New homes, new lives rise from the ruins

Familiar street names

"Many streets in the new county have the same names as those in the old county. Every time I see the names, it reminds me of the old times. And most people still carry on their old businesses after moving. Life seems just the same as it was before the quake," Bu said.

Bu once ran a restaurant herself but now chooses to work in her community to help with family planning and logistics－a position to which she was elected by her neighbors.

"I still remember right before Spring Festival in 2011. The heaviest snow of the year fell on the day we moved into the new house," she said. "A timely snow promises an auspicious year, and it really did."

Yet deep in her heart there will always be a place for her beloved son. She kept up a happy mood when talking about her life today, but when her thoughts turn to her dead boy, the tears flow freely and she falls silent.

She said that on Tomb Sweeping Day, a traditional Chinese festival for honoring the dead, her entire family goes to the site of her son's school in the old county to lay a flower on the debris under which many still lie buried.

Huang Zhiling contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at cuijia@chinadaily.com.cn