11-year-old attends mother’s funeral

• Source: Global Times
• [07:23 July 13 2009]
• Comments

By Wu Gang in Urumqi

Ren Guogang (right) and Ren Jiahao console one another at the funeral of Dai Xiaoqin yesterday. Photo: Wu Gang

Ren Jiahao waited outside the Urumqi Funeral Service Center Friday afternoon, as his father, aunts and uncles went inside to identify the body of the boy's mother, Dai Xiaoqin.

The 11-year-old, seemingly oblivious to what had happened, entertained himself by practicing his kungfu moves, yelling “Hey, ha!” with every kick and punch.

Yesterday, however, when Ren returned to the center to see his mother for the final time before her cremation, the gravity of the situation became clear to him and he broke down in tears.

“I want my mom. Even if you gave me the city of Urumqi, I wouldn't want it. I just want my mom back,” he cried.

A week after the July 5 riot, life for some people in the city is returning to normal, with most shops, restaurants, banks and theaters having now reopened.

For the families of the 184 people killed or more than 1,000 left in hospital, however, normality is still some way off.

“I still haven't told our mom about Xiaoqin's death,” Xiaoqin's sister, Dai Xiaoli, said through her tears yesterday.

“She's 70 and has been sick in bed for more than 10 years. I'm afraid she won't be able to handle the shock.”

Xiaoqin's brothers and sisters took her ashes to their hometown of Qitai, 200 kilometers from Urumqi, yesterday to hold a funeral service for her.

Forty-year-old Dai Xiaoqin, who worked as a saleswoman at the Hualian department store, was killed by rioters on July 5 as she was making her way to her home near Tuanjie Road.

Police do not know exactly when or how she was killed but the severe trauma to her head and face suggested that she had suffered several blows from a heavy, blunt object.

Xiaoqin lived close to her sister, Xiaoli, in the Dawan neighborhood, which is home to both Han people and ethnic Uygurs.

“We were very close, and after she got divorced two years ago, she often came to my house for dinner,” Xiaoli said.

“What could she have done wrong that she deserved to be killed by a mob?”

Xiaoli said she had never in her life seen so many Uygurs looking to kill innocent Hans, or stick-wielding Hans hunting down Uygurs.

“The Uygurs I'd met before were all very friendly,” Xiaoli said.

“We had all been getting along well in this neighborhood.”

Xiaoqin's ex-husband Ren Guogang, who attended her funeral, said he wanted revenge.

“If it wasn't for the fact I must stay to look after our son, I would have killed seven or eight of those rioters.”

He too said he had never before had a problem with Uygurs.