China Focus

Toy bears symbol of his love for daughter

By Wang Yan (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-01-20 07:44

Zhong Jianqin was back home, with the three toy bears he bought in Haiti for his beloved daughter.

But the 35-year-old father would never meet his seven-month-old girl. The devastating earthquake in Haiti last week has torn the family apart forever.

In a picture taken in Haiti, Zhong is wearing a black shirt with a Chinese national flag sewn on the right sleeve. He looks healthily tanned under the Caribbean sun, a masculine and strong, good-looking man.

A communications officer of the Chinese anti-riot police team in Haiti, Zhong's work was to record the life and work of the entire anti-riot team and show the pictures to China and the rest of the world.

"When we held weapons, he held cameras," said a colleague in Haiti.

On Sunday afternoon, a small camera was dug out of the site that used to be the United Nations mission building in Haiti. Recorded on it were the working scenes of the Chinese peacekeepers, according to CCTV reports.

That was Zhong's work.

Zhong had been recruited into the Chinese peacekeeping team in Haiti twice. During his first tour of duty in 2007, Zhong published 286 stories, recorded 267 boxes of tapes and shot over 60,000 pictures.

He did an excellent job, winning him a first-class merit.

Four days after he left for Haiti for the second time on June 13 last year, his baby girl was born in his hometown Nanfeng in Jiangxi province. Since then, chatting online with his family became the biggest pleasure in his life.

Because of the time difference, Zhong could only chat with his wife for an hour after work every day. As it was early morning in China. Xu Hong, his wife, would bring the baby girl up to the camera.

"He said he was looking forward to naming the baby when he got home," Liu Guangxiong, a director at the Yunnan Public Security Border Defense Corps, told local media.

Xu said Zhong wanted to give the baby girl the nickname "bear," but the rest of the family didn't agree.

Related full coverage: Earthquake in Haiti
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"It's too boyish." Xu recalled during an interview with China National Radio yesterday, "He then told me he bought three toy bears for our daughter. I've seen the pictures. It was a cute bear family, a father, a mother and a baby."

"I asked his leader to help me find the toy bears. I hoped they would bring the bears back. It would be something for her to remember her dad," she said.

Zhong was the sixth child in his family, and the only boy. His death stunned the family.

"We didn't dare tell mom for many days. But mom was a brave person. She fell silent for a few minutes after learning about my brother's death," said Wang Xiaolin, Zhong's brother-in-law.

Zhong was very good at literature and was an excellent writer, recalled Lai Chongcai, Zhong's classmate at high school.

Zhong apparently kept in the habit of writing. He even wrote a book, Weiyou Qingqian, meaning, "only love matters," based on his own experiences as a peacekeeper in Haiti.

"A friend asked me what I wanted to do most when I get home. I said: 'Go out without a helmet and armor.' That feels really good," Zhong wrote in his book.