Seventeen years have passed since the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, which destroyed numerous school buildings and buried hundreds, even thousands, of students under the rubble. For over a decade, parents of students who died at Dujiangyan Juyuan Middle School and Mianzhu Fuxin No. 2 Primary School have held annual rallies on the anniversary of the earthquake, demanding justice for their deceased children and the appropriate subsidies for their remaining students.
Every year on the anniversary of the May 12 earthquake, over a hundred parents of the children who died return to the ruins of Dujiangyan Juyuan Middle School to mourn their children. On Monday morning (May 12), local government and police erected a cordon around the site, disrupting the parents' commemoration. Zhou Xingrong, the mother of the deceased student, Lu Qianliang, filmed a video documenting the event and criticized the authorities for suppressing the parents' commemoration.
Zhou Xingrong said, "Today is the anniversary of the deaths of students and teachers at Juyuan Middle School in Dujiangyan during the Wenchuan earthquake, due to the shoddy construction. We, the parents and victims, cannot come here to burn paper money to commemorate our children. Police and other staff are everywhere. What are they afraid of? Please ask the Party Central Committee, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, and the Ministry of Supervision to investigate the shoddy construction at Juyuan Middle School and investigate where all the post-disaster donations went."
Zhou Xingrong expressed that she feels deeply distressed every year on May 12th. Only when she returns to the site and remembers her deceased son can she find peace. She added that she has petitioned the local government many times over the past decade, but each time was taken back home by local authorities. Due to her advanced age, she did not petition in Beijing this year. She had hoped to see if she could petition during the Central Inspection Team's visit to Sichuan last month, but the result was disappointing.
Zhou Xingrong said, "The Central Inspection Team came to Sichuan. In previous years, they publicly received the public. This year, many people wanted to see the team, but they couldn't see anyone at all. Many were intercepted, taken away on buses and police cars every day, and their public phone number was unreachable. I'm extremely disappointed. They don't even receive the public. You don't even see them. You don't listen to the people at all. I'm determined to persist. It's been over ten years, and I haven't given up. I'm determined to investigate, but there's no response or resolution. From top to bottom, who will listen to you, this scumbag? You're simply suppressing us."
Parents of the children killed in the earthquake in Dujiangyan and Mianzhu held a rally on the anniversary of the earthquake.
Parents of the Fuxin No. 2 Primary School in Mianzhu City also insisted on gathering on the anniversary of the 5.12 earthquake. Ms. Deng, a parent of a student who died in the 5.12 earthquake, told this station that for more than 10 years, parents of the children who died in the 5.12 earthquake have gathered outside the Mianzhu Municipal Government every year because they cannot forget the pain of losing their children and still want to know the truth about what happened.
Ms. Deng said, "It's definitely impossible to fade away. It's always in my heart. It's a piece of flesh that fell from my mother's body, something I can never mourn. We still go to the city government every May 12th. Many parents already have new children and focus on the immediate challenges they face, but some still want an explanation. We asked the government to assess whether it was shoddy construction. They said they would give us a clear answer, but in the end, we never received one. The government won't talk about what happened, only saying they've changed management and don't know."
The promise of free tuition has not been fulfilled. Parents of the deceased students accuse the government of breach of trust.
Ms. Deng said that in addition to not making the appraisal report public, the government also failed to fulfill its promise to the families of the children killed in the earthquake to cover the education expenses of their newborn children.
Ms. Deng said, "It (the government) didn't keep its promise. It didn't want us to go to Beijing to seek legal assistance. Our local education bureau issued each of us (the families of the deceased children) an enrollment certificate, which stated that education from kindergarten through high school was free. When my daughter started high school, we handed the certificate to the bureau, but the director said it was issued by the bureau at the time of the 512 Incident, and that the current bureau had changed, so it had nothing to do with them. We asked if the official seal was from your bureau, and they admitted it was, but they said it was now, and the past was the past. People change, policies change, and it has nothing to do with them. We were definitely furious when we heard that, but they (the education bureau) refused to acknowledge it. The impact was definitely significant: general high school admissions would cost 65,000 yuan per person. The city government sent subordinates to suppress us and prevent us from filing a complaint."
Sang Jun, a parent of a student who died at Fuxin No. 2 Elementary School, said the impact wasn't limited to Ms. Deng. He also noted that many families who followed the government's advice to have another child after the earthquake were deeply regretful. He added that some parents, having given up their rights because the government waived tuition fees, now regretted it.
Sang Jun said, "Regardless of whether the government changes or not, you (the government) made promises to us and issued certificates (free school enrollment certificates) to every family. Now they've turned against us, slinging dirty words, and shirking responsibility. Parents are heartbroken. If it had been this way, we would have preferred not to have children, fearing their children would suffer further. Many parents are also angry."
Sang Jun said the local economy has deteriorated since the pandemic. Without government subsidies, many parents would have to leave their hometowns to work to pay for their children's tuition and living expenses. Because he had to work elsewhere this year, he could only buy a bouquet of flowers and mourn silently, unable to join other parents outside the city hall to mourn their children.
