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9.11 fall－out felt in China  |
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 The destruction of the twin towers was an event that directly affected the lives of many people throughout the world. In China, there are people still living with the fallout from that day and trying to make sense of what happened.
Jin Bohong, chief arts designer of Beijing World Park, is revisiting a project he helped realize a decade ago. As chief arts designer of the Beijing World Park, he was there at the beginning when these miniature twin towers were built. For him, it's a reminder of a once－powerful symbol.
"I thought at the time that nothing represented modern civilization better than the World Trade Center (WTC). Its sudden disappearance raised very complex feelings within me, as if something was wrong with the world," said Jin Bohong.
Jin Bohong spent a good part of his youth in New York and the World Trade Center was associated with some of his best memories. He said the first place he settled in the US was in Greenwich Village, just a few blocks from the WTC site.
"There are eight million stories running through the Naked City," wrote one New York writer after the scourge, indeed, nearly 3,000 innocent lives were lost in the twin towers of the World Trade Center alone, each bringing untold sufferings to loved ones. These pains are borne not only by Americans, but also ripple across the Pacific to affect some Chinese families. And, after one year, for many, the pain still remains.
For the family of Shi Wen, life came to a standstill a year ago. That morning as usual, her husband Wang Weibin went to the office in the World Trade Center but never returned home.
"Many of the family's friends and neighbors came to help. They turned the entire city inside out searching for him. Wen couldn't sleep at all for days and the people around her had to force her to take sleeping pills. She was on the verge of collapse," said Shi Guang, Shi Wen's sister.
Shi Wen's sister says Wen's family used to be the envy of many. Wang Weibin was a smart man, a loving husband and a good father. A graduate of Columbia University, he was then a senior program analyst for Cantor Fitzgeralde, a financial software firm housed on 103rd floor on the North Tower. His company later proved to be the worst hit by the disaster with more than 700 employees dying in the attacks.
"It was like a nightmare. Long after Wang's funeral, I still couldn't take it all in. 'How could he be gone?' I asked my husband time and again. He was such a clever, vivacious and wonderful person! With the first anniversary approaching, the scar reopens. I really feel sorry for Wen's family," said Shi Guang.
Shi Wen now has to struggle on with three young children. The eldest is fourteen, while the youngest is barely three. Visitors to the family often hear the youngest son say that his Daddy will come back home.
Though Shi Wen's family is one of the few Chinese families directly affected by the September 11 attacks, many Chinese are trying to appreciate the pain that they and many others families went through. A group of Chinese and American students took time out to reflect on the events.
"The first purpose is of course to show sympathy to them and that together we shall fight transnational terrorism. And by such academic communication, we put forward our own proposals, though not necessarily solution, to the problem," said Chen Jie from School of Int'l Relations of Peking University.
Together these young people are praying for a safer world where people can go about their lives, and secure in the knowledge that their workplaces and homes will not become a front line for terrorists.
Source:CCTV
Editor:Wang Yin
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