Tangshan is best known as the site of the deadliest earthquake in modern history. On July 28, 1976 a 7.8 earthquake leveled Tangshan for 23 seconds. The official death toll is around 250,000. The unofficial death toll is around 680,000. At the time, my mom was in Beijing. My Xiao Yi was a few kilometers away. My Jiu Jiu was in Tangshan crawled out of the rubble. He pulled my grandfather out. My grandma died.

Whenever we go back to Tangshan we visit the earthquake memorial (above). Since my last visit, the city had built an earthquake museum and also a wall commemorating all the deceased. It has 250,000 names inscribed onto it. By comparison, the Vietnam War memorial in Washington DC has about 58,000 names. Over 7,000 complete families perished. Their names are inscribed next to each other. It’s very dramatic to see 20 names with the same surname on the wall. Some of the names aren’t even names. They’re just “second son” because the person wasn’t old enough to have a registered name, yet.

Front of wall

Back of wall

Grandma

At night we headed out for hot pot. Tangshan has a special brand of hot pot. Instead of giving diners one big communal cauldron, everyone has their own pot. That way each person can customize their broth to their own personal tastes. It’s become a well-known fact in my family that Cindy likes spicy food. My family, all hailing from northern China, generally don’t. At every meal, a few spicy dishes are ordered for her. So of course, they gave her a spicy hot pot broth.

Cindy: I feel like the only thing your family knows about me is that I eat spicy food.

Richard: So they’re one for one.

Cindy at hot pot

Personal pot