Families unite to cope with loss
Zhang Mingjun watches as two children clamber over a large, remote-controlled toy car he just bought for his nephew's first birthday.
'My sister said shortly after her son was born that she really wanted a car like this for him,' he said. 'After she died in the earthquake, I was determined to make her dream come true. I bought it with all my savings from my job in Chengdu .'
Wang Jingyi was the centre of attention last Saturday afternoon in the temporary settlement outside Beichuan town , devastated during last May's 8-magnitude earthquake.
Dressed in brightly coloured new clothes and an orange woolly hat, the one-year-old was surrounded by about a dozen relatives who tickled him and sang him local nursery rhymes.
Jingyi is just one of the thousands of children in Sichuan province who have been left with one parent or orphaned by the earthquake, which killed 88,000 people.
The gathering provided a snapshot of how families in the region were coming together to cope with loss.
Chen Tianzhi , Jingyi's great uncle, believed the family had become closer since the disaster.
'Jingyi is the youngest descendant of the whole family, so everyone would treat him as their special baby anyway,' he said. 'But now that he has to grow up without a mother, everyone is smothering him with affection. He was three months old when his mother died, so he will have no memory of her. We all worry that he will grow up feeling unloved, and are trying extra hard to make sure that doesn't happen.'
Wang Jian , 28, Jingyi's father, said that he was still trying to come to terms with losing his wife and adapt to his new role as a single parent.
'Of course, it is difficult for me to raise him on my own, and it is especially difficult for me at Lunar New Year,' he said. 'The whole family has been very supportive. I only hope that with their help, my son will not be too badly affected.'
