People wave national flags in Shanghai on Monday.

I am very grateful to all the people who saved my life! If it were not for you, I don't know how long I would have lived. Many of my friends and classmates are still buried under the rubble. I don't know whether they are still alive or dead. I am so worried about them and I hope they can be rescued as soon as possible.

As I remember, on May 12, we had lunch happily together and then took a nap as usual. No one would have known that a deadly earthquake were about to separate us forever. When the earthquake hit, we were having class in the afternoon. We listened to our teacher carefully and all of a sudden, the classroom started to shake violently. Our teacher He Haiping soon realized what had happened and told us to run. I quickly ran outside with four or five classmates without knowing that some of my classmates hadn't managed to escape. When I looked back, the whole school building collapsed and a big cloud of dust and smoke was coming toward us.

When the smoke dispersed, I went back to look for my classmates. I saw some of them were injured with cuts and bruises. Our teachers tried to move the rocks and the rubble to save those who were buried. At first, I was frightened but I soon joined the rescue effort. One of our teachers said, "We have to rely on our own to save as many lives as we could!"

The rescue team came not long after the quake. We were excited to know that some of our classmates were saved. But later no one came out of the debris alive.

After the disaster, we all know how valuable life is and how important unity is. We are now helping and taking care of one another.

Right now, I am very worried about my dad Liu Shiping and my friend Xiong Lin. If they are still alive, I want to say to them, "Are you alright? Don't worry about me. I am fine. Please take good care of yourselves!"

All I hope is that my family will be safe and I can still have the opportunity to go to school in the future. I want nothing more than that. I sincerely thank all the good people who are concerned about us and gave us a new warm home when our community was destroyed by the earthquake.

Li Tao, earthquake survivor, student from the Beichuan Middle School

On blog.sina.com.cn

In the past seven days, we have shed more tears than we have in all past years combined.

When the terrible news came from Wenchuan, Dujiangyan, Beichuan, Mianzhu, Shifang and other places struck by the deadly earthquake, we shed tears for our friends, relatives and countrymen who were buried by the collapsed buildings.

We were brought to tears when we saw Premier Wen Jiabao rushed to the disaster areas in the great danger of aftershocks to comfort and encourage the victims and President Hu Jintao kissed a three-year-old injured kid after the devastating quake.

Tears streamed down our eyes as we saw young soldiers' hands were bleeding as they clawed through the debris to save more lives.

We cried for the radio, TV and newspaper journalists who reported at the frontline in the worst-hit areas.

We shed tears of respect for the teachers who protected their students at the expense of their own lives and those who risk the lives of their own children to save other people's children.