Forty-one children orphaned by the Sichuan earthquake began rebuilding their lives yesterday at the Lijiang Orphan School.

The youngsters, aged 7 to 14, are all from Shifang, one of the worst-hit areas.

About 200 pupils and 40 teaching staff lined up at the school gate to greet the new arrivals with a large banner that read "Welcome Home". A musical welcome was provided by the school's 70-strong brass band dressed in green-and-white uniforms.

Each of the children was presented with a new school bag, toys, clothes, books, candy and other gifts. The younger ones were also given a red scarf, or honglingjin, the membership symbol of the China Young Pioneers.

"I feel like I am going back home," 11-year-old schoolgirl and new arrival Xiao Jing said after being given a greetings card made by Suma, a young girl from the Yi ethnic group.

"We have been eagerly expecting you all these days. We have cleaned your room several times and decorated it in light pink. We hope you like it and feel at home," Suma had written on the card.

Another newcomer, 12-year-old Tie Jun, said he liked the band and wanted to learn to play the trumpet.

"I hope to start learning right away, so I can join the band in the future," Tie said.

The boy lost his father in the earthquake and has not seen his mother since his parents divorced eight years ago.

Lijiang Orphan School has about 140 primary students, 68 junior high students and 49 senior high students. Twenty-three will graduate next month and sit the national college entrance exam.

The school, which is supported by the Chinese Orphan Relief Fund under the All-China Women's Federation, "aims at making all students independent, optimistic and useful members of society," Song Lingying, an official with the federation, said.

More Sichuan orphans are expected to move into the school, which has room for 200 new arrivals, soon, Song said.

"Despite the sadness of their past, the Sichuan children will have a joyful today and a promising tomorrow," she said.

Living under the motto of "no work, no meal; no pain no gain," students help each other to grow up responsibly, Song said.

They even have their own vegetable garden and sell what they grow to the school kitchen to earn extra money for their class.

After dinner, students also help wash the dishes.

The school is the first by the Chinese Orphan Relief Fund, which, over the next few years, aims to set up nine others in poverty-stricken areas including Tibet, Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai and Guizhou.

Xu Yan, a psychology professor at Beijing Normal University, said although orphans lack parental love, by receiving emotional care and support from their peers and guardians, they can still grow up to be accomplished and valuable members of society.

Many of the 4,000 children orphaned by the 1976 Tangshan earthquake, who are now successful adults, are testimony to that, he said.

(China Daily May 28, 2008)