Tie a yellow ribbon around a cuddly toy for remembrance

Conscious that my colleagues were bravely sending in reports from earthquake-hit areas, I decided to make a personal gesture of support. I went to a local market and bought a 1.2m length of yellow fabric, which the vendor and my mother helped me cut into 5 cm-wide strips. These yellow ribbons flutter from the rear view mirrors of many motorists. As yellow is the color of family reunions, they signify support for those left bereaved by the May 12 earthquake.

My next stop was the toy stall, where I bought cuddly bears, pandas, rabbits and piglets. When the vendor heard whom the toys were for he took particular care to decorate each parcel with ornate flowery knots.

My mother and father joined in the parceling work with a gusto I seldom see. One of the notes Dad wrote in his elegant calligraphy to cheer the children up read: "Hello, my dear young friend. I am Santa Claus from the North Pole and I send gifts to children every Christmas day. I bring you best wishes from children all over the world. Let's build the world's most beautiful home together."

The next Saturday morning, in response to the campaign to send gifts to Sichuan initiated by the local newspaper, we all squeezed into the family car we had loaded with toys, boxes of books and pencils, erasers and colorful crayons and headed for the collection station.

As soon as we arrived, volunteers stepped forward to help us and the cars behind us unload. We took our parcels into a spacious hall, jam-packed with tents, diapers, sacks of milk powder, crates of mineral water and other needed items.

When I asked one of the senior helpers how long it would take for our gifts to reach the children, he replied: "Didn't you read our paper today? Donations from Beijing to one of the most needy places arrived yesterday."

Shortly before Children's Day, the teachers at my son's kindergarten informed parents a film crew from China Central Television would be coming to film the kids' fashion show. One of the teachers suggested that, "A little present from each child for the children in Sichuan would be great."

While getting my son dressed in his little kungfu outfit, we tried to persuade him to donate either of his favorite toys Minnie or Spongebob. He refused, but raised no objections to giving a soft yellow toy puppy.

I tied a yellow ribbon around its neck, and Dad wrote the card expressing our best wishes and giving the name of the kindergarten. We gave the rest of the ribbons to the teachers to tie on other toys to be sent.

That night, my 3-year-old didn't talk much about the fashion show, but did make the dramatic announcement: "I'll donate Dad to Sichuan!"

When asked why, he promptly replied, "Because the quake killed lots of children's mums and dads."

When asked why he would not donate his mum he replied, with perfect logic, "Mum has too much housework, so she doesn't have as much time to help the children as you do."

(China Daily 06/18/2008 page20)