This "migrant boom" would remind us of all the social problems appearing frequently on Websites and newspapers related to this special group of about 200 million in China -- those with wage arrears, having a lack of social security and facing prejudice, among others.

A second challenge of China exposed in the disaster is corruption, something which ordinary people are angry about and officials are pledging to eradicate.

While holding the photos of their deceased children, the grief of the deprived parents turned to rage when they found that just 15 kilometers away from the leveled Beichuan County, the Liuhan Hope Primary School was still erect and its 493 students and staff all survived.

The primary school was sponsored by the Hanlong Group Co., Ltd, whose four other schools in the quake zone also remained intact.

Chen Baosheng, an expert from the Shanghai-based Tongji University and a member of an investigation team under the Ministry of Construction, confirmed the speculation about the quality problem in the Juyuan Middle School, which collapsed and buried 900 in the quake.

"The steel reinforcement rods in the building's concrete were too thin," he said.

A report by the Southern Weekend newspaper said that in the Xinjian Primary School of Dujiangyan where 239 of the 500 students and teachers were killed, there was no steel rods at all in the concrete.

"I am saddened about this fact. Children are our nation's future and quality standard of schools should definitely be higher," said Ding Yuanzhu, sociologist with the Beijing University.

Public anger was fueled by the "tent scandal" widely spread on the Internet, saying that tents especially for quake areas appeared in downtown of Sichuan's capital Chengdu, which was not the worst-hit in the quake.

A man playing mahjong inside one tent was quoted by the South Metropolitan Daily as saying that he got it through "some relationships."

At that time, last Friday, more than five million of the quake affected needs proper shelters.

"This disaster rang an alarm for our government," said an editorial on the Website of the People's Daily. "It should attach more importance to the monitoring from ordinary people."

This earthquake also taught China that people's awareness and ability to handle emergency should be enhanced through public education. When I read the story apparently about a girl sharing her experience for survival: "I jumped out of the apartment building immediately I felt the tremor," I was overwhelmed with sorrow. Who should we blame in this case -- The reporter? The girl? Or anyone else?

Indeed, China has impressed the world with its rising international status and economic miracle. But to share with its people the fruit of growth, it has many problems to tackle.

Pages of the tragedy shall be turned over sooner or later, but the pain shall never be forgotten. In the pain, we learnt a lesson, although its price was far too high.

(Xinhua News Agency May 31, 2008)