In the lead-up to today's one-year anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake - a year of pain and hardship for survivors who lost their homes and loved ones - a group of survivors visited Hong Kong to bring cheer to people stressed out about the grim global financial situation.
They said they hoped to encourage Hong Kong people to deal with adversity the way they did in the aftermath of the earthquake.
Among the visitors were 'Crying Girl' Liu Xiaohua and 'Little Hero' Lin Hao - the most famous faces of last year's disaster. Xiaohua saw her school collapse in the earthquake and could not find her parents. She burst into tears when Premier Wen Jiabao visited her and other survivors a day after the earthquake, touching hearts countrywide.
Xiaohua has since found her parents. The brave girl, now 13, said: 'I know I'm widely known as the 'Crying Girl' because I couldn't help bursting into tears when I met Grandpa Wen. Now I'm no longer a crying girl. I have learned to be stronger. I face problems calmly and understand crying does not help. I feel I'm blessed to be alive. Nothing is worse than losing your life, so Hong Kong people should not think too much about gains and losses and should try to live happily every day.'
In June 2008 Xiaohua sent a letter to Premiere Wen. She said 'I know Grandpa Wen was extremely stressed and fatigued with rescue work. He had to visit several places every day and had very little time to rest so I wrote to him to wish him well and thank him for the things he had done for the victims of the earthquake. In July, to my surprise he replied and said the earthquake had helped us mature ... He also encouraged children who had survived the earthquake to study hard and help build a better Sichuan. His words were inspiring to me, now my focus is to study hard and get into a good secondary school.'
Lin Hao was trapped in rubble with his classmates during the earthquake. He was the first to climb out of the rubble but instead of fleeing for safety he went back to pull out two more classmates. His heroic act earned him the title 'Little Hero' and he was invited to appear at the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony last year with Yao Ming of the national basketball team.
