Shuangliu Airport was forced to shut down shortly after noon Tuesday due to a power outage. Nearly 150 flights, both international and domestic, were delayed, leaving 10,000 passengers waiting in the airport. Power resumed about three hours later. The outage was caused by a switch in a transformer substation that had caught fire.
Xinhua

A mountain collapsed into the Dadu River in the township of Shuhe in Hanyuan County (汉源县) late last Thursday night, killing six and injuring 18. At least 29 others are still missing. The fallout from the slide created a 250-meter-long dam in the river, causing waters to rise quickly. Rescue missions are still underway. In the meantime, the blockage is being chiseled away at with controlled explosives, and workers are disinfecting the areas that were flooded, many of which contain livestock farms. Hanyuan County falls under the administration of the city of Ya'an.
China Daily

The first train car for line 1 of the Chengdu subway arrived in Chengdu August 3 from Qingdao. The cars are currently undergoing testing and preparation for their inaugural test run, which is scheduled to take place in October 2010.
CD Metro

Sichuan Auto launched its first model, the Yema F99 (野马F99), on Sunday. The SUV, outfitted with a 1.5-liter Toyota engine, starts at RMB59,800.
Alibaba

A cooking-oil factory in Mianyang exploded last Wednesday, injuring five employees. Nearby residents initially thought the blast was the start of an earthquake, and ran out of their homes to see flames 10 meters high engulfing the Chenshi Vegetable Oil Company (陈氏植物油脂公司) factory.
Chengdu QQ

Six-year-old giant panda Tiantian (甜甜) gave birth to twins at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center's Bifengxia Base in Ya'an on August 7. This is Tiantian's first birth and the second pair of twin giant panda cubs born this year.
China News

The 140th anniversary of the giant panda's introduction to the world will be celebrated later this month with a hike and film festival. The hike departs from Sichuan University's Huaxi Campus on August 15 and continues over the course of 10 days to the Bifengxia Base, some 350 ilometers away. The week-long film festival kicks off in Ya'an on August 19.
Xinhua

The site of a 600-year-old Ming Dynasty irrigation facility was recently discovered in Huanxi village, Sanlang town, Chongzhou city (崇州市三郎镇欢喜村). Chongzhou is just west of Chengdu.
Ifeng

The first-ever Chinese NBA cheerleaders (NBA啦啦队) selection process is underway. At the southwest division held Sunday in Chengdu, 14 girls were selected to enter the next round of competition.
Sohu Sports

A large-scale underground drag-racing event was broken up Saturday night before it even began. Word had spread by mouth and QQ, and by 10 p.m., hundreds of private vehicles had lined up on Chenglong Lu preparing to race. Reporters who had been tipped off rushed to the scene to cover the event, but by 11 p.m. police had forced all drivers to leave the area.
163 News

The "Shifang, China 5.12 Earthquake Ruins Theme Park" (中国·什邡５·１２地震遗址主题公园) will open to the public before before May 12, 2010, the two-year anniversary of the quake. The park occupies 7.72 square kilometers and expects 500,000 visitors in its first year of operation.
Xinhua

As of October 1, Meishan and Ziyang will fall under the Chengdu 028 area code, eliminating long-distance and roaming charges for calls made between any of the three cities, announced the Sichuan Provincial Communications Authority. The network-adjustment plan involves 5 million users and five cities but is considered crucial to the region's increasing role as an economic hub.
Chengdu QQ

—With research by Marvin Tan

Heavy rains killed dozens in Chongqing and Sichuan's Dazhou County last week, including more than half of a group of 35 hikers who were swept away in a flash flood. Rain fell from Thursday to Monday, destroying thousands of houses and acres of crops. Around 100,000 people were evacuated in Dazhou. Xinhua and China Daily

A fleet of six luxury sports cars caught the attention of locals and police alike when it raced down expressways on July 4 and 5. One of the vehicles, an unlicensed black Ferrari, was clocked at 195 kilometers per hour. CRI English

In another post-5.12 mass wedding ceremony, 15 Sichuanese couples tied the knot, this time in Beijing, in "the first trans-provincial group weddings especially held for the 'rebuilt' families." Each of the couples consists of individuals whose spouses were killed by last year's quake. CCTV

