On May 12, 2008, at 2:28 PM a violent earthquake, reaching 8.0 on the Richter scale, occurred in Wenchuan County, Sichuan province, stealing away a devastating amount of lives and property in the process.

The Sichuan Branch of the Bank of China vigorously began an all-out effort to roll out disaster relief and rescue victims. It persevered through innumerable difficulties, making concerted efforts with the people of earthquake-stricken areas to restore the land in this unprecedented chal-lenge.

Not only was this a great victory of earthquake and disaster relief, but at the same time the Sichuan Branch also accomplished various tasks. In late 2008, the balance of the yuan loan of the Sichuan Branch of the Bank of China was 79.856 billion yuan, a remarkable growth of 38.11 percent compared with that of early 2008, making it first among the four major banks.

Furthermore, the balance of yuan deposits was 139.307 billion yuan, a growth of 34.66 percent compared with that of early 2008. Along with that the income of the intermediate business was 774 million yuan, a growth of 38.35 percent compared with that of early 2008, and the market share amounted to 17.17 percent, the whole branch realizing a 2.617 billion yuan business profit, a growth of 35.60 percent year-on-year.

From these facts alone it is clear that the Sichuan Branch of the Bank of China was not only unharmed by the catastrophe, but rather engaged in a stronger and swifter development of all business through the tireless efforts of its employees.

Display a Warm Heart and Strong Sense of Responsibility in Times of Danger and Adversity

The sudden nature of the earthquake led to immense destruction. The houses of the epicenter, Wenchuan Country, neighboring Dujiangyan City, and Beichuan County collapsed in groups, and the communication lines of the entire province were shattered.

One’s true colors can only truly be seen in these times of adversity, and as their responsibilities became heavier and heavier, employees of the branch still chose to safeguard the safety of the customer’s life and property with their own blood and lives.

At the same time, the bank authority wished to save and treat employees wounded in the earthquake at any cost. At the forefront of this catastrophe, the Bank of China and its employees composed a solemn and stirring ballad of earthquake and disaster relief.

At the Dujiangyan Sub-branch of the Bank of China, when a search and rescue team laboriously pushed aside the fallen steel cross beam and cement blocks, they found a shock-ing scene in front: A man of average height had protected a girl with his own body, taking the blow from the collapsed beam with his back, as the girl under his body feebly cried for help. That man is Zhang Yu, account manager of the Business Department of the Dujiangyan Sub-branch. In an act of the utmost valor, Zhang made the ultimate sacrifice, choosing the customer's life over his own when the building collapsed.

The monitoring system of the Wuhou Sub-branch also recorded a moving picture: When a customer handed over 400,000 yuan in the form of cash to the teller Wang Bing, the earthquake began. Throughout those violent three minutes, Wang Bing remained at his position, de-termined to stay until all necessary formalities were completed.

Fu Baizhang, director of the Comprehensive Management Department of the Mianzhu Sub-branch, worked consecutively for over 80 hours at the buried personnel search and rescue site, ignoring that he had just emerged from danger, suffering wounds of his own in the process. When the excavator was used, he repeatedly entered the excavated places with flashlight in hand, searching for any buried employees. When the remains of victims were found, he took care identifying them, handling the remains appropriately. When note and/or account books were excavated, he led the employees in thoroughly accounting for them. And when the family of a victim was deep in mourning, he did his best to aid them.

Tang Yulan, an employee of Mianzhu Sub-branch, was seriously wounded in the earthquake, and the resulting acute crush syndrome led to the failure of her respiratory, circula-tion, blood and kidney systems.

She was marked as terminally ill four times, her heart attacks prevented three times already, and the chief nurse even told her dependents: "there's only around a 1 percent possibility of her successfully recovering."

But the authorities at the Bank of China refused to give in. "The life of our employees is our top priority," "100 percent effort even if there is only 1 percent of hope."

(China Daily March 4, 2009)