SHIFANG, Sichuan: Over a 100 tombs stood solemnly, under a gray sky filled with the mild chatter of birds, just a day before Tomb-sweeping Day on Saturday. From the hill one could see Hongbai town, which was devastated by last year's quake that killed more than one-sixths of its nearly 6,000 residents.

Zhang Deqiang, the former headmaster of Hongbai primary school, could not remember the number of times he had walked up to the hill cemetery from his pre-fabricated house at its foothills. Most of his students and colleagues lie buried there.

"I feel much calmer now," the 49-year-old said. But sometimes he became overwhelmed at the memory and wept.