To All International Friends

This is Old Mr. He’s son Lujiang. On behalf of my father and our He family, I’m now writing this sad message, trying to inform all of you that, on June 24, 2003, our young 30-year-old son, brother and your friend He Luzhong had unfortunately left us behind for ever. 

We could never accept this 03-06-24 event and couldn’t bear to tell you this unlucky tragedy, but after all, fact is fact! What else on earth can we do? 

Our poor Luzhong was versatile and gifted in many ways and since his outstanding, in March 2002, he was picked to be a diplomat and sent to work in the China’s consulate general in Songkhla in south Thailand. He was subjected to work there at least 2 years and usually, after 2 years later, he would be required to work for a third year. Because in this May, I had been accepted by the University of Massachusetts, Boston to get one more year of further studies, we two brothers had decided the younger one (Luzhong) would come back China next March to look after our parents and my son's schooling problems. So in order to let my parents and son pay him a visit while he was still in Songkhla, my family had did all preparations and ready to go to spend the summer vacation with him from July to August. 

However, WHO could have thought, at 13:41 on June 24, he wrote my father an email, discussing further problems about how our parents took my son Xincheng to visit him. After sending out the email and at about 18:00 after they closed the office, he went swimming with 3 other people. Two of them were his colleagues, called Mr. Lu and Mr. Li. Mr. Li was also came from Yunnan Foreign Affairs Office who took an 8-year-old son. The distance between their Consulate and the beach was only about 10-minute walk. They went swimming now and then. 

They said he did not swim too far, he swam for a while and come back to the beach and played with the 8-year-old boy for a while. Someone said that before they were ready to go back, he said he would swim for a last time and swam off the beach. A while later, someone said: "Where is Luzhong? I did not see him for a while!" They began to search for him and call for help. A little while later, they found him on the bottom of the ocean, his heart was still beating, but faintly. Some one said that he swam with one of his colleagues and come back to the beach to play with the 8-year-old boy now and then, and when someone realized Luzhong was disappeared for a while and called for help, the colleague who swam with him first found him and picked him up from the water. So, we don't know exactly how and why he drowned. They said that after calling for help, many local swimmers got to the spot when Luzhong was picked up from the water. They tried to pour water from his chest, they said besides water, they poured out some beer from his mouth which indicates he drunk some beer before they went swim. They said that after the urgent measures by the shore, an ambulance came with a police car and they took him to a nearby clinic and later to the biggest hospital, but after a lot of rescue, the doctors could not bring him through! At 19:50, as the document indicated, Luzhong left us for ever... 

It is such a huge tragedy, just like a knife cutting into our hearts! When the sad news came, my parents were ready to take my son Xincheng to visit Luzhong and I was about to go to the University of Massachusetts in Boston from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. I got to know later that on the July 25th, when the officials came to Dali to report this sad news to my parents, they said that Luzhong's accident happened in a foreign country, it was a matter between two countries, we should cooperate with the government and handle the problem as soon as possible. Since my father was considered too weak to stand this tragedy, a higher official from Beijing's Foreign Ministry and two officials from Yunnan Foreign Affairs Office accompanied my mother and my wife to Thailand to handle this problem before my arrival. Both of them could not speak any foreign language. They went to Thailand on the June 26th. So I was unable to go there to check for the details of the accident. Every "details" of this tragedy was told by others and every details were similar and seemed well-prepared. It seemed we smelt a rat on the problem, but unfortunately, now everything is up and over. Everything had become history. Everything had turned into smoke and disappeared in the endless sky. Besides a hundred sighs in our daily lives, what else can we have or what can we do?  

It was said that on June 28, the consulate opened a big formal memorial meeting. From the words they wrote on the wreaths, my wife noticed the wreaths came not only from many of the local various organizations, but also from Beijing's Foreign Ministry and our country's Embassy in Bangkok. My mother and wife wept as they two had a last look at Luzhong. Hundreds of ordinary people also came to attend the ceremonial meeting. The oldest mourner was 93-year old overseas Chinese. Most of them cleaned their tears again and again. The Consul General, Mr. Hua said: “....He Luzhong is really an outstanding young man, I am 58 this year, I have considered him as a son of mine...” As soon as all the mourners paid their last respects to Luzhong's face, they carried him out to cremate the body into ashes. 

During the following two days, accompanied by some officials, my mother and my wife went to visit the beach, the clinic and the hospital, trying to get further details of the tragedy, but they did not get anything new. 

On July the 1^st, with the help from some important diplomatic officials and holding the cinerary casket (in fact it was not a wooden box but an earthen jar), my mother and wife sadly left Bangkok for Yunnan. All of our friends in Kunming went to meet them. During the past few years, we have had many times going to the airport to meet Luzhong, but this time, instead of a lively young diplomat, we got a cold jar of ashes! That very night, some important relatives and Luzhong's special friends accompanied our family to keep vigil beside Luzhong's jar of remains. 

On the next day's (July 2) morning, another similar formal memorial meeting was held in Kunming. At about 10:30 the funeral began to march toward Luzhong's last resting destination---- Guan Yin Mountain Public Graveyard. The cemetery locates at the lower part of the Western Mountain slopes by the Dianchi Lake. It is a very good stand, from there, Luzhong would look at the lake and the city for ever. The Guan Yin Mountain Public Graveyard would become Luzhong and it would become part of our lives! 

Luzhong was born on June 26, 1973, he left this world just two days before his 30 birthday. In April, he had actually invited his girlfriend, a lady called Luo from Hunan Province to visit him at a proper time from May and June. They had planned to get married in October or in 2004's spring festival. However, since the procedures of applying for a passport were very complicated, Miss Luo did not get her passport until July the 4th, as everything was too late! too late!! 

After the terrible family storm, now our family is trying to rescue ourselves. We made an Internet Altar for remembering Luzhong. All friends are welcome to pay a visit there. But now, it is mostly in Chinese, so if you go there, your computer might ask you to down load the Chinese fonts, let it go, there is no virus at all. Even if you could not read Chinese, there are many pictures there. And please don't forget to go to our guest book to leave your words. 

Thanks for your visiting!

Yours, He Lujiang