Parents bid sad goodbye to firefighters

On the side of the mourning wall hangs a board listing the names of firefighters missing since the Tianjin blast with a sentence that reads: "We are here waiting for you to come back."

While the blast has claimed 114 lives, 57 were still missing as of Tuesday.

Zhou Ti, 19, became the first survivor found in the blast center by the rescue team about 30 hours after the accident. A week after the explosion, people still expect more such good news.

But for some, it is time to say goodbye.

Tuesday marked seven days from the time of the Tianjin blasts. In Chinese tradition, the seventh day since a death, known as touqi, is a special day on which people commemorate those who passed away.

According to the custom, it is also the day when the deceased "come back" and say goodbye to their loved ones.

On Tuesday morning, I joined with the relatives and friends of the firefighters who lost their lives in the tragedy to bid farewell to the heroes in a local fire station.

I had talked to some firefighters who were still on the ground and those who were in the hospital in the past few days. And I definitely knew others had passed away.

But my grief at seeing the portraits of them and the homage they were being paid were beyond what words could describe. As was listening to the parents.

"I miss you, my son. Your father misses you so much," Zi Fuchang said to his deceased son, Zi Qingyun, in the mourning hall. The younger Zi was 20. "He had always wanted to be a soldier since he was a child. He had always wanted to be a soldier."

Nearby, a woman was crying in front of the portraits, saying: "Let Mom just see you one more time."

The firefighters tried to stay strong and not cry. But they failed when they saw the photos of their colleagues. So did the local residents who came to say goodbye.

"I feel so sorry for these children. My daughter is 21 and some of the firefighters who sacrificed their lives are even younger than she is. I even missed my daughter when she went to college. I can't imagine how these parents deal with their loss," said Sun Li, 44, a local kindergarten teacher.

"We will never forget your faces and names," the tearful Sun said in front of the portraits. "It is you who guard our safety with your own lives. I will make sure the kids will learn about how great you were."

(China Daily 08/19/2015 page3)