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Funeral follows wedding for heroic village teacher

Village teacher Gou Xiaochao, 24, was scheduled to start his honeymoon today.
Instead his funeral will be held today.
Heartbroken villagers, relatives and colleagues stayed up Monday night as the hero lay in a coffin at his home in the mountainous Tongjiang county of Sichuan province, about 400 km away from the quake''s epicenter.
When the quake struck on Monday, most of the 158 students in Tong''anba Village School were having their afternoon nap.
The building started to shudder and buckle - and Gou was alert to the danger.
With characteristic calm and efficiency, he - and fellow teachers - guided most of the 158 students out of the three-story building which was severely damaged.
"Students, parents and colleagues are all here to show their respect and sorrow," Wen Jun, math teacher at the school, told China Daily in tears yesterday.
When the building began shaking at 2:28 pm, Gou dashed to the third floor and pulled five students to safety. The other nine teachers, too, were doing the same.
After bringing out the five students, Guo sprinted back up but this time - three or four minutes after the quake - collapsing walls and debris fell on him as he was rushing back with three students.
Severely injured, Gou managed to stagger out of the building with the three students.
He died on the way to hospital to the county town, about 80 km away from the village, and despite his heroic efforts, two students also succumbed to injuries.
A total of three died in the village where buildings suffered considerable damage.
Gou, a computer science major, was ranked first in the Tongjiang teaching qualification examination a year ago.
But he gave up the chance to teach in the county town and chose to work in the village.
He Mei, who Gou married only 10 days earlier, also teaches in a poor village school about 20 km away.
(China Daily 05/14/2008 page1)
附翻译稿:
乡村英雄教师婚礼后的葬礼
乡村教师苟晓超, 24岁,原打算今天开始他的蜜月,没想到今天变成了他的葬礼。
星期一晚,伤心的村民,亲属和同事昼夜守护着我们的英雄,而此时他正躺在他的家乡通江的一个山区的棺材里,远离震中区400公里。
星期一地震发生时,通江永安坝村小一百八十名学生大部分正在午睡。
当教学楼开始摇晃时,苟晓超立刻意识到了危险,但他仍然保持冷静,他和其他老师引导大部分学生逃离已严重毁坏的三层教学楼
“学生,家长及同事大家都怀着尊重和悲痛的心情守候在此。”文军,学校的一位数学老师,昨天满含泪水的告诉中国日报的记者。
下午2时28分,当教学楼开始摇晃时,苟晓超冲向三楼,把五名学生推向安全的地方。其他9个教师也奋不顾身的投入其中。
带出5名学生后,苟又折了回去,他急于回去救其他三名学生,此时离地震发生已有三四分钟,倒塌的墙壁和碎片落在了他的身上。他和其他三名学生严重受伤。
他在去县城医院的路上不幸死亡,约80公里外乡村,尽管他的英勇努力,两名学生还是受了伤。
共有3人死于在这次灾难,建筑物遭受了相当大的破坏。
苟晓超,计算机专业,一年前在通江公招教师考试中名列第一。 但他放弃了在县城工作的机会而选择在农村。
何梅,10天前刚和苟晓超结婚,也在约二十公里外的一个贫穷的乡村学校教书。
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