By Huang Zhiling (www.ttav89.com)
Updated: 2008-06-08 11:44

“The 29 paintings embody the love of people from different sectors including the People’s Liberation Army soldiers, a kind-hearted driver and artists from the Sichuan Provincial Artists Association ,” Datang said.

Thanks to Qiu Xiao’ou, a truck driver in Shehong county in Sichuan who had sent relief materials to Wenchuan, the 29 paintings were transported to Chengdu the next day. In less than one week, the Sichuan Provincial Artists Association sponsored their painting exhibition with the hope their paintings would be sold to raise funds for the reconstruction of their home.

According to Cong Linzhong, director of the studio of Yan Jiyuan, visitors to the exhibition had booked most of the paintings on display.

“We will spend at least half the money helping Qiang people. We will also visit Qiang religious practitioners who pass down records of the feats of Qiang ancestors as well as Qiang astronomy geography, history and medicine orally, for Qiang people have no written language,” Datong told China Daily website.

Two of the three most prestigious old religious practitioners in Wenchuan died in the earthquake. Datong said they would visit the last survivor to record his knowledge of the Qiang people and culture.

The Qiang people, who lead a hard life along the Minjiang River, are optimistic and have an unyielding spirit, which has inspired Datang and her husband

She first went to Aba at the age of 18. Impressed with the beautiful scenery and unique culture of the ethnic Qiang culture, she later settled down in Wenchuan with her husband who is a local of the county.

In 2002, she had an opportunity to leave Wenchuan and work as a teacher in Chengdu. But she did not want to part with the picturesque Aba and its kind Qiang people despite a more comfortable lifestyle in the provincial capital.

To protect the Qiang culture, the Sichuan Provincial Department of Culture sponsored a meeting on the establishment of a Qiang preserve on May 28. Deputies to the meeting suggested the new Beichuan county seat be located in a region with a concentrated population of the Qiang people.

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