Earthquake has no mercy for anybody, and yet, when natural disasters like earthquake befall on mankind, the splendor of humanity shines even more brilliantly.

　　It is about one ordinary mother who was deprived of her life by the most fatal earthquake that hit Suchuan Province of China and moved all the rescuers to tears by the tragic and stirring way she died. She was down on her knees with her body crouching forward and her hands on the ground propping up her upper body to shield her baby who was unscathed and still sleeping like a log under her when they were found. Tucked in the quilt used to bundle up the baby was a cellular phone carrying her last short message that reads: "Dear darling! If you can survive this earthquake, make sure to remember that I love you!"

　　In this earthquake, we witnessed numerous touching moments. When death is staring in the face, the parents will give up their own lives to protect their child with their own bodies. Some survivors who just escaped with life from the debris plunged themselves immediately into the rescue of strangers whom they never met before. A head of a grass-roots People's Congress, who had lost all his relatives to this earthquake, found no time to grieve for his relatives and instead, he led the people to conduct disaster relief with a bandaged head. Our dear armed forces made up of sons of people dug out the survived children from the debris and reinforced concrete with their bleeding hands….

　　There were numerous such touched stories of rescue, self-salvation, and mutual help in the disaster areas. The flashing glory shines brilliantly in the darkness of disaster.

　　Nothing in the world is considered on a par with that of the people's life. When the rescue exceeded the "golden period" of 72 hours immediately after the earthquake, President Hu Jintao, who is also the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, resolutely reaffirmed that the job of top priority remains to be the rescue of people. So long as there was a slim chance of hope, we would leave no stone unturned to rescue the people. Premier Wen Jiabao hurried to the forefront of the disaster relief within two hours in the wake of the earthquake and stated with emotion that even only one person was still in the debris, the effort of rescue should go on. The Central Military Commission mobilized 100,000 troops who raced to the disaster areas and immediately plunged themselves into the rescue of people that in fact has become the overriding mission of the Party, the government and the armed forces.

　　For the sake of saving more people's lives, the Chinese Government embraces the approach of opening-up and cooperated with international rescuers for the first time. As a result, professional rescuers from Japan, Russia, South Korea and Singapore joined in the rescue. CCTV offers 24-hour release of news on the situation and development of the disaster. All these epitomize dynamically the respect for people's lives which overrides anything else and is therefore spoken highly of by the international community.

　　It is a Chinese traditional culture to practice "the policy of benevolence and cherishing the people". However, due to the historical limits, the past dynasties hardly practiced this culture. This disaster relief serves to bring out conspicuously the position of the CPC and the Chinese Government in putting people first, showing concern about people's livelihood and the action being consistent with words. Some foreign media complimented the "Chinese top officials for shedding tears at the forefront, which embodies their image of cherishing the people" and "the earthquake has displayed the image of a new China."

　　By Tao Ke

　　(May 19, PLA Daily)                                         Editor: Dong Zhaohui