This is a story about an ordinary Chinese girl HU, Huishan. (The picture is from this blog and there are more photos and a bi-lingual account of the memorial.)
HU died at the age of 15 in the earthquake last year in Si-Chuan, China. There were numerous students died when the buildings collapsed instantly in the earthquake due to lousy structure or compromised materials. It is called "the Tofu construction" and it is to blame, at least partly, for the large number of casualties, which somehow becomes a taboo in China. A writer was arrested and put on trial for an attempt to collect the names of kids died in the earthquake; and an activist artist was detained in a hotel room on the way to testify for the case. The government refuses to give the number of the victims of the earthquake even till today.
That is not our story here of HU, but a background of a supposedly non-political event. An architect Liu met HU's mother by chance and was moved by the meticulous collection the mother made for her daughter. HU's baby teeth. The umbilical cord. HU's family has a humble wish that Liu can help: a modest place as the young girl's memorial.
Liu designs the memorial as a small and cozy place for the ordinary people. He wants it to embody simplicity and purity that captures the short life of HU. It is all pink inside the memorial, for HU loved pink; on the walls there are her pictures, notebooks, backpack, the usual stuff a young school girl would have. It is small for HU didn't live long enough to leave a lot for exhibition. The exterior of the memorial is inspired by the rescue tents seen everywhere after the disaster. The memorial is standing quietly in the woods, there is nothing fancy about it, the name is straightforward "HU Huishan's Memorial".
It is not allow to open and rumor has it that it will soon be torn down by the government. HU's parents are sad, "we don't understand why the government is afraid of the name of a girl."
No one understands. Chinese government behaves like it ordered the earthquake to kill its people and that's why they have a lot to hide. No one understands.
Story retold from the report.
The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
5 years ago
