Friday, February 17, 2017

Chinese quake parents want lifelong visas to visit their children's graves

There is a Chinese saying, the worst tragedy is for a grey hair person to bury a black hair person. I started my Diary of a bereaved mum with this.

Six years ago, 23 Chinese students were killed in the CTV during the Christchurch earthquake. The heart ache lingers.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11802553

Chinese parents who lost their only child in the February 2011 earthquake are pleading with our government to grant them lifelong visas so they can visit their children's graves.
They want the right to enter New Zealand every year to tidy their children's graves as per the Chinese tomb-sweeping tradition where mourners clean gravesites and burn incense to bless the dead.
Their request has been declined because New Zealand's immigration policy does not allow for long-lasting visitor visas.
READ FULL INVESTIGATION: The parents who are afraid to cry together
Nearly half of the 185 victims of the Christchurch earthquake died in a language school on the fourth floor of the collapsed CTV building, including 23 Chinese students.