A Chinese teacher who made headlines for leaving his students behind during last year's Sichuan earthquake said Tuesday he was at peace with his decision to flee and did not feel "much grief".
Fan Meizhong, 37, also known as 'Running Fan', was fired from a school in Dujiangyan, near the epicentre of the quake in the southwestern province of Sichuan, after he was berated for admitting online to abandoning his students.
But Fan — who says he was passed over for a position at a Beijing private institution due to the incident — said he is now teaching literature in a high school in the provincial capital Chengdu.
"I'm more peaceful now than ever — maybe the more storms you experience, the more resilient you become," he told AFP by phone.
"I hate the falsity behind the ceremony as real grief does not need ceremony," Fan said, as millions across Sichuan commemorated the first anniversary of the May 12, 2008 calamity.
"To be honest, I don't feel much grief — I have to tell the truth."
The truth is exactly what got Fan into trouble when he wrote an online post 10 days after his escape, detailing what he had told his disappointed students — who all survived — following his dash for the door.
"In this fleeting moment of life and death, I could only consider sacrificing myself for my daughter, I would not care about other people, even if it were my mother," he wrote on tianya.cn, a social web portal.
At a time when China had been busy portraying the heroic actions of ordinary people in the quake, which left nearly 87,000 dead or missing, his comments sparked outrage online, although some people also came to his defence.
Fan said he had received many messages of support, adding: "People tend to think the deaths of teachers are not as important as those of students."
He criticised China's education ministry over the way he was treated.
"The ministry never took on its responsibility for the deaths of so many (students), rather they were very active in oppressing me," he said, claiming the Beijing school postponed his appointment due to ministry pressure.
At least 5,335 students were killed or went missing when their classrooms crumbled on them. Nearby structures stood firm, and devastated parents have blamed local cadres for pocketing construction money and building low-quality schools.
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