CHENGDU: Middle-aged taxi-driver Yuan Huafu gets up early every day and waits for his turn at the Dujiangyan long-haul bus station, the booming tourism destination of the past that now resembles a ghost city after the devastating May 12 earthquake.

Yuan's taxi number is 0512, something that works in his favor, as he is able to get more passengers. "I am superstitiously linked with the quake," said Yuan, who is not only a skilled driver but also a guide who can schedule quake journeys, tell stories of the quakes and also arrange meetings with the survivors.

Tourists and journalists are Yuan's main customers, often seeking to explore the epicenter of the quake, some 50 km away, through the high and dense mountain ranges along the torrential Minjiang River, a tributary of Yangtze River.