By Li Chengpeng (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-22 10:13

(Left): Xiao Xiaochuan (right) stays with his students in Yingcai School in Mianyang. (Right): A class schedule with games and story-telling classes arranged by Yingcai School to switch the children's attention from the earthquake. [China Daily]

Still, one may wonder why nine teachers and 71 students attempted to reach Mianyang. Why did they not wait for rescuers to arrive?

The survivors said they knew the county officials were likely to have been busy helping those who were buried by the quake. They had to save themselves.

Their daunting escape route included three mountains, each 2,000 m above sea level: Shuidongzi, Jingjiashan, and Yangliuping. They faced a long list of dangers: Aftershocks, mud flow, falling rocks, heavy rain, altitude sickness, and a thick, ancient forest.

One teacher, Wu Mingse, had turned a worrisome shade of blue because of her severe asthma. Many asked if she was well enough to make the journey.

"I have to, no matter what. I refuse to die here," she told them.

On the second day, the sky suddenly darkened. A thick, freezing fog plunged the forest into deep, impenetrable gloom. The children could not see their classmates just 2 m away. It seemed as if an evil spirit had enveloped them, they later recalled. Village superstition told them that the ghoul could kill its victims by stealing their souls.

The group plowed on, shouting each other's names at the top of their voices across the lonely forest to frighten away the spirit.

Jingjiashan Mountain was notoriously hard to navigate. The locals have a saying: "Don't let your daughter marry into Jingjiashan Mountain", meaning the roads were treacherous for a wedding procession. Likewise, men who rode through the mountain anchored themselves with strips of woven bamboo to avoid plunging over the cliffs.

The earthquake created a fissure in the mountain massif. Mud and rock oozed down. Even more worrisome for the escapees were the paths, which had become wildly distorted. When they expected to walk uphill, the path turned downhill. A familiar left turn suddenly dropped into sheer cliffs.

It was a ragtag group that scurried along the twisted paths. The older children helped the younger ones, pulling them along as they ran. Every few minutes someone lost a shoe, which the teachers either picked up or replaced with another swiped from villages they passed.

Two packs of cookies and a few bottles of water was all the food available for 71 children and eight adults. The children lined up for their sliver of cookie and one gulp of water. One could practically hear those at the back of the line salivating. The teachers were heartbroken, and some wept openly.

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