IT WAS one of the most harrowing and moving images of the Sichuan earthquake in May this year – Wu Jiafang sitting on his motorbike on the wrecked streets of Hanwang, with his wife’s body tied to his back as he spoke words of solace to another relative by mobile phone.
However, the past few days brought happiness for the 44-year-old Sichuan farmer known as “The Loyal Husband of Sichuan”, when he married Liu Rurong in Nanshan district in the southern boomtown of Shenzhen.
“The heaven, the Earth can be my witness. I am willing to make Liu Rurong my wife,” he said. Chinese media have hailed his new nuptials as a great event.
The wedding was part of a mass marriage celebration under the auspices of a local government organisation.
On May 14th, two days after the quake, I had been working with Chinese photographer Qilai Shen, and we made our way slowly through the rubble and devastation in Hanwang, with bodies lying everywhere, and distraught relatives pleading with troops to find their missing loved ones.
The scooter was parked in a street of total stillness, and we found ourselves struck dumb by the sight of Mr Wu with his wife, Shi Huaqiong’s, body tied with rope to his back.
Qilai’s photograph of Mr Wu went global, but also had a huge impact in China.
At 4pm on Sunday, 30 couples took to the red carpet, and Wu Jiafang and Liu Rurong were the fifth couple in line. The groom wore a black suit and his bride a white wedding gown and veil.
Ms Liu said she found her new husband’s story incredibly moving, prompting her to get in touch with him.
“He is a plain farmer, a hospitable man. His down-to-earth qualities touched me,” she said.
Mr Wu described the wedding as “stress-free” and told journalists that his late wife will live forever in his heart. Mr Wu and Ms Shi’s son Wu Yang also attended the wedding.
“I did not think that my simple action would be seen as moving or loyal. Your love supports me and makes me stand up from sorrow. And now I can have another happy married life again,” he said.
Mr Wu had survived the quake in Mianzhu, then went to Hanwang to pick up his wife’s body.
“He dressed her in clean clothes and tied her to his back.
He has been working in Shenzhen in the farming off-season to help earn enough money to rebuild his house, which was destroyed in the quake.
After a long-distance romance, he and Ms Liu first met in October and had been together just nine days, a real whirlwind romance, when they married first time round in a civil ceremony in November. The wedding on Sunday was part of a collective wedding scheme, called the “Mandarin Duck Call”, organised by the Shenzhen Federation of Women Workers.