Father's Day brings out tears

DEYANG, Sichuan: Zhou Dexiang worked overtime to forget the greatest loss of his life: his wife and daughter.

But the 45-year-old deputy headmaster of Dongqi high school in Deyang could not fight his emotions while visiting the makeshift classrooms on Father's Day yesterday.

"My daughter used to call me 'Teacher Zhou' jokingly," he said. "I will never get to hear those naughty words again."

His wife Wang Maoni and 17-year-old daughter Zhou Wencao died when their school buildings in Hanwang collapsed in the May 12 earthquake.

Zhou Wencao was a student of Dongqi high school, while Wang used to teach in Dongqi technical secondary school.

Wang was outside the school when the quake struck but ran into the building to help the students flee. She was hit by a falling slab of concrete on her way out.