Home / People
Five days after Yan Zhiguo's wedding, he found himself pinned under pieces of his own house, his wife Zhang Shenglan beside him. The Tangshan earthquake struck in the early hours of July 28, 1976, bringing with it catastrophic waves of destruction for the city's 1.6 million people.
 |
|
Yan Zhiguo [Photo/bjby.bjwmb.gov.cn] |
Yan had been shaken out of sleep by the jarring movements of the ground below. Panicking, he called out for his wife — but there was no response.
Zhang awoke half an hour later, unable to move, suffering from neck pains. Yan took her and headed straight for medical care, along the ruins of his demolished city.
He rushed from Zunhua to Tianjin, finally to Beijing, nearly 200 km away from Tangshan. On July 31, three days after the earthquake, Zhang finally found herself lying in the Beijing No 466 Hospital.
She had fractured her fifth and sixth cervical vertebrae, and suffered severe central nervous system damage. Her heart rate, blood pressure, and breathing all showed abnormalities.
The doctors predicted she would survive for only three months.
Yan refused to falter. From that day on he treated Zhang as if he was caring for a newborn. Together, they punched through the predicted three-month period.
It's been 38 years since then. Zhang is paralyzed from the waist down and labors under even simple tasks, but she is still alive.
 |
|
Yan and Zhang at Beihai in Beijing. [Photo/bjby.bjwmb.gov.cn] |
Yan was a former member of the Beijing Aviation Post. "Zhang grew up in a military aviation compound," he said. "A month before our marriage, the husband of one of her friends passed away in an operation. She knew how dangerous my work was, but she still chose me."
Their loyalty as husband and wife is unshakable from both accounts.
"Find another wife," one of Yan's close friends frequently told him. "Someone with your physique and status will have no problem finding one. Why waste the best of your years with Zhang? You should also have a child..."
But Yan never budged, forsaking all the things described. Even when a girl frantically pleaded for him to marry her, he refused.
Years later, Zhang was beginning to yearn for a child, to raise a son or daughter, to hold his or her hand as they crossed the street. In her medical state it was impossible for them to conceive one, let alone raise one.
One day Yan brought home a doll, a little girl in a blue dress. He put her in Zhang's lap, patted its head, and chided "Alright, little girl. Take care of your mother for a second, and don't cause trouble!"
Zhang laughed, and they named their ‘child’ "Pan Pan". They celebrate her birthday every year on November 25, the day Yan brought her home.
From then on, he also bought Zhang a doll each year on her birthday. There are over 30 cute, porcelain faces sitting in their bedroom, nicknamed the "little nursery".
 |
|
The couple revisit Beihai Park in Beijing. [Photo/bjby.bjwmb.gov.cn] |
Edited by Wang Zili
