Letters to Heaven -- Beijing Review

The exhibition, which kicked off on June 23, featured a collection of handwritten letters by Zhu Yongling, a renowned calligrapher, between May 12 and June 22.

The motivation behind the exhibition, according to Zhu, was one of love. "I was deeply moved by sympathy and blessings from what I read at www.lifeall.com, originally a memorial website, which opened the Wenchuan Earthquake Memorial Hall soon after the May 12 earthquake," said Zhu. "It was a meaningful way to commemorate our dead compatriots by quoting and copying some online blessings with traditional Chinese calligraphy."

According to Zhu, it took him eight to twelve hours a day, between May 12 and June 22, to accomplish the work.

Rice paper notebooks and brushes were available to the audience as well.

The highlight of the closing ceremony was the balloon launching part. The white balloons, tied with many handwritten letters, launched at 2:28 p.m., the exact time that the May 12 earthquake occurred.

It brought the curtain down as all exhibits were collected and burnt by the organizers. According to traditional Chinese funeral arrangements, the ceremony will last over 49 days. The first seven days are the most important, for they believe that the soul of the departed will return to his/her home after seven days, and families burn paper objects (often a copy of goods, such as money, house, car, and so forth) for the dead. The day June 29 was exactly the 49th day of the May 12 earthquake. The remains, according to organizers, would be kept in Beijing and then buried at the epicenter on May 12, 2009, the anniversary of the quake.