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There have been some touching little stories related to the Sichuan earthquake that wouldn't be covered by the mainstream media. Here I'd like to share a few here

A 3-year-old girl in Beichuan, one of the counties that suffered the most from Monday's earthquake in southwest China's Sichuan Province, has magically survived under the dead bodies of her parents. Song Xinyi's legs were seriously injured under the weight of her parents and many layers of rubble, but she could still talk when rescuers pulled her out after more than 40 hours. She explained the 3 Chinese characters that made up her name, and told everybody she loved painting and watching TV. Despite a coin-sized wound on her forehead, she still looked pretty.

The world's smallest man, He Pingping, and the woman with the longest legs in the world, Svetlana Pankratova, both celebrate the launch of the 2009 edition of the Guiness World Records

For every MSN Messenger user that changes their screen-name to "(R) 彩虹连心 支援灾区" [trans (rough): Rainbow of United Hearts, Supporting & Assisting the Disaster Area], MSN will donate RMB 0.10 toward the effort to rebuild schools and the local education system in Sichuan / Wenchuan; Toyota matches MSN's donations.

Following the recent earthquake in Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, chinaONEcall is offering free help for victims of the Chinese earthquake, and for anxious family or others needing to contact them or the victims doctors / nurses in the affected area.

"My erroneous words and deeds angered and saddened the Chinese people, and I sincerely apologise for this," she said in a statement issued by Dior China and sent to AFP on Thursday. "I'm willing to participate in any earthquake relief activity and to do my utmost to help Chinese people affected by the disaster," she added. Dior China still dropped her after local outrage to her vile comments.

Two stories of people looking for a stand-in:

A girl in Dalian hired a friend's aunt to play Mom at school functions, and a businessman wants a stand-in for his mistress so his wife can vent her rage. Any takers?

The Sichuan earthquake has created many stories of both heroism and survival, and several things are strikingly different from anything in my experience. Right now one of the most hailed heroes is Jiang Min, a 28-year-old police woman who lost ten family members. It is the divergence in attitudes between common people and the official media toward her that signals an important shift.

Global Voices asks: So where to find live disaster blogging from this past month’s catastrophe? This blogger has looked but still doesn’t know. Is Chinese media coverage sufficient? Project Diaster’s video blog seems to only bring us training videos and clips from old TV shows. So what’s the problem?