The bookmarks which the students have painted are full of colour and a jumble of individual expression, even though the blue plastic stools, which I find to display them on, do not really do them justice.

I have barged into an art class at this earthquake-hit middle school, which is still being held in a temporary prefabricated classroom. But such is the Chinese courtesy to guests, that far from getting a scolding from the teacher, I get handed these beautiful bookmarks as gifts. I can see from these small-scale artworks that the kids are making great strides forward.

Unique paintings

You see, this is not the first time I have been to this school. I was here in February, when the Secretary General of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Mr. Bekele Geleta, was visiting Sichuan. Then, we were given some of the paintings which the students created shortly after the earthquake -paintings expressing feelings of deep pain, fear and loss.

"After the earthquake we were very scared, but also we had a sense of valuing life," says Liu Longqi, 14, echoing the sentiments of many in the Sichuan disaster area. The art teacher, Liang Ming, tells me that after the school's 793 students moved into the makeshift classrooms and classes resumed following the disaster, "we found that students often were down and sad, and did not speak a lot." She adds that there were also quarrels and fights among students since they were in an agitated mood.

Speaking out

"I encouraged my students to speak out and express what they had experienced, and this caused all the students and me to cry," says Liang. She adds; "I told my students to express those feelings through painting. I really think that the art class helped the students to some degree."

The painting that Liu Longqi created back then is a canvas with a striking collapsed building on a gloomy green background, with injured people lying outside and a clock that stopped at 14:28, precisely the time the earthquake struck. Both students and teachers concurred that the painting exercise helped to deal with difficult emotions. "Since then, we have learned how to be stronger," says Liu Longqi.

Staying upbeat

For her part, teacher Liang says that the students' artwork is becoming more upbeat, even though the process of complete recovery will take some time. I can see the progress reflected in many of the students' appearance , despite the hardship of spending close to a year living and studying in the flimsy prefabricated structures, which get hot in summer, cold in winter and occasionally flood during heavy rain.

The good news is that after the school term finishes in early June, the prefabricated structures will be demolished. It is hoped that by the time the new term resumes on 1 September, the students will have moved into their new school buildings, being constructed with support from the Red Cross Society of China and the LG conglomerate of South Korea.