The death toll from the June 5 bus fire rose to 28 when one more victim died Monday. The victim, a 28-year-old woman surnamed Zhou, had been receiving treatment for burns over 94 percent of her body as well as lung damage. CRI English

Ya'an will host the Second International Panda, Animal and Nature Film Week this August. The city is home to the Bifengxia Base, where 300 or so pandas now live after being relocated from the quake-destroyed Wolong Nature Reserve. The festival, following 2007's first such event, will feature films from nine countries. China Daily

Commerce

Sichuan Expressway Co. will sell up to 500 million A-shares on the Shanghai Stock Exchange with the aim of raising as much as RMB2 billion. The company currently operates three tollways in Sichuan, totaling 467 kilometers. Trading Markets

The National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce are facing off on whether or not to approve the purchase of Hummer by Sichuan's Tengzhong. The Sichuan government, for its part, is lobbying for the deal to go through. Reuters

In other car-related news, Volkswagen plans to begin manufacturing two SUV models by the end of the year with production based in its Nanjing and Chengdu plants. Forbes

Chengdu will close all coal mines by the end of the year, completing its total phasing out of the coal industry. Alibaba News

Bank of Tokyo plans to open its first Chengdu branch by next March. The bank's staff will include two Japanese and intends to serve Japanese as well as local clients. Trading Markets

We're not making this up ...

In a story that made headlines around the world, 34-year-old Hu Binjun dangled his daughter, 2, out the window of his eighth-story apartment for several minutes last Tuesday. The man's threats to jump provoked the attention of passersby, and police were able to rescue the girl as well her allegedly unemployed and substance-abusing father. Despite the rescue, the group of 12 policemen were unable to ward off a mob of 100 which surged forward to beat the man in retaliation for the abuse to his daughter. China Daily

Chengdu is enacting harsh regulations over the "Olympic math" (奥数) training industry, which reportedly embroils young students in rigorous courses designed to prepare them for competitions featuring questions that boggle even doctors of mathematics. China Daily

Sichuan's pickle producers are being called upon by the province's Department of Agriculture to step up their game in the face of stiff competition by Korean pickles. China.org.cn

Chengdunese graduate student Shan Xu has headed Stateside to search for the elusive Palouse worm, an earthworm surrounded by myths regarding its scent (lily-like), habits (spitting at predators), and most of all, size (up to 3 feet long). Although descriptions of the worm date back to the late 1800s, collected specimens have been documented only four times, most recently in 2005. Associated Press

Images: CRI English and Skynews

As summer holidays approach, SQR is preparing to launch an activity-based summer-camp program.

The program, dubbed SAME, aims to keep young, displaced quake victims occupied while school is out. Camp activities will revolve around sports, arts, music, and English-language learning.

To facilitate the camps, SQR is seeking volunteers who can commit to at least one week of camp leadership. Modules will be planned out for volunteers to follow.

Those with teaching experience who are interested in helping develop the camp curriculum and training volunteers are also welcome.

From their website:



From June to mid-August, SQR will hold seven five-day (Monday to Friday) camp sessions. The first session begins this coming Monday, June 29.

Transportation to and from the site, basic accommodation, and meals will be provided by SQR.

Interested parties should e-mail volunteer [AT] sichuan-quake-relief [DOT] org or call 13671212235.

Sichuan Quake Relief came together immediately after the May 12, 2008 8.0-magnitutde earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 and displaced millions more. Since that time it has focused on bringing aid in the form of supplies and activities to quake areas that are overlooked by other aid organizations.

Chengdu-based artist Qi Hong poses with post-diet "Pig Resolute."

One of the most novel earthquake-survival stories to come out last year revolved around one Zhu Jianqiang （猪坚强）.

"Zhu Jianqiang" translates to something like "Pig Resolute" or "Strong Pig," a fitting name for Zhu who is, well, a pig.

The pig was found alive under the ruins of a collapsed sty in Pengzhou found on June 17—five weeks after the 5.12 earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 humans. The pig had survived by drinking rainwater that had leaked into its close quarters, and by that time weighed in at 50 kilograms—one-third of its previous weight.

When Fan Jianchuan heard about the rapidly spreading story, he made an offer of 3,008 yuan to buy the pig from its owners, farmers who were raising the pig for pork. Fan, a real-estate mogul and owner of the privately funded Jianchuan Museum Cluster in Sichuan's Dayi County, renamed the pig and vowed to keep it as long as it stayed alive.

