Abstract:

On May 12, 2008 at 2:28 pm a massive earthquake struck China's Sichuan province, leaving 80,000 dead or missing and millions homeless. In the disaster's wake, China's government seemed to present a new face to the world by permitting increased media coverage, accepting international aid and expressing sympathy for the quake's victims. Was this the beginning of a new openness in China? And what is the future for the people of Sichuan? The documentary looks at these questions through the stories of four survivors.

The Sichuan TV reporter Zhang Qian was in the middle of the disaster zone. For the first time, she and other reporters filed uncensored live reports. China watched transfixed as she talked to Chen Jian, a 26-year-old trucker who had been pinned down by massive concrete slabs for three days. Lin Hao, a 9-year-old, became China's hero for rescuing two classmates near the quake's epicenter. After the Olympics Lin Hao and his family moved to Shanghai so he could get a better education. Another survivor, Sang Jun, mourned for his eleven-year-old son who perished when Fuxin #2 School collapsed, one of 12,000 poorly-built schools that crumbled in the quake. Distraught parents in Fuxin demonstrated for an investigation as most other buildings around had remained standing. At first the government promised to investigate but as the weeks passed, the post-quake openness disappeared. Chinese media was told to stop covering the story.