continued from part 2.

My mother lived in an apartment building, which probably had around five floors. Chinese buildings are usually made of solid concrete to make them stable and strong, but also very heavy. If the building collapses, hiding under a table is no use. The building will squash it flat.

My grandmother therefore had to do like all the other families who were living in apartments: go and live in the field. Hundreds of families lived in the big exercising field. My grandmother retrieved a large cloth and a few poles and made a tent.

I can only imagine how fun it would be to live in a tent. Maybe not too much fun because of the earthquake, but still fun. To live in a tent in a city. How interesting!

My father was probably also very eager to live outside in a tent and have some fun, but his mother said no. She had a better idea. She fetched a few long tables and put a mattress on the ground.

These tables were longer than the mattress, so they could be put straight over the mattress and still touch the ground. They were placed over the mattresses and my dad and his family could live underneath them.

I can only imagine how fun that would be. That is, until you wanted to get up for a little drink of water… BONK.

Of course, these are only happy and funny stories of a very horrible time. Hundreds of thousands were killed. It is no laughing matter. But one can always attempt to find something happy in times of sadness.