Then the story made its way across the country, and even overseas. PETA Asia-Pacific also awarded Fan Jianchuan with a Compassionate Action award

A local insurance firm issued the pig 10 years of premium-free insurance.

Then, a noted songwriter, Zhang Yunteng （张云腾） wrote a song about the pig and recorded it with singer Jin Bo （金波）. Their friend collaborated to make the music video.

Noteworthy lyrics include (rough translation): "Your stomach is like a big silo, doesn't matter if it's good or bad, it all goes inside. You were born in a place called the Land of Abundance; if we had to choose a beauty, you're not really it, but when a disaster was sent from heaven, you created the miracle of life that is called Jianqiang." 《你的肚子吃得像个大粮仓,不管好的坏的都往里装。你生在叫天府之国的地方,如果去选美真的很不漂亮,可是当灾难突然从天降,你创造的生命奇迹叫坚强。》

In early 2009, voters on the Red Net forum awarded Zhu Jianqiang the first place on its "10 animals that moved China in 2008" list.

But, reports Sina, having been lavished with so much doting attention—and plenty of food—the "porker can be quite a meany."

The pig has "gotten fatter and lazier by the day," one of its handlers told Sina. "We used to take it out for a walk every morning and afternoon, but now it's too lazy—and too fat—to do it." The pig eventually got so heavy that it was having trouble standing; it's now on a diet.

While Jianqiang Pig used to raise its head for visitors and reporters, the handler reported, after several months it started refusing to cooperate. "Now it just blocks the door to its bedroom when there are too many visitors outside. It's been increasingly difficult for us to convince it to open the door," she said.

Reporters are having a field day with headlines about the "rock-star" pig, such as this one, which reads "Pig Jianqiang: Being a celebrity is difficult; being a celebrity pig also isn't easy."

While the daily walks and dieting might help with the pig's weight and attitude, a new pig-mansion donated by Chengdu's Baisikang Biotech Company indicates the pig still maintains celebrity status. The climate-controlled sty features special flooring designed to decrease odor.

After all, the museum's director told the China Daily, "She's not just a pig. She's a hero."

Afterquake was released on May 12, 2009, exactly one year after the Wenchuan earthquake and immediately climbed the charts, reaching the No. 3 position on iTunes and the No. 1 position on Amazon for electronic-music album sales.

While the album's strategically timed release no doubt contributed to its instant success, the true backbone of the project was its concept and the music itself. The seven-track EP is a very nice example of what two professional musicians working together to combine very different styles can achieve.

For the album, American banjo player and singer Abigail Washburn and Chinese-American producer Dave Liang, aka the Shanghai Restoration Project, headed out to quake-jolted countryside areas of Sichuan to mix sounds, voices, and traditional songs with electronic beats.

Washburn, who holds a degree in East Asian studies and had formerly taught at the Sichuan Music Conservatory, was an old friend of Peter Goff, who initiated Sichuan Quake Relief immediately after the earthquake struck. When he asked Washburn to lead music-based activities for children in the quake-stricken areas as part of SQR's relief efforts, she agreed. This day and a half of interactions with children in six schools eager to share their stories and experiences were the initial inspiration for the project; she had met Liang briefly by chance in New York and had previously collaborated with him on two tracks. In March 2009, the two musicians set out for two weeks of recording; editing and production was completed within two months.

Track by Track
"Quake" The album's opening track attempts to recreate the sound of the quake. Washburn and Liang ask the children what the earthquake sounded like, to which they respond with noisy exhales. The track then layers on a break beat to build up to "Tibetan Wish", the album's fastest track and a beautiful arrangement of chorus and an a cappella version of a Tibetan children's bedtime song. Bridged by a heavy bass line, this is a great track waiting for other producers to remix it. The album's third track, "Sala", is also sung in Tibetan and underlined with a break beat as well as a string-orchestral sound. In "Dream Seek a girl delivers a spoken-word recollection of a dream, which Liang pairs with a hip-hop beat. "Chinese Recess" starts with a sample of a man selling pineapple which merges into a funny counting rhyme-rap. The longest track, "Song for Mama", takes its time building up a beat with sounds produced by bricks, a cement mixer, and a wheel barrow. Vocals are delivered by a young man who has been relocated away from his mother to a camp in E'mei Shan. The mama for whom the song was sung reportedly broke down in tears the first time she heard the track. The album closes with the uplifting "Little Birdie". Recorded at the Wenchuan Kindergarten and Wenchuan Shuimo Middle School, it's a very playful, 8-bit-style track.

