Memory and hope -- Sichuan 5/12 earthquake anniversary special report

At 2:28 p.m. on May 12, 2008, the clock of the bell tower of Aba Normal College in Wenchuan county ceased striking forever. On the anniversary day of Sichuan Earthquake, under the world-widely concerned tower, the first phase project of 5.12 Earthquake Memorial Park smoothly came to an end, serving as a landmark location for memorizing the departed.

The Earthquake Memorial Park is designed by HE Jingtang, the famous architect and Member of China Academy of Engineering, and his team. The base is sited on the former campus of Aba Normal College. Its bell tower, which records the historical moment, is taken as the central architecture and becomes the most striking mark of the park.

Besides the memorial park, He's team also undertake the memorial system planning task of Yingxiu township, and will construct the memorial system on the base of different kinds of earthquake sites, including 5.12 Earthquake Epicenter Memorial Location, Huge Fallen Stone, 5.12 Wenchuan Big Earthquake Memorial Hall, etc. The system consists of natural earthquake trace, building site, memorial hall, memorial woodland, memorial route etc. Activities like earthquake site inspection, tour, and popular science education could be carried out.

As far as the memorial system planning design concept is concerned, Academician He said: "We hope that people can memorize the bitter side of the earthquake, in the meantime, we'd rather like to demonstrate the strong and bright side of human nature in the face of disasters. We are sowing the seed of hope to memorize the departed and to console the survivors. Let us face the disaster bravely and embrace the future actively."

Edited by CHANG Wei and REN Zhonglin

From SCUT News Network