by teams of officers and men carrying digging tools. They have just carried out intense on-site rescue work and are rushing to the camp for dinner and rest. I stopped interviewing one of the young people with glasses, who had just come out from the rescue site of Beichuan Middle School. I quickly asked him the question I wanted to ask, because I could feel a kind of fatigue that he tried to hide but couldn't hide from his words. I hope he can have a rest, but he told me that he would return to the scene immediately after dinner to rescue those who were still buried, although he didn't know how many people were left. On the way to Beichuan county, the victims who spent several nights climbing mountains to escape were the most tired. They are old and young, carrying what little property and food they have left at home, leaning on wooden sticks, and their faces are written with the fatigue of the journey, and their eyes can still detect the fear brought by the shadow of the earthquake. These people who passed by death are still stubborn. Enter the county along the mountain road, with medical teams and some media tents on both sides. In one of the tents, I recognized the Hong Kong TV reporter who went to Lhasa with me for an interview. She has been here for three days, with dark eyes and eating bread with mineral water. We didn't say much. She will continue to work and I will continue to go to the county. I can only say: take care of yourself, to her, to many fellow journalists I met on the road, carrying the camera and running around. When I went to Beichuan Middle School, I saw an unforgettable scene in my life: a father was lying in the gap between two floors and looking in. He reached into the gap feebly and began to cry. In the gap is a child's quiet face, the blood in his mouth and nose has solidified, and the child's eyes are closed forever. My father hasn't slept for three days in order to find his child. There are no tears in his crying. He stood beside the body, dragging the fragments in vain. A few meters behind his father, there are a pile of children's bodies, hugging each other tightly, and rescuers can't pull them away. I was right next to the father, and I couldn't help reaching out to help the poor father. At that time, I felt a kind of depression and suffocation that I had never felt before. I want to give this father some comfort and strength, but it seems that I can't bear it myself. I haven't forgotten my duty to contact the online editor in Beijing. Every time I say a word, I have to open my mouth and breathe hard, and there is a huge emotion to vent in my heart. After hanging up the phone, I walked anxiously on the vast ruins, leafing through the textbooks scattered everywhere on the ground. I have been looking for the names written by the children in the textbooks: Zhang Huan, Jassamyn Liu. I want to remember the names of these children forever. As a journalist for almost three years, I once thought I was strong, but in the face of such a cruel disaster, I found my fragile side. In the face of such deep suffering and seeing those helpless people, I hope I can put down my camera and help them with my hands as if they were my brothers and my relatives. When disaster comes, we all stand together. Today, we are all from Wenchuan! Source: foreign exchange