Snippets from the album can be heard here.

If there is a anything to criticize about the album, it's the length, or lack thereof—at only 18 minutes, there's not a whole lot of music to listen to. This is understandable given the project's tight deadline, and given its warm reception worldwide, there are already rumors of subsequent releases and a tour in the fall.

Purchase
The CD comes in a soft sleeve and is available at the Bookworm. While the Bookworm price (RMB100) is considerably higher than the online price ($6.93 on Amazon), a higher percentage of money from the sales will go directly to quake-relief efforts than from commercial online sales.

Three types of limited-edition album packages are available exclusively at the Afterquake Store. These include autographed CDs, one-of-a-kind handwritten letters from the relocated school children, and limited-edition prints from documentary photographer Amanda Kowalski

Finally, for more information, Sexy Beijing produced a video about the project, and NPR hosted a radio Interview with Washburn and Liang.

To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Sichuan earthquake, we're running a series of features on the quake and the stories of devastation and recovery that followed. As the extent of the disaster unfolded, the one question on the minds of everybody watching from near and afar was, "How do we help?" Volunteers organized collections, fundraising events, trucks of supplies. As the first major widespread disaster to be televised nationally in China, the quake inspired an unprecedented show of donations and volunteering among citizens. In this, our final quake-commemoration post, we share some of the stories of those who, with varying degrees of success, lent their aid.

These stories are all excerpted from CHENGDOO citylife, issue 13 ("Aftermath"), a full PDF of which is available as a free download.

"In the beginning, I did not know it is so serious. On the 13th of May, I woke up and watched TV and realized I had wasted 21 hours to rescue those people"
Heather Zhao, then a nurse at Parkway Health

We Came to Rescue You

Israeli students Eliran Dobzinski and Nisan Hasan heard their compatriots were in trouble and managed to get in and out of the quake zone before the military had closed off the roads. Photo courtesy Dobzinski.

Eliran I carried a bag with two mattresses, two sleeping bags, two tents, a boiler, and cooking stuff, and [instant noodles], a lot, so we were prepared to survive at least a week with two bags. I had these crazy [army] meals that I got from one of my friends. You eat a tablet, two tablets it's like a meal, and we had like 16, 17.

In the night when we slept in the tent, there were aftershocks. And then you know you wake up in the morning, there was an earthquake. We didn't say anything. But we thought about it—there was an earthquake in the evening, and we're gonna climb up there? And then the villagers told us there is no way to get in. So we felt useless—what are we gonna do, we're just gonna sit here all day long; we're not gonna do anything? We're gonna sit here and wait? That sounds stupid. We cannot be there and not do anything. Like what the fuck are we gonna do here? We're gonna stay here a day, two days, we're gonna wait for them for a week?

Nisan When we found the girls, I collapsed 10 minutes before; I just had no power, no energy to continue. But when we saw them, when we saw the girl with the broken jaw and found out she didn't eat or drink we knew we had to get her out, so you forget yourself in a way.

Without the Chinese we wouldn't get the girls out, no way. We had to carry one of them. The [villagers'] houses had just collapsed, and they did everything just to help us. That was amazing. Didn't want money, didn't want anything.

We got to the ambulance, and the girl with the broken jaw just didn't wanna let go of the Chinese guy. They were crying, both of them. I almost cried. She couldn't speak any Chinese, couldn't speak any English, but he helped her so much that she kinda felt attached to him.

She wanted to offer him money, and I told her don't do it because he'll never take it. And she did, he didn't take it, and then she started crying, started crying really hard, and for 10 minutes, the ambulance just waited for them to stop crying.

Eliran One of the girls, her father is a really powerful man. He just called everybody that he knows, and he knows somebody that works with people that works here. So from Israel they got us the cars, and they got a really special driver. They came and picked us up with a Mercedes, a brand new one. It was like an SUV. And this driver was a local guy, so he knew the roads and the shortcuts, he knew everything. The [expressway] was closed. [But] the car had a government card so they can go everywhere they want.

