Fenghuang Mountain in the center of Tangshan

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The story of Phoenix Nirvana originated from a poem by Guo Moruo,a modern Chinese poet. It is a romantic story about a pair of phoenixes who decided to die and be reincarnated while facing decadence and death. In the foreword of the poem, the poet says that in the country of Tianfang(referring to Arab countries), there is a holy bird called the phoenix, which burns itself at the age of 500 and is then reborn from the dying embers for extraordinary beauty and immortality. Nirvana means the beatitude that transcends the cycle of reincarnation in Buddhism. Combining the ancient legend and the Buddhist beatitude, the poet created a magnificent and sublime artistic state, moving everyone that reads it. In the center of Tangshan, there is the beautiful Fenghuang Mountain, which is alsocalled Shuangfeng Mountain. The mountain was named Fenghuang (phoenix) due to its original shape, which looked like a flying phoenix. Tangshan people loved their hometown so much that they named the city”Fenghuang city.”In 1976, the city was seriously damaged by the earthquake. After the disaster, Tangshan people felt they had been reborn. Inspired by the poem written by Guo Moruo, they compared the experience in life and death and the reconstruction of the city to Phoenix Nirvana.

The story of Phoenix Nirvana is very romantic, but the suffering of the Tangshan people was not.

On July 28,1976, at 3:42 am, the city of about one million residents was flattened in the twinkling of an eye. Architecture in the urban area was totally ruined. More than 242,000 people lost their lives and 164,000 people were injured. More than 7,000 families were lost. All the water, power, communication, traffic and medical facilities were damaged.

Plants and factories collapsed and equipment was damaged so that production had to stop. The survivors rescued from the ruins had no water to drink, no food to eat and no medical treatment. There was no place to bury the dead. People were scared and anxious about aftershocks, temblors and rainstorms. They didn’t know where to go and where to find food and water until the Chinese People’s Liberation Army arrived with medical teams and the supplies collected nationwide.

In addition to romance, the story of Phoenix Nirvana is also about the braveness and tolerance in front of death, which was completely demonstrated by the brave and tough Tangshan people. Statistics showed, about 300,000 people rescued themselves and then rescued another 300,000 people from the ruins. The earthquake hit Tangshan around 3 in the morning, when people were sleeping. People who were not dressed rescued themselves and others from the reinforced concrete building ruins, bricks and stones. They were injured and bleeding. However, they did not escape.

All they wanted was to save lives, regardless of any hostility and resentment before. After the earthquake, being thankful became a traditional element of the Tangshan culture, because many people were rescued and helped by others during the disaster. Did any Tangshan citizen who went through the earthquake get no assistance and help from others?

Tangshan people are optimistic, brave and tough. This can be supported by their loyalty, selflessness and enthusiasm for their work, duties and themselves. There were many reports from the earthquake with such stories. People came back to their posts and duties as soon as they were rescued, even though some of them were injured. Soon after the earthquake, Li Yulin,a miner at Kailuan Mine, believed that, since the communication between Tangshan and the outside world had been cut off, he should make a report to the central government so that more people could be rescued. He had no time to find his relatives and got on a mine rescue car to Beijing. In Zhongnanhai, he made a detailed report of the earthquake to the Central Committee of the CPC and the State Council, providing valuable ref-erences for national earthquake relief. It is impossible to know how many people were rescued due to what Li Yulin did. For his contribution, the Tangshan people honored him a hero.

For a period after the earthquake, the Tangshan people had to live in plastic tents and wood houses, use open-air cooking tools and wear shabby clothes. However, they were not disappointed, did not complaint or felt depression. They buried their relatives and cleaned the blood and went back to production. Seven days after the earthquake, the first bicycles were made. Ten days after the earthquake, the first cart of coal was produced. Fourteen days after the earthquake, electric power was generated and the first locomotive was made. Twenty-eight days after the earthquake, steel was produced.

By the end of 1976,a total of 666 of 692 Tangshan enterprises had resumed production.

In early September, retail stores were established. In November,1.9 million makeshift houses were built up for the winter. Tangshan people have a special memory about the makeshift houses, which were erected during a special period. For 10 years, Tangshan people lived in these houses roofed byfelt fixed with bricks. Then, they moved into new houses with the most advanced design at that time different patterns with kitchens and bathrooms as well as gas and heat supply facilities. The communities were equipped with schools, shops, restaurants and green spaces. Some large ones even have parks and playgrounds. Such communities and such facilities represented the first-class design in the 1980s.

In the last 30 years, much of the city has changed with many high buildings and widely extended streets and roads. It is a brand-new modern city grown up from the ruins of the earthquake. How do Tangshan people feel about this? Confident? Thankful? Gratified? Or even inspired by the “Phoenix Nirvana”?

Surely, the people of Tangshan will never forget the support the other Chinese people. So they builtthe square with monument, which is made up of four trapezoidal poles, symbolizing the support of the Chinese people from all areas. The monument is called Tangshan Earthquake Relief Monument but not Tangshan Earthquake Monument.