Left: Time magazine carries the photo taken by Zhu Jianguo. File photo Right: Zhu Jianguo is on his way to quake-hit areas. Courtesy of Zhu Jianguo
The cover spread of the May 26 Asian edition of Time magazine showed a father and his dead son, crushed from the May 12 earthquake. It touched the hearts of many - including Zhu Jianguo, the chief photographer of the West China Metropolis Daily in Sichuan's capital Chengdu who took the picture, a day after the 8.0-magnitude quake. Zhu and his colleague were in Dujiangyan, close to Chengdu.
When they arrived that evening, Zhu snapped endless rescue pictures of nearly 1,000 teachers and students, who had been buried under the collapsed Juyuan High school building. "Every 30 and 60 minutes, a survivor or body was pulled out of the debris. Relatives who had waited since the earthquake struck would rush to identify whether it was a familiar face to them," said Zhu.
"If a body was taken out on a stretcher, relatives did not want to have a look for fear it would be their loved one - but they also could not help identifying it. My ears were filled with inconsolable howls whenever a body was claimed." Zhu said it was torture recording the miserable scenes with his camera. Still, he kept on.
Sometime in the morning, another body was pulled from the debris. A middle-aged couple behind the crowd wobbled to the stretcher. Once the newspaper covering the body's face was removed, the couple fell to the ground, speechless. "I knew it must have been their son," said Zhu.
As the mother went to retrieve their son's belongings, the father took his child's limp hand - filled with mud and sand - and gripped it tightly, almost as though he was trying to take his son back. "With tears, I kept pressing the shutter," said Zhu. Out of the 10,000-plus pictures Zhu took of the quake, he likes this photo the most.
"The picture, which is named Hands and Hearts are Connected, not only reflects the love between the father and son, but also shows how the hands and hearts of the people nationwide are connected in the disaster relief. I hope it can give the living courage and let the dead rest in peace," he said.
The photo was carried in the West China Metropolis Daily and apart from Time magazine, it was widely circulated on the Internet, and also appeared on a huge poster promoting quake relief efforts organized by the Sichuan Daily Newspaper Group, Chengdu Disabled People's Federation and Chengdu Welfare Fund for the Handicapped.
At 51, Zhu is one of the oldest photographers covering the quake. He made the switch to photography in 1990 after 20 years of being an opera performer in Sichuan. He said, "My only hope was that my pictures could arouse more people's attention to care for the catastrophe of the Chinese nation and those people surviving it."
（英语点津 Helen 编辑）
About the broadcaster:
Brendan joined The China Daily in 2007 as a language polisher in the Language Tips Department, where he writes a regular column for Chinese English Language learners, reads audio news for listeners and anchors the weekly video news in addition to assisting with on location stories. Elsewhere he writes Op’Ed pieces with a China focus that feature in the Daily’s Website opinion section.
He received his B.A. and Post Grad Dip from Curtin University in 1997 and his Masters in Community Development and Management from Charles Darwin University in 2003. He has taught in Japan, England, Australia and most recently China. His articles have featured in the Bangkok Post, The Taipei Times, The Asia News Network and in-flight magazines.