When I ran [to the girls, one] just looked at me. I said, 'Hello,' in Hebrew. 'We came to rescue you!' She couldn't speak for two minutes, and then she was like, 'OK, the insurance sent something,' and I told her, 'I'm sorry but we're not from the government, we're not from the insurance, we're just two students that came. We heard there's people in trouble—we came to rescue you, that's all. We didn't know anything; we're just two students, we want to help. That's all.'

>>Israelis Eliran Dobzinski, then 24, and Nisan Hasan, then 25, were full-time students at Chengdu University when the quake struck. On the evening of May 12, they heard from other Israelis in Chengdu that two compatriots had been traveling in Hongkou when the quake struck. The next morning, Dobzinski, a Krav Maga expert, and Hasan, who was familiar with Hongkou, set out to find the women, whom they had never met. Within 36 hours, they had delivered the women—one of whom had suffered a broken jaw and the other severed fingers—to the hospital in Chengdu. The women returned to Israel shortly thereafter.

Knocking on the Dragon's Gate

Photo by Leo Chen.

"Walked up Yingchang Gou in Pengzhou. Back at base camp. Very organised all things considered. Army here in force now and road being worked on. Not much left standing. Survivors walking wounded or out by air. Awaiting information on where to go next."
via SMS, May 16, 9:47:39

"We are back at our base camp in Longmenshan. Road up Huilong Gou very badly damaged by landslides. Walking difficult and a little dangerous; falling rocks and unstable ground in places. No-one has walked in very far, although helicopters have dropped supplies. Plan to start heading in early tomorrow morning."
via SMS, May 16, 20:19:26

"Back out at base camp – very long day, spent 15 hours walking ~60km and ~1800m of ascent, mostly no path at all in a dense forest, heavy loads and lot of landslides. Rescued 8 people and 1 dog though. Even saw recent panda shit, so at least one wild panda survived! We're coming back to Chengdu tonight ... Very difficult to send messages."
via SMS, May 18, 00:51:53

>>The month before the quake we met and interviewed Matt Ryan of Dragon Expeditions, a small, Chengdu-based outdoor-tours company, and asked why he would want to spend his spare time exploring caves and climbing rocks. The day after the quake, we received a message saying that some of the Dragon Expeditions team was going on a rescue mission with the Chinese Mountain Rescue Team, organized by the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The team of 22 set off toward Pengzhou aiming for the areas inaccessible to the army.

Working in favor of the team was the fact that this was where Dragon Expeditions regularly operated tours and that Ryan himself has considerable rescue experience, including in Turkey after the 1999, 7.6-magnitude earthquake. "I could hardly sit in Chengdu and watch the pictures knowing I could be helping," said Ryan. "After this quake it was pretty clear we could do something to help, but didn't want to get in the way. This was still a worry even with skills, experience, and government blessing. The military has 100,000+ people mobilized and was clearly doing a very good job."

Having been told by villagers along the way that there were people alive in the mountains with no way out, the team called out for hours until they received a response and were able to make a path to the eight stranded people and dog. "As soon as they realized that there was a route down the mountain they set off running down the path that we had spent the day clearing," Ryan recalled.

Doing Something Useful

Volunteers sorted boxes of supplies that were sent in from all over the country. The Chengdu Bookworm acted as a base for Sichuan Quake Relief, an organization that formed spontaneously and organically by an international group of Chengdu-based volunteers after the earthquake. In the weeks following the quake, SQR organized dozens of trucks filled with food, water, and other essentials, and they continue relief efforts to this day. Photo by Julien Rideller.

"In the first few days after the quake, I was so excited about going out and 'doing something useful': volunteering my time and my sweat, possibly risking my life, not getting any sleep, etc. So I thought that I was the luckiest person in the world when I got the opportunity to go as a Red Cross volunteer into Ground Zero.

"My dad and I arrived at 9 a.m., 16 May. Unfortunately, the Red Cross was not quite as ready as we were, and I think that the whole group left Chengdu around 1 p.m., with a lot of waiting around before and after. Around 4 p.m. we reached a government checkpoint—all non-official vehicles were prohibited from going beyond—where more waiting around ensued while the leaders of our mission re-organized so that we would be allowed through.

