Tan Qianqiu, a high-school teacher of Dongqi Middle School in Sichuan's Deyang City. His native place was Yanqian Village, Buyunqiao Town, in south Hunan's Qidong County. When Wenchuan earthquake broke out, he arched his body with his hands propped up by the desk and thus saved 4 students under the desk. He sacrificed his life for teaching career.

On May 12th, Tan Qianqiu was in a class when the earthquake struck. He shouted, “Run! Don’t take anything! Run!” The students did as he said, and when they turned around (outside) they saw that their classroom building had collapsed, with yellow dust pouring from the ruins.

Tan Qianqiu and some of his students were buried in the ruins. When Tan’s body was found on the evening of May 13th, what rescuers saw was a scene that stunned all of them: at the last moment, Tan Qianqiu had opened up his arms as wide as he could, bring four students under his protection. He was killed, but all four of the students survived. According to the surviving students, Mr. Tan truly loved all his students. When walking around the campus, whenever he came across a small stone on the playground, he would pick it up and throw it away, in case it might be the cause of some student getting hurt when playing. That was the kind of person he was, and why he did what he did at the critical moment.

We can probably never have accurate statistics on just how many teachers opened their arms or huddled over children to protect them at that critical moment. But people will remember their acts of heroism in the last minutes of their lives. Their actions epitomize what is best about the human soul and can inspire and even purify all of us.