China's one-child policy causes extra pain

'We have nothing else'
The loss is intensified for those with no other offspring to lavish with care and affection, Shi said. And in China, other, more practical concerns may also come into play because children are generally expected to care for their aging parents.

"They'll be worried about the future, because for the later part of their lives, they'll have no one to depend on," Shi said.

Bi said Yuexing was polite and smart. She had won a coveted place at the county's best high school on the recommendation of a teacher. She was a top student who got better after the family moved closer to school to reduce her commuting time, said Bi, who completed high school but failed the national university entrance exam.

In her pictures, Yuexing, whose name combined the Chinese characters for moon and star, is smiling and demure. The studio shot shows her wearing a bright yellow sweater and looking playfully over her shoulder.

Parents in Wufu said they plan to bring a formal complaint over what they say was corruption and malfeasance in construction of the school. They say officials moved the students from a group of one-story classrooms — all of which survived the quake — into a modern-looking, but unsafe building.

"We have nothing else, no other wish but to win justice for our children," said Sang's wife, Zhao Jing. "We put all our hopes on these kids, and this is the return we get."

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