"After driving for maybe 10 minutes, the whole caravan of about seven or eight cars and vans pulled over again. This time, the wait was three hours. The aftershocks had not stopped since the quake on the 12th, and conditions in Qingping Village—about 20 km from Hanwang Town and at this point accessible only by foot—were too dangerous for us to continue. So we sat by the side of the road, awaiting orders from Red Cross command.

"Finally, around 8 p.m., it was decided that it was too late for us to actually go into Qingping, so we camped out at a military-supply post. The quake victims, whom we were supposed to help, brought us food! They had so little to give, and yet they were offering it all to us!

"We slept that night in those blue tents emblazoned with the words 'anti-earthquake disaster relief' until 3 a.m., when our tent of all females was woken up and ordered onto the vehicles. Without any explanation, we were whisked out of Hanwang and into Deyang, where we waited for two hours for the drivers to go back and pick up the rest of the stranded quake victims—er, volunteers.

"In the morning, another aftershock caused a landslide in Qingping, burying and killing 200 more. Had we left on time, had organizational and bureaucratic issues not kept us waiting for three hours on the side of the road— might we have been able to help at least some of those 200?"

>>Volunteer Eileen Guo was an international student at Sichuan University last May. After this volunteer attempt, she joined groups of unofficial volunteers making supplies deliveries to various areas. She has since relocated back to the U.S. to start university and, as a result of her volunteer experiences in Sichuan, joined a student group promoting civil-military relations.

A spontaneous group mourning took place at Tianfu Square at 2:28 p.m. on May 12 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake. Photo by Julien Rideller for GoChengdoo.

A group of several hundred mourners gathered at Tianfu Square shortly before 2:28 on Tuesday to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake.

At 2:26, one attendee led an impromptu chant of "Sichuan, jiayou, Zhongguo jiayou" ("Sichuan, come on; China, come on!")

Holding small Chinese flags, the crowd pumped their fists in the air as they chanted along.

A middle-aged woman burst into tears, and a dozen photographers immediately swarmed around her.

Photo by Michal Pachniewski for GoChengdoo.

Small clusters of police lined the perimeter of the public square. As the minutes passed, the crowd grew larger, and so did police presence.

At 2:28, a citizen led another chant and song, and then urged the people to stage a march around the square. Hundreds more people joined as the human snake weaved its way around the fountains and sculptures of the plaza, which is positioned about what will be the central subway station when the first line opens up next year.

Carrying small Chinese flags, the mourners made a march around the square chanting slogans of encouragement for Sichuan and China! Photo by Michal Pachniewski for GoChengdoo.

Most participants looked to be middle-class citizens in their 20s, 30s, and 40s. Some carried white flowers. One young man held a large Chinese flag and when the march congregated into a mass, he was lifted up so that he could waved it high above the crowd. A group of Hubei citizens waved a banner to show their solidarity with Sichuan.

When a pair of foreign journalists began to interview attendees, a swarm of photographers and video cameras turned their attention there.

No official announcement had been made of a public mourning period so today's action at Tianfu Square was organized by citizens and grew organically. Last year, the state announced a national three-minute mourning period to take place on May 19, exactly one week after the quake. On that day, Tianfu Square was packed with people, and traffic on the streets halted as drivers blasted their horns and official alarms sounded.

This year's gathering at Tianfu Square was much smaller, and life on the streets carried on as usual. The congregation started to disperse only one hour after it began as uniformed military personnel and armed police started patrolling the square.

With aftershocks still occurring one year after the 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake, we bring you a roundup of quake-related news items.

Three-minute national mourning period at Tianfu Guangchang in downtown Chengdu on May 19, 2008, one week after the quake. Photo by Julien Rideller.

On Monday, the state released its official declaration on the quake and disasters in general titled "China's Actions for Disaster Prevention and Reduction."

Economy & Reconstruction
The Telegraph, in a lengthy and relatively thorough report on Sichuan one year after the quake, publishes that upwards of ten million people are still residing in temporary housing—ubiquitous rows of blue and white bungalows, tents, or worse. The Irish Times cites a more conservative number, between 3.5 and 4 million.

In a much more cheerful tone, Xinhua passes on the message from Chengdu's municipal government that 70 percent of the USD1.5 billion that was donated after the earthquake has gone toward "relief and reconstruction work".

