I don't want this to be a belated April Fool's Day column because this is about a serious matter. It is about death. It is about the death of some people who are quite close to us. They were buried alive in a place Beijing residents will pass every day, from sometime in 2008 to the distant future.

They are subway builders who were trapped in the cave-in that took place last Wednesday.

By the time this column was written, on Sunday morning, only four of them had been found by the rescue team all dead. The other two were still missing.

Little has been reported about the victims. It is only known that two of them were identified as an uncle and a nephew, Zhou Yongquan and Zhou Jie, migrant workers from Danleng County in Sichuan Province. Three others also came from Sichuan. They are Mu Chaoqing, Zhou Congyun and Liao Zhengjun.

The sixth worker, already reported dead, was identified as Li Peng, a 20-year-old rural lad from Zhoukou, in Central China's Henan Province.

The Chinese language press reflected the fact that reaction to the accident has been unexpectedly slow, first due to the contractor's cover-up attempt, with the authorities first hearing of the accident 10 hours after it took place.

Then the rescue effort was upset by the utterly soft earth on the spot and its closeness to nearby buildings. Little could be done to speed up the process in a country with the world's largest amount of construction equipment.

In contrast with the anxiety surrounding the accident site, the shabby and sometimes frightening working conditions underground, and the cold, dark, and dusty weather enveloping the city, people began to show their love and send condolences.

On Friday, the Beijing News reported that two university graduates laid a bouquet of white roses on the accident site and told reporters that they hoped more concern would be given to working conditions of rural laborers in the capital.

But flowers will wither. Candles will blow out. Beijing needs something permanent to let its residents and their children remember the workers who gave their lives building the city.

At least, at the future Suzhou Qiao subway station, there should be a plate engraved with the names of the workers who died in the recent disaster and what little we can get to know about their short lives.

Suzhou Qiao is the gateway to Beijing's university district. It is the home to the nation's most brilliant and fortunate young students, technology companies and start-ups of even trendier concepts. It is the location of expensive management education programs, conferences, and exclusive clubs and parties for the materially successful.

There should be something to remind the fortunate few of the less glamorous majority of society. They are equally important as the country's builders. And those who gave their lives should be remembered.

Indeed, Beijing should consider erecting a monument to all the migrant workers who died building China's capital since the beginning of the reform era.

It would be a healthy contribution to China's harmonious society if the mayor led all municipal officials in paying respect at the monument every Qingming Festival, the Chinese day to remember the dead.

But for the officials and project contractors who dare to ignore the existing safety rules in the interest of speed, there is no better reminder than the law. Some individuals have reportedly been detained during the investigation of the subway site cave-in as the public awaits the official report on the cause of the accident.

E-mail: younuo@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 04/02/2007 page4)