14 years on, rescuer passes on love and kindness

After a magnitude 6.8 earthquake hit Luding county in Southwest China's Sichuan province on Monday, rescuers from across the province have rushed to the hardest-hit areas to help affected residents.

During the search and rescue operations, the photo of a young rescuer holding a 2-month-old baby in his arms has touched the heartstrings of many people.

Zhang Zili and fellow members from the Forest Fire Brigade of Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture discovered the baby and her grandmother trapped at their home in a village on Tuesday. The rescuers have transferred the infant, who suffered a minor injury on head, and his grandma to safety.

The baby's father is also a firefighter who was participating in rescue operations after the quake hit.

The photo of Zhang holding the baby moved many people. Zhang was lovingly referred to as "brother Wenchuan" for the characters of "Wenchuan" on his armband, which indicates that he is from the Wenchuan squadron of the Aba forest fire brigade.

The 21-year-old is a native of Maoxian county, which is close to Wenchuan county, the epicenter of a 7.8-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 69,000 people in 2008.

Then a first-grade student, Zhang witnessed the devastating quake, which brought down his family's house. Zhang said he still clearly recalled how emergency supplies were air-dropped from helicopters and how soldiers of the People's Liberation Army and rescuers helped locals tide over the difficulties.

Zhang joined the firefighting brigade in May. Since then, in less than four months, he has taken part in several forest firefighting missions and rescue operations of the latest earthquake.