Petitioners say blueprint proves their school made of 'tofu'

• Source: The Global Times
• [00:18 May 15 2009]
• Comments

A doll offering at the ruins of Dongqi Middle School in Hanwang town, city of Mianzhu, Sichuan Province. Photos: Li Liqiang, Zhengzhou Daily.

By Wang Weilan from Sichuan

Three times in total she has carried her petition of more than 1,000 signatures from Beichuan Middle School parents to Chengdu, capital city of Sichuan Province, and to Beijing, capital city of China.

The last time was for the anniversary of the Wenchuan earthquake. Three times she and her companions have met with the same result.

The struggle of Liu Yuting illustrates that allocating blame for construction issues is an extremely difficult and arduous task.

Quoted in a July 29 booklet handed out to parents, a deputy director of Tsinghua University Law School compared building quality to a fist fight.

“Supposing Mr A hits Mr B and injures him on the day of the earthquake,” Zhou Guangquan reportedly said. “B is sent to hospital and dies there because of the earthquake.

“There is no simple cause-effect relationship between B’s death and A’s violence. So if we cannot prove for certain there is a direct relationship between the collapse of the buildings and their quality, no court would convict.”

For Liu, 43, a divorced mother originally from Henan Province, Zhou’s logic provides hollow comfort. Liu has lived and worked in Mianyang county for eight years. Her son Yuan Yong had only recently transferred from Henan to Beichuan in September 2007 when 1,700 students died as the building collapsed in seconds, according to Liu’s petition.

Most were 14-16 years old, attending junior grade 2, 3 and senior grade 1 classes at the same school building, all lost in a few seconds of May 12.

The parents believe the 1994 building was made of “tofu”, the now-notorious earthquake-related phrase for a low-quality, allegedly corrupt building.

“Many of the fathers worked construction,” said Liu, “and their experience told them that there was something seriously wrong with this building.”