In addition to housing construction, several new infrastructure projects have been announced, including an intensive, 50-day, 5,000-worker project to reinforce the Baoji-Chengdu railway, which has been instrumental in transporting supplies to quake-stricken areas as well as a four-lane, 52-kilometer expressway linking Wenchuan and Yinxiu Counties.

Sichuan's tourism industry suffered after the quake, but with initiatives by the provincial government such as the opening of the Donghekou Earthquake Relics Park, the issuing of 20 million Panda Cards and free admission to some of Sichuan's popular tourist spots on May 12, 2009, more travelers were visiting the province. However, the first confirmed case of swine flu on the mainland being discovered in Chengdu might once again alter people's travel plans.

One-Year Anniversary Commemoration
While Beichuan was decimated in the quake and, it has been announced, will be rebuilt in a new location, the ruins were recently opened for four days to former residents who wished to pay their respects to the deceased.

Jackie Chan is following in the footsteps—literally—of fellow Hollywood martial-arts film hero Jet Li, who made a symbolic 5.12-kilometer walk to Wenchuan last Sunday to honor victims of the quake. Chan visited survivors Monday, paying his respects by singing with students from Beichuan Middle School. In related news, Olympic hurdler Liu Xiang, who took home the gold medal at Athens, attended physical-education classes with primary school students in Beichuan.

The Central Newsreel and Documentary Film Studio has produced the first documentary on the quake. The 96-minute film, "People Go First" (人民至上), will air nationwide on May 12, 2009.

While the state has published 5,335 as the official count of students who died during the quake, it hasn't released names or any other details of the individuals. Countering this vagueness, Beijing-based artist/activist Ai Weiwei is spearheading a project to collect all the names and identifying information of the school children.

Shortly after the quake, the Jianchuan Museum Cluster opened a temporary earthquake museum on its grounds attracting tens of thousands of visitors over the Spring Festival Holidays. On May 12, 2009, it opens a permanent, privately funded RMB25 million museum featuring 8,000 relics recovered from the rubble as well as the legendary pig who was meant to be pork but was adopted by the museum's founder after it survived over a month while trapped under its collapsed pen. Entrance to the museum is free of charge.

Chengdu Quake Anniversary Events

In Chengdu, several events have been lined up to raise awareness and funds for ongoing relief efforts. Last Saturday's half marathon and 10K run attracted 40 runners and raised RMB8,000 to benefit Chengdu Sports Aid projects; later this month, a group of bikers will go the distance (310 kilometers to Wenchuan and back, to be precise) to honor the memory of quake victims.

The Chengdu Bookworm hosts a benefit evening with barbecue and bands on May 12 to mark the one-year anniversary of the quake. All profits from the evening will go toward relief projects. Festivities begin at 6:30 p.m.

Also available at the benefit evening will be "Afterquake," an album produced in conjunction with Sichuan Quake Relief by two musicians who spent time in Sichuan recording with young quake victims. See more about the project by Abigail Washburn and Dave Liang in this Sexy Beijing video.

"Grace – Restoration" (感恩•重建) features work of artists from around the country commemorating the one-year anniversary of the quake. The exhibit is on display at the Sichuan Art Museum (四川美术馆) on Renmin Xi Lu through May 24.

"Unforgettable," an exhibition organized by four local photographers depicts the disaster in large-scale prints. The images are on display in an outdoor (covered) venue and until June 21.

GoChengdoo is currently running a series of one-year anniversary posts to commemorate the quake, and English-language city magazine CHENGDOO citylife has made last May's "Aftermath" issue, a special tribute to the quake, available as a PDF for free download.

Quake-Related Panda News

And finally, some of Sichuan's giant pandas, whose home at the Wolong Nature Reserve was destroyed by the quake, will get a fancy, new RMB1.57 billion home next year. The national treasures, who have been temporarily residing at the Bifengxia base near Ya'an County, have reportedly suffered a decrease in their already notoriously low libido as a result of stress and trauma from the quake and relocation—a story that, of course, headline writers around the world are having a field day with.

"Touch of the Panda" (熊猫回家路) was released in theaters across China last week. The film is notable not only for its panda loving, but also because it is the only feature-length film shot at the Wolong Nature Reserve before it was destroyed. The Disney production took a reported three months to film, and six panda cubs took turns playing the lead role of Pang Pang.

All photos by Leo Chen except where noted.