"When he was brought out by the rescuers, he smiled, and raised one of his hands, waving to people at the scene.

"A foreign photographer beside me starting crying, shaking her head and saying, 'it's a miracle, a miracle'."

The boy, Cao Jianqiang, was buried in the ruins for almost 76 hours. It took more than six hours for the rescuers to take him out.

Onlookers burst into applause when he was taken out of the rubble.

"His smile says 'no' to death," the reporter wrote in his blog.

"With her incredibly strong will, he has proven that even under such trying circumstances, perseverance and optimism work."

Yue Liuhui, 22, was on her way to a public bathroom when the quake hit the city of Dujiangyan. Rescuers searched in the wreckage for three days and found nothing. As the situation started to seem hopeless, some heard Yue's voice calling for help.

"I heard people talking outside, so I kept calling for help. I stopped when I couldn't hear any voices outside, to save energy," Yue said after being saved.

"I knew I had to hold on, despite being thirsty and starving.

"I am waiting for you to save me, I believe you will come," she said to rescuers who found her.

To keep her calm, rescuers kept talking to Yue. The girl never shed any tears during all that time.

She was safely taken out of the rubble after six hours.

The girl burst into tears the moment she saw her mother, who could only say "thank you, thank you" to her daughter's saviors.

Yue is one of the more than 27,500 quake victims who have survived, while more than 28,000 are confirmed dead.

(China Daily May 18, 2008)