Zhang Youlu was nine years old when his parents died in the devastating earthquake in Tangshan, in north China's Hebei Province, in 1976.

Zhang grew up in a government-run boarding school for quake orphans in the provincial capital Shijiazhuang. He now runs a bookstore in his home city of Tangshan, about 200 kilometers east of Beijing.

His childhood woes came back to him when an 8.0-magnitude quake struck Wenchuan county in the southwestern Sichuan Province last Monday, killing more than 40,000 people.

"My heart ached when I saw those children who lost both parents in the quake: babies who survived under the protection of dead parents and older children who find it hard to believe their parents are dead," said Zhang.

Two days after the quake, he put a posting on an Internet forum calling on all Tangshan orphans to extend love and care to quake victims in Sichuan.

Hundreds of people have answered his call in the past week with cash donations, offers of foster care for orphans and counseling services at the hardest-hit areas.

"As quake orphans ourselves, we feel those children's pain better than anyone else," he said.

Passing on love

Thirty-two years after the devastating quake that killed 240,000 people, the desire to repay society for the love and support that helped more than 4,200 orphans grow up brought them together again.

More than 300 Tangshan orphans rallied in front of the downtown monument commemorating the 1976 quake on Tuesday to mourn the dead and donate cash for the quake-hit areas, though nearly all of them had donated more than once.

Hundreds more responded to their call and made donations from other Chinese cities.

Quake orphan Zhang Xiangqing, now president of a steel company in Tianjin, has donated 100 million yuan (14 million U.S. dollars). "I hope the money will help build new homes and schools that will withstand earthquakes."

Liu Yuanping, a government employee in Tangshan, said he wanted to pass on a message to all quake orphans in Sichuan. "Be strong and be brave. You'll all grow up like everyone else."

Liu was 14 when his parents, brother and sister died in the earthquake. He spent two years in a boarding school for quake orphans in his hometown before he went on to high school.

Throughout his one-hour interview with Xinhua on Tuesday, Liu stopped from time to time to answer phone calls, most of which were from his former schoolmates. "We all want to adopt some orphans," he said. "We have similar experiences and can become better foster parents than those who don't."

Heart to heart

Yang Shan woke up to find her legs were gone.

Counseling was not possible because the senior high schooler from Beichuan County, one of the hardest-hit areas where more than 7,000 died, would scream whenever a stranger came near.

"I'm from Tangshan and I know how you feel." These simple words from Dang Yuxin calmed the tearful girl. The 1976 quake, one of the most unforgettable events in China's modern history, made the city known to every Chinese above 10 years old.