New home for quake-damaged county center

Source: Xinhua  |   2008-12-13  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA has decided on a new site for the county seat of Beichuan, the worst-hit place in the May 12 earthquake.

It will be located to the east of Anchang Township in the southwest China's Sichuan Province, about 35 kilometers from where it was, according to local officials.

Construction will start in February, said Chen Xingchun, secretary of the county's Communist Party committee. "Flat and surrounded by hills, the new site covers eight square kilometers. The Anchang River passes the site from the northwest to the southeast. It is suitable for construction," he said.

The first phase of the construction includes roads, government headquarters, public welfare facilities and housing. Work is estimated to cost nearly 20 billion yuan (US$2.92 billion).

"The choice of the location has been approved by the State Council (Cabinet). The construction plan for the new county is now open for public comment until mid-December," Chen said.

About 77 percent of Beichuan's 220,000 displaced residents will be able to live in the Anchang River valley location or at its foothills.

The development for the new county will focus on attracting tourists as well as preserving the culture of the region, according to the blueprint.

The Beichuan Qiang Autonomous County is the ancestral home of an ethnic group known as the Qiang. There are around 300,000 Qiang throughout China.

Their unique culture can be traced to the Shang Dynasty (1556-1046 BC). They have their own language, food and culture all of which face extinction partly because of the earthquake. More than 8,600 of the 13,000 people living in the Beichuan county seat were killed